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Credit: DisneyA report has surfaced claiming that the live-action Hercules remake has been scrapped at Disney, with the project taking a new angle based on the villain Hades.
It was over four years ago that Disney shared that the Greek god Hercules would be making his way back to the big screen as part of the company’s live-action adaptation initiative. Following the success of movies like Beauty and the Beast (2017), Aladdin (2019), and The Lion King (2019), Disney continues to pour energy into its remake slate, with projects planned well into the future.
Next on the slate, following last year’s Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) and The Little Mermaid (2023), will be Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) from Barry Jenkins. Disney is hoping the prequel to Jon Favreau’s The Lion King will light up the Christmas box office following a strong year that included the billion-dollar successes Inside Out 2 (2024) and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).
Following Mufasa, Disney’s much-talked-about Snow White remake will hit theaters in March, a year later than originally planned. The Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot two-hander will see Disney’s first princess make the live-action leap, but will the audience respond? After last year’s heated discourse surrounding the project, the jury is still out on whether Disney will be able to get butts on seats for its Spring debut.
Further afield are Lilo & Stitch (2025), which will land in theaters in May 2025, and then the live-action take on 2016’s Moana will arrive in 2026. Past that, Disney has numerous projects in development or production, including the live-action remake of 1997’s Hercules.
Directed by Guy Ritchie, who helmed Aladdin, and written by Dave Callaham, Hercules is produced by Anthony and Joe Russo under their AGBO banner. Information has been slim on the project, with no casting announcements made–fans are hoping to see Danny DeVito reprise his role of Phil from the 90s animated movie, though.
Other rumored casting reports suggest that Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther) or Taron Egerton (Rocketman) could play Hercules, while Ariana Grande (Wicked) and Dua Lipa (Argylle) have been said to be in the running for Meg. That said, a new report has surfaced that suggests the entire Hercules remake has been retooled not to follow Hercules at all but the antagonist and God of the Underworld, Hades.
Voiced by James Woods in the 1997 animation, Hades is one of Disney’s most popular villains. “[S]cooper Daniel Richtman is reporting that the project has undergone an extensive overhaul, and will now play out from the perspective of the villainous Hades –which may actually turn out to be the title of the movie,” Toonado reports.
If so, it would seem the Hercules remake would actually follow a similar trajectory as Disney’s first big film in the adaptation arena: 2014’s Maleficent. Over a decade ago, Angelina Jolie brought the character to life in an entirely new way in Disney’s live-action adaptation of 1959’s Sleeping Beauty.
Maleficent was different in the way it not only adapted the source material but told the story from an alternative perspective. If this report is true, it seems Disney is doing the same with Hercules.
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As Disney aims to please fans (and often struggles) with its live-action canon, a new perspective could be the way that Disney entices a wider audience to the movie. Hades is already popular in his own right, so a focused movie on the character would likely be well-received if the right person was cast in the role.
With this report now circulating, it is a wonder whether the remake will follow the earlier direction that Hercules will be “a little bit more experimental in tone, a little bit more experimental in execution.” In this same Variety interview from 2022, Joe Russo also hinted at what tone the musical might take.
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“There are questions about how you translate it as a musical,” Russo told the outlet. “Audiences today have been trained by TikTok, right? What is their expectation of what that musical looks like and feels like? That can be a lot of fun and help us push the boundaries a little bit on how you execute a modern musical.”
A TikTok-inspired musical centered around Hades? That could be a big win for the social media generation that made the likes of Barbie (2023) and Wicked (2024) some of the most talked about movies in recent memory.
How do you feel about these reports of Hades replacing Hercules? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!