According to Deadline, Disney is letting its hair down again for a live-action adaptation of its animated classic Tangled, with Scarlett Johansson circling the role of Mother Gothel. The on-again-off-again project is helmed by The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey, with a script by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.
As the story goes, Disney paused production on Tangled back in April after the studio’s live-action take on Snow White underperformed at the box office, earning $206 million worldwide. As Deadline points out, there’s a difference between adapting old Disney animated classics versus newer features like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Lilo & Stitch, which have all seen success in theaters. Hell, if you look at Lilo & Stitch, the live-action reboot earned $1.03 billion at the global box office, which is positively bonkers!
Tangled has not been formally greenlit, as Disney still lists the feature as being in early development. Meanwhile, the original 2010 movie grossed $600 million worldwide. Starring the voices of Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, and Ron Perlman, Tangled focuses on the magically long-haired Rapunzel who has spent her entire life in a tower. However, now that a runaway thief has stumbled upon her, she is about to discover the world for the first time and who she really is.
In addition to restarting the development of Tangled, Disney recently paid a seven-figure sum to acquire the rights to author Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures.
Here’s a synopsis for Impossible Creatures, courtesy of Amazon:
The day that Christopher saved a drowning baby griffin from a hidden lake would change his life forever.
It’s the day he learned about the Archipelago—a cluster of unmapped islands where magical creatures of every kind have thrived for thousands of years, until now. And it’s the day he met Mal—a girl on the run, in desperate need of his help.
Mal and Christopher embark on a wild adventure, racing from island to island, searching for someone who can explain why the magic is fading and why magical creatures are suddenly dying. They consult sphinxes, battle kraken, and negotiate with dragons. But the closer they get to the dark truth of what’s happening, the clearer it becomes: no one else can fix this. If the Archipelago is to be saved, Mal and Christopher will have to do it themselves.
Seven figures is a lot of money. However, analysts say Impossible Creatures is on par with money-printing literary properties, such as the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games, and The Twilight Saga. Two of the five-book series are on shelves now, with the first novel published in 2023, while the second installment, The Poisoned King, just debuted. Rundell is racking up accolades for her in-demand series, and in 2024, she was awarded both Author of the Year and Children’s Book of the Year at The British Book Awards. The Impossible Creatures books have sold 4 million copies worldwide. Initially, the five-book series was originally intended to be a trilogy. However, since her success, Rundell plans to expand the core series to five books, with spinoffs and prequel books in the mix.
What do you think about Scarlett Johansson possibly playing Mother Gothel in Disney’s live-action version of Tangled? Who should play Rapunzel? Let us know in the comments section below.
