Back in the early 1840s, Victorian author Charles Dickens wrote a little novella called A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, now simply known as A Christmas Carol. At the time it was written the Christmas holiday had become unpopular, but Dickens’ story was so well received that reignited people’s love for Christmas, becoming one of the reasons that we celebrate it to this day. A Christmas Carol literally saved Christmas and over the years, has been adapted and parodied countless times.
The Hollywood Reporter has just announced that Disney is working on yet another adaptation of this classic tale, which will be tilted Marley. This adaptation puts a spin on the original story by focusing primarily on the perspective of the character of Jacob Marley. In the original Christmas Carol Marley was the boss of Ebenezer Scrooge, but he passed away seven years prior to the start of the story. Marley is not the first time that Disney has adapted A Christmas Carol. The first adaptation was 1983’s Mickey’s Christmas Carol which featured Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge, followed by The Muppet Christmas Carol starring Michael Caine alongside the muppets, and then finally Robert Zemeckis’ weird motion-capture version starring Jim Carrey.
As of now Marley has not been officially greenlit, but it’s been confirmed that Bill Condon has written a script. Condon previously collaborated with Disney when he directed the live action version of Beauty and the Beast. Composer Stephen Schwartz will be responsible for writing Marley‘s score and the film will be produced by Dan Jinks and Greg Yolen.
There is no denying that A Christmas Carol is a classic story that holds up to this day. Its themes of charity and goodwill are universal. But the story has been done to so many times do we need another adaptation of it? Ba-humbug!
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