To date, Disney’s ambitious plans to overhaul its cherished portfolio of fairytales has gone down quite well, with Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book being 2016’s live-action success story after scoring a whopping $966 million worldwide and Beauty and the Beast following the year after with $1.2 billion.
Indeed, ever since Alice in Wonderland entered Hollywood’s billion dollar club, the House of Mouse has mapped out an entire slate of live-action pictures, and among the many projects up next is The Little Mermaid. The 1989 movie kicked off an animation renaissance for Disney and is still one of their most beloved films, so it’s really no surprise that it’s now in line for a remake.
But who will star in the big budget project? Well, already we’ve heard that Zendaya’s being eyed for Ariel and now, The Dis Insider claims that the studio’s looking at Lady Gaga for a lead role, presumably that of Ursula. The Mouse House has yet to confirm this, but with all the praise that the singer/actress is seeing right now for A Star Is Born, they’d be wise to snap her up quickly, as she’s becoming a pretty hot commodity in Hollywood.
As fans will know, a live-action Little Mermaid has been on the table since back in 2016. Not much is known about it just yet, but from what we’ve heard, it’ll be another Broadway-style musical movie, with new songs written by Disney stalwart Alan Menken and Mary Poppins Returns‘ Lin-Manuel Miranda. Beyond that, we can’t tell you very much, but with casting now heating up, expect to hear more soon.
