Disney released the trailer for its live-action/animated hybrid remake of Lady and the Tramp, the studio’s 1955 animated classic. Unlike The Lion King or The Jungle Book, the film will only be released on Disney’s streaming service Disney+. It will be available when the service launches on Nov. 12.
The teaser was released during the D23 Expo in California Friday. Disney also released the first teaser for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
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The new film is directed by Charlie Bean, who helmed The Lego Ninjago Movie for Warner Bros. and previously worked with Disney as an executive producer on Tron: Uprising. The cast features Tessa Thompson as the voice of Lady and Justin Theroux as Tramp. The Ranch star Sam Elliott voices Trusty, and Ashley Jensen voices a female version of Jock. Benedict Wong voices Bull and Janelle Monae voices Peg.
Lady’s human owners, Jim and Darling Dear, are played by Thomas Mann and Kiersey Clemons. Yvette Nicole Brown, Adrian Martinez and Arturo Castro also have on-screen roles.
The original 1955 film was based on Ward Greene’s story Happy Dan, The Cynical Dog. It tells the story of a refined American Cocker Spaniel named Lady who falls in love with the stray mutt Tramp. It broke ground technically as the first animated film made in the widescreen CinemaScope process.
It also features a handful of classic Disney songs, including “Bella Notte,” which is heavily featured in the trailer. Lady and the Tramp also included the now-controversial “Siamese Cat Song,” which leans on racial stereotyping. Back in May, Variety reported that Nate “Rocket” Wonder and Roman GianArther were brought in to reinvent the song and work with Monae.
“We’re dealing with Wondaland, her team of incredibly creative writers and producers that she works with. So our director has engaged with her in terms of what the storytelling [of] the song needs to be,” Kaylin Frank, a vice president at Disney’s Creative Music and Soundtracks department, told Variety.
Monae also contributed two new songs for the film.
Lady and the Tramp is Disney’s fourth remake of a popular animated film to be released in 2019. The most recent, The Lion King, has grossed an astonishing $1.46 billion worldwide since its release on July 19. Aladdin reeled in$1.04 billion worldwide, while Dumbo took in $353.02 million.
Disney’s next remake is Mulan, which its theaters on March 27, 2020. The studio is also reportedly developing remakes of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Sword in the Stone and The Little Mermaid.
Photo credit: Disney/YouTube
