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Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" Is Getting A Live-Action Adaptation, and "Frozen"s Own Olaf Actor May Star in It!

Walt Disney Pictures
Looks like the bells of the Notre Dame have rang loud enough, as The Hunchback of Notre Dame is getting a live-action adaptation!

On January 16, Deadline first reported that a live-action remake of the 1996 Disney animated classic, which was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, is currently being developed by Disney.

While currently not much is known about the upcoming Hunchback of Notre Dame live-action production as it's still in its early stages of development, Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang will be writing its script.

Hwang won the 1988 Tony Award for Best Play for his musical M. Butterfly, and has also written the plays Kung Fu, Yellow Face, Golden Child and Chinglish. Hwang has previously collaborated with Disney in writing the book for the musical Tarzan and Elton John and Time Rice's Aida, which was originally produced by Walt Disney Theatrical.

Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, who co-wrote the music of 1996 Disney animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score for their work, will be returning to the world of the Quasimodo in 1482 Paris to write the music for the live-action adaptation.

While Menken has worked as a songwriter for films like The Little Mermaid, Hercules, and both the animated and live-action Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin (with the live-action Aladdin coming out in May 2019), Schwartz has also worked collaborated with Disney as a lyricist for Enchanted and Pocahontas, and composed the musicals Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, and more recently The Prince of Egypt.

Composer Alan Menken having fun and playing with Beauty and the Beast stars Josh Gad and Luke Evans. LA Times

 Josh Gad, who has collaborated multiple times with Disney as that adorable snowman Olaf in Frozen and LeFou in the live-action Beauty and the Beast adaptation, is set to produce with Mandeville Films, which also produced the 2017 Beauty and the Beast film. Gad has been rumored to be potentially playing the title character, but no casting has been confirmed yet.

 The upcoming live-action musical adaptation will be inspired from both the 1996 Disney animated film and the 1831 Victor Hugo novel by the same name from Disney and other film and musical adaptations have been originally inspired by.

No release date has been yet given for the Hunchback of Notre Dame live-action film, but as reported by Deadline it is expected to be released as a feature film, which will likely hit theaters in the upcoming years.

Making this adapted Hunchback of Notre Dame film and the 1996 animated film from which it will partially be inspired by has been a long work in progress. David Hoberman, who founded Mandeville Films in 1995 which is co-owned by Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, had been strongly interested in making a live-action film of the Hunchback for more than 30 years, as far back when he was president of the Motion Picture Group at Disney. His efforts led to the animated film we've all come to know and love, as well as a limited TV series that followed after.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my favorite Disney films, so knowing the people involved in writing its script, music and producing, whose work I admire and respect, gives me hope and a lot to be excited for. Looking forward to be amazed...whenever the film comes out!

How do you feel about the upcoming live-action adaptation? Are you as hopeful as I am and suddenly feel like wanting to watch the animated film again and sing "The Bells of Notre Dame" whose lyrics you may (definitely) know by heart?

Sincerely, Dora Goto

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