Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo revealed Disney’s live-action The Sword in the Stone film is “on hold.”
The Sword in the Stone (1963), Walt Disney Productions
The live-action Sword in the Stone was reported to be in development back in 2015 by Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter.
He reported at the time, “Disney is revisiting its 1963 animated fantasy The Sword in the Stone, putting into development a live-action remake.”
“Bryan Cogman, a writer-producer on HBO’s fantasy Game of Thrones, has been tapped to pen the script for the project, which will be produced by Brigham Taylor,” he added.
The Sword in the Stone (1963), Walt Disney Productions
In February 2018, Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. reported that the Sword in the Stone live-action was a priority project for Disney’s then unnamed streaming service, which would eventually turn into Disney+.
Fast forward a couple of months and Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter reported that Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was directing the project.
Kit shared, “Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, perhaps best known for directing the zombie thriller 28 Weeks Later, is in negotiations to helm The Sword in the Stone, Disney’s live-action reimagining of the studio’s 1963 animated fantasy.”
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo en el Teatro Cervantes durante la celebración del Festival de Cine de Málaga 2020. Photo Credit: Pedro J Pacheco, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Now, Fresnadillo has revealed to ScreenRant the entire film is on hold.
He informed the outlet, “That was a project that I was attached to years ago, but it was put on hold. From this day, to be honest with you, I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I think it’s a great project and a great story that needs to be told, but I don’t know what is gonna happen. Let’s see; fingers crossed.”
“As you can imagine, with all these movies, you never know when it’s going to happen,” he continued. I really hope that Disney greenlight the movie, but right now, I don’t know anything about it. Also, the experience that I have now after [Damsel] would be fantastic to apply to The Sword in the Stone, for sure.”
The Sword in the Stone (1963), Walt Disney Productions
The Sword in the Stone was an animated Disney film that released back in 1963 and was based on T.H. White’s books on Arthurian legend, The Once and Future King.
The animated film was written by Bill Peet with songs written by the Sherman Brothers. It was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and featured the voice work of Rickie Sorensen, Karl Swenson, Junius Matthews, Sebastian Cabot, Norman Alden, and Martha Wentworth.
The film followed a young Arthur as he encounters the wizard Merlin and goes through a number of trials where he learns about physics and gravity as well as encountering the evil witch Madam Mim that prepare him to become the King of England.
The Sword in the Stone (1963), Walt Disney Productions
What do you make of Fresnadillo confirming the project has been put on hold?
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