Since his first appearance in the 1902 novel ‘The Little White Bird’, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan has appeared in various forms of entertainment from plays to comic books to musicals to TV shows. However, his history in movies began back in 1924 when Paramount Pictures released a silent film based on Neverland and the boy that never grew up. Since then, there have been a number of memorable big screen adaptations including Steven Spielberg’s ‘Hook’, ‘Peter Pan’ starring Jeremy Sumpter, and the recent origin story ‘Pan’. Although, the most popular has to be the 1953 animated classic from Walt Disney Pictures featuring songs like ‘You Can Fly’, ‘Following The Leader’, and ‘Second Star to the Right’. But six decades after the House of Mouse gave that version to the world, they’re now planning an all-new live-action interpretation of the seminal story.
Over the past few year, Disney has been revisiting their most beloved films and reimagining them as live-action feature films. As we’ve seen with ‘Alice In Wonderland’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Maleficent’, and most recently ‘The Jungle Book’, this plan of action has proven fruitful and has lead to the development of other similar projects like ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Mulan’, ‘Sword in the Stone’, and many more. And now it looks like they’ll give the same treatment to ‘Peter Pan’. According to Deadline, ‘Pete’s Dragon’ director David Lowery will helm the new version of Peter’s adventures with Wendy, Tinkerbell, and the Lost Boys as they tangle with Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, and the other pirates. Lowery, who is best known for writing and directing the edgy indie film ‘Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’, will direct a script that he’ll write with his collaborator Toby Halbrooks. Currently there are no details regarding the film like whether it will be a musical or not, but with Reese Witherspoon’s Tinkerbell movie in development as well, the outlet says that there might be some crossover with the casts of these Neverland projects.
What do you think about Disney giving the live-action treatment to ‘Peter Pan’? Are you hoping that some of the iconic songs from the animated classic show up in the new version? And what do you think this says about David Lowery and Toby Halbrooks’ work on ‘Pete Dragon’ that the studio entrusted them with another beloved property right away? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments.
Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences and puns far too much. Also, like Peter Pan, he won’t grow up. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
