If you were already exasperated by Disney”s long lineup of live action remakes and by the studio race to win the multiverse game, prepare to be all the more exasperated. If you”re excited by all the mashups and reimaginings and crossovers, then, well, you may be happy to hear this news.
In the works in Tinseltown is a prequel to both Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Called Come Away (“Come away to Neverland…”), the film will be directed by Brenda Chapman, Deadline first reported today. It will be Chapman”s live-action debut – she directed Pixar”s Brave. Also among her story credits on animated films are Disney”s Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast.
That update about the film”s director is the brightest news about this project for those of us rooting for greater representation of women behind the camera.
This reworking of Lewis Carroll”s and J.M. Barrie”s tales isn”t coming from Disney though. (Both Alice and Peter Pan are in the public domain.) Former Paramount production president Michelle Manning is producing.
What new angle does this project have to bring to the table? Alice and Peter are brother and sister. After their eldest brother dies in a tragic accident, and the siblings are dealing with their own and their parents” despair, they discover Wonderland and Neverland and are forced to choose between home and imagination.
We”ll see if Disney fairy tale remake fatigue leaves us with any room to have interest in this one.