Walt Disney Studios has been in its live-action remake/re-imagining era since 2010’s Alice In Wonderland, and has numerous upcoming remakes on the way starting with The Lion King spinoff Mufasa hitting theaters at the end of the year. One particularly exciting remake we’ve had on our radar for four years now is the Russo Brothers’ Hercules movie. Updates on the project have been rather sparse since it was announced, but the producers recently spoke on the subject.
The Latest On The Live-Action Hercules Movie
The Russo Brothers famously helmed several of the Marvel movies in order, including by capping off Iron Man and Captain America’s legacies with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Here’s what the producers said about what’s going on with the live-action Hercules movie four years after they were announced to be involved, per Total Film:
Waiting on a script.
It was April 2020 when the first report about a Hercules remake first surfaced. Right off the bat, the Russo brothers were connected as producers. Since then, they have produced six other movies (Cherry, The Gray Man, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Extraction 2, All Fun And Games and the upcoming Netflix film The Electric State), all of which have nothing to do with the 1997 animated classic going live-action. According to the Russos, the hold-up has to do with the script getting finished.
What Else We Know About The Disney Remake
Guy Ritchie, who previously helmed the live-action Aladdin, signed on to direct the live-action Hercules movie in 2022. However, it was reported at the top of the year that the director may no longer be doing the project anymore, but that has not been officially confirmed. The last time Ritchie had spoken about it was in 2022, when he shared hopes to shoot it “within the next year.” Obviously 2023 has since come and gone.
When the Russo Brothers first spoke about the live-action Hercules movie, they shared their hopes to give audiences a “different story” from the animated movie rather than a “literal translation.”
Who Could Star In The Live-Action Hercules
With a script still not finished for the live-action Hercules, a cast has yet to be assembled, but there has definitely been some talk going around about who should star. After Danny DeVito was named as a popular pick to return as Philoctetes, the actor shared that “if they don’t put me in that, they don’t have a hair on their ass”, henceforth putting his name in the ring. Lizzo also reacted to fans calling for her casting as one of the Muses as well.
While the live-action Hercules still sounds like it's in early development, we can continue counting it among upcoming Disney movies! And the beloved original remains ours forever, of course.
