ABC Sets Beauty & the Beast as Next Live Musical For Films 30th Anniversary

Beauty and the Beast is getting the live musical treatment at ABC!

The network has announced the Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration, in celebration of the animated feature’s 30th anniversary.

The upcoming special live event will be similar to 2019′s The Little Mermaid Live, where they will blend animated moments from the film with live-action elements and performances.

Find out more info inside…

Jon M Chu is set to executive produce, with Hamish Hamilton serving as director.

According to ABC, “the special presentation includes live never-before-seen musical performances and features brand-new sets and breathtaking costumes inspired by the classic story. Each performance is created to pay homage while also adding to the iconic story for viewers at home. Songs from the original animated classic will be performed in front of a live audience at Disney Studios.”

Beauty and the Beast debuted in theaters in November 1991, and was the 30th animated film from Disney.

“Beauty and the Beast was always a game-changing cinematic experience for me,” Jon shared in a statement. “When the animated movie came out, I watched it multiple times in the first weekend. It showed me the outer limits of what animated artists and storytellers could achieve, so the fact that I get to executive produce a tribute to all the creatives that made this masterpiece through our Electric Somewhere company is a dream I didn’t even think was possible. With world-class creatives and talent to reinterpret the classic musical numbers (with a few surprises), I can’t wait for the audiences, in person and at home, to experience what we have in store for them. It’s a true celebration of creativity.”

Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration will debut on Thursday, December 15th at 8pm ET/PT on ABC. It will then be available to stream next day on Hulu. Stay tuned for when the cast is announced!

If you didn’t know, Jon is about to embark on directing the upcoming Wicked movies!

He is also no stranger to musical adaptations or musical movies. Jon has also directed In the Heights, Justin Bieber‘s Never Say Never docu-movie, Jem and the Holograms and the Step Up movie.

If you missed it, Disney+ was working on a Beauty and the Beast series, a spinoff of the 2017 live action movie, but it was put on hold shortly before going into production.

Season two of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series also took on Beauty and the Beast as their featured musical. You re-watch their performances here!

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