Disney has found its director for the previously announced live-action remake of the animated classic Dumbo. Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland) will be directing the film about the young Elephant who learned to fly with his jumbo-sized ears. Ehren Kruger (Transformers: Age of Extinction) wrote the script for the film and is producing the project along with Justin Springer (Tron: Legacy).
The hire makes sense for both Burton and Disney, who found success working together on the 2010 remake Alice in Wonderland. Burton hasn’t had a commercial hit since then, with Dark Shadows (2012), Frankenweenie (2012), and Big Eyes (2014) all performing somewhat under expectations. Burton is currently working on the sequel Beetlejuice 2 and is filming the adaptation of the novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
Dumbo marks just the latest live-action remakes of a classic from Disney’s animated catalog. While the first was with Alice in Wonderland, studio chairman Alan Horn said they started moving to more and more remakes after the success of Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) for Universal. The move paid off last fall with the Maleficent and the Mouse House will continue to milk the proverbial cow with the upcoming release of Cinderella and the upcoming redos of The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast, as well as the sequel Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, which Burton is producing.
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