Beauty and the Beast

We haven’t seen a year like this since 1958.

It might be a tale as old as time, but audiences have proven there’s still a few petals left on that old flower. Despite being projected to open at somewhere between $214–245 million worldwide, Beauty and the Beast knocked the pants off those projections, eclipsing $350 million at the international box office and setting a March record for domestic releases along the way. Let’s take a look at how things shook out this past weekend with some of the expected grosses.

Disney has really put their marketing for the upcoming Beauty and the Beast on steroids lately, giving us all-too-short glimpses of some really iconic scenes. First it was Josh Gad and Luke Evans in a few seconds of (the best song) “Gaston” on Good Morning America. Now it’s almost a full minute(!) of the opening number “Belle,” that serves as a great introduction to our heroine and an opportunity for everyone else in the town to air their grievances about her.

As you can probably imagine, animated movies are dubbed into other languages for distribution in other countries. But did you know that for the Chinese version of Beauty and the Beast featured Jackie Chan as the voice of the Beast? And not only did Jackie provide the Beast’s dialogue, he even sung his songs? He did a great job too; that’s just one of the timeless Beauty and the Beast facts featured in the newest episode of You Think You Know Movies!

About a month and a half separate the viewing public from the much-hyped live-action remake of Disney’s essential fairytale Beauty and the Beast. While regular TV viewers and net-surfers can look forward to an uninterrupted stream of commercials and ads until then, Disney has given one last push of publicity today with the final trailer promoting their handsomely-appointed new film. And as if to sweeten the deal, they included a snippet of the previously announced re-recording of the majestic theme tune, as sung by La La Land jazz-diluter John Legend and travel-size pop starlet Ariana Grande.

Despite volumes of scholarship from feminist theorists on its undertones of spousal abuse and insidious romanticizing of male brutality, Disney‘s Beauty and the Beast has remained a cherished childhood favorite worldwide. Kids love talking furniture, go figure. The live-action remake starring Emma Watson and an unrecognizable Dan Stevens is hot on the way to its March 17 release, and Disney has now released two new TV spots to further amp up the anticipation. In the first, embedded above, the Beast implores lovely Belle to “think of the one thing you’ve always wanted, and feel it in your heart.” We get a glimpse of the timeless ballroom-waltz scene, some barroom carousing from Gaston, and yet another look at the deeply unsettling character designs for Lumiere and Cogsworth.

When it comes to online movie polls, which ones do you think the public is usually most excited for: little indie pictures or huge superhero/sci-fi/fantasy blockbusters? Spoiler alert— it’s the blockbusters. Shocking, I know. In Fandango’s year-end poll of the most anticipated movies of 2017, Star Wars: Episode VIII, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and the live-action Beauty and the Beast took the top spots.

The wait for the full Beauty and the Beast trailer has reached agonizing levels, as Disney spent the last couple of months promoting the new 25th anniversary Blu-ray release of the classic animated film. Thankfully, we’ve gotten a few sneak peeks at the live-action redo via concept art, behind-the-scenes stills and a clip from a featurette on the aforementioned Blu-ray — and now we have a couple of new photos giving us our first look at Emma Watson’s Belle and Dan Stevens’ beast. But still no trailer. Sad trombone.

It’s been about four months since Disney premiered the first teaser for their live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, and the wait for the official, full-length trailer hasn’t gotten any easier. Following last week’s reveal of concept art and behind-the-scenes photos, the studio has debuted a clip from a new sneak peek that’s included on the upcoming 25th anniversary release of the animated classic.

“Ever just the same. Ever a surprise.” One imagines those lyrics from “Beauty and the Beast” will apply particularly well to this new version of Disney’s animated classic, coming to theaters next year.