Beauty and the Beast has now passed the $400 million mark worldwide, an impressive feat which you have to believe barely scratches the surface of just how huge the live-action Disney adaptation will ultimately be. With numbers like that, you’d think the studio would be talking about a sequel, but apparently, that isn’t on the cards.
That’s no bad thing when you take into account just how forced a Beauty and the Beast follow-up would probably be, but don’t go thinking Disney has completely done away with the idea of delving back into this world, as President of Production Sean Bailey has revealed in a new interview that they’re at least willing to consider “possible spinoff and prequel scenarios.”
What form those could take is hard to say. The Beast was alone for many years before meeting Belle, so exploring that period of his life is definitely a possibility, while something could probably be done with Lumière and Cogsworth as well, given how popular they’ve always been and once again are coming out of this version of Beauty and the Beast. Another thing to consider is that Maleficent delved into Sleeping Beauty‘s villain, so perhaps we could even spend some more time with Luke Evans’ Gaston as a younger man?
Interestingly, it’s also mentioned in the interview that Disney has no plans to adapt any animated property past 2000, as they’re going for the nostalgia factor, while Pixar properties are also being left alone. There are a lot of different live-action adaptations in the works and many more the studio can turn to in the future, so it’s not like they’re going to run out, but Beauty and the Beast‘s future is currently unclear.
We don’t necessarily think there’s any reason for the studio to continue exploring it, be it in spinoff or prequel, but what are your thoughts on the matter? Would you like to see more of these characters? Let us know in the usual place!
