As it’s the first day of September, Disney Plus has broken its rule of only adding new content every Friday to make one new movie available to stream. And it’s one of the Mouse House’s recent live-action remakes. This time, it’s not amongst their highest grossing efforts, but it is one of the most warmly received of the lot. We’re talking about Cinderella, the 2015 reimagining of the 1950 animated classic.
Though Cinderella has already been accessible in various territories around the globe, today is the first time that the film has gone up on Disney Plus in the U.S. This version stars Lily James in her first major Hollywood role, which she’s since followed up with the likes of Baby Driver, Yesterday and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, among others. Richard Madden, meanwhile, plays Prince Charming, here given the name Kit.
The movie is stolen by two great supporting performances, though. Helena Bonham Carter has a blast bringing the Fairy Godmother to life, while Cate Blanchett is deliciously cruel and icy as Ella’s evil stepmother. As directed by Thor‘s Kenneth Branagh, Cinderella earned $542.4 million at the global box office. Which is mighty impressive, though it doesn’t match the $1 billion+ hauls of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.Â
Still, its critical reception is a lot more positive than any of those three. Cinderella sits at a terrific 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, which makes it the second highest-rated of Disney’s recent live-action remakes on the site, behind only 2016’s Pete’s Dragon, which sports 88%. As the critical consensus puts it: “Refreshingly traditional in a revisionist era, Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella proves Disney hasn’t lost any of its old-fashioned magic.”
There are now four Cinderella movies on Disney Plus. The remake, the 1950 original and the two animated, straight-to-video sequels produced in the 2000s – Cinderella 2: Dreams Do Come True and Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time. Meanwhile, the studio’s latest remake, Mulan, hits the streaming service this Friday.
