Disney has revealed a first-look image for its live-action Lady and the Tramp. The Mouse House has several live-action remakes of its classic animated films in the works right now, following the massive box office success of movies like Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, and Beauty and the Beast. While a majority of these retellings are being developed for theatrical release, there’s one notable exception. That would be Lady and the Tramp, a live-action reimagining of the studio’s 1955 animated feature that’s going to debut on the Disney+ streaming service when it launches.
Where Jon Favreau’s upcoming The Lion King remake features photorealistic but nevertheless CGI versions of the animals from the original animated movie, the live-action Lady and the Tramp will feature actual dogs and humans alike. Tessa Thompson (Thor: Ragnarok) and Justin Theroux (The Leftovers) are lending their voices to Lady and Tramp in the film, with Charlie Bean (The LEGO Ninjago Movie) directing from a script by Andrew Bujalski (Computer Chess). And while we’re still waiting on a trailer for the film, we now know what the movie’s namesakes will look like.
The Mouse House offered an extensive preview of Disney+ during its 2019 Disney Investor Day presentation, touching on everything from the service’s pricing and lack of ads to its now-official 2019 premiere date. In doing so, it revealed the first promotional still for the live-action Lady and the Tramp, as you can see from the screenshot below.
Judging by the details that’ve been revealed so far (this photo included), it seems that Lady and the Tramp will feel like a throwback to Disney’s talking dog movies from the 1990s and 2000s, like Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and The Shaggy Dog. Since it’s being made for Disney+, Lady and the Tramp will also be lower-budgeted than the Mouse House’s previous live-action remakes from the past ten years. As such, it promises to be something of a simpler film overall, complete with trained dogs whose “voices” are really just the cast’s vocal performances added to the footage in post-production (as opposed to them having animated talking mouths, or something to that effect). At least, that’s the expectation for the time being.
Lady and the Tramp itself is arriving at a contentious time for Disney’s live-action remakes. They’ve started to become increasingly controversial of late, as more and more people speak out against the idea of the Mouse House simply “re-imagining” all of their beloved cartoon features. The cracks in the studio’s methods are beginning to show too, with Tim Burton’s Dumbo under-performing at the box office and Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin drawing more than its fair share of criticisms pre-release. That said, audiences might feel differently about Lady and the Tramp getting a makeover, what with it featuring actual adorable pups - as opposed to digitally rendered ones - and being immediately available to watch at home via Disney’s streaming service. Neither of those things hurt the movie’s cause, anyway.
MORE: All the Live-Action Disney Remakes in Development
Lady and the Tramp begins streaming when Disney+ launches on November 12, 2019.
Source: Disney
