Beauty and the Beast is a 2017 American musical romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon with a screenplay by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos.
The film is a live-action remake of Disney's 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast, which itself is based on the fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. The film stars Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast, with a supporting ensemble cast including Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, and Emma Thompson.
The film premiered at Spencer House in London on February 23, 2017, followed by its US premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on March 2. It was released theatrically in the United States in standard, Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D formats, as well as Dolby Cinema, on March 17. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its cast, songs, and visual detail. It grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2017 and the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time.
The film was released on Blu-ray, DVD, Blu-ray 3D, and Digital HD on June 6, 2017. It debuted at No. 1 on the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart, with all other titles in the top 20 selling only 40% as many units as Beauty and the Beast. The film regained the top spot on the national home video sales charts during its third week of release. Overall, the film made a revenue of $85.1 million from home video sales with 4.3 million units sold, making it the second best-selling film of 2017 behind Moana.
The film was re-released in New York City and Los Angeles for a one-week engagement starting December 1, 2017. The movie was an awards push as the 2017-18 awards season heated up. On March 16, 2015, Disney announced the film would be released in 3D on March 17, 2017. The first official presentation of the film took place at Disney's three-day D23 Expo in August 2015. On February 10, 2017, IMAX announced that the film would have an expanded aspect ratio of 1.90:1, revealing 26% more picture, only in IMAX theaters.
The film features a mix of live-action and computer-generated imagery, with the enchanted objects in the castle, such as Lumiere and Cogsworth, being brought to life through CGI. The film's score was composed by Alan Menken, with lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. The film's soundtrack features several new songs, including "Belle," "Be Our Guest," "Gaston," and "Beauty and the Beast." The film's music was praised by critics, with many noting that it stayed true to the original music while also updating the score with several new songs.
Overall, Beauty and the Beast is a visually stunning and well-acted film that stays true to the original fairy tale while also offering a fresh and modern take on the classic story.
Citations:
[1] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beauty_and_the_beast_2017
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_%282017_film%29
[3] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2771200/mediaindex
[4] https://moviesanywhere.com/movie/beauty-and-the-beast-2017
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvW_L8sTu5E