The surest sign that it’s awards season again is when movie studios rerelease the movies they fear critics and voters may have forgotten from earlier in the year. This year, that movie for the Walt Disney Studios is the live-action remake “Beauty and the Beast.” It will be released in theaters in New York City and Los Angeles for exclusive screenings.
“Beauty and the Beast” is the year’s highest-grossing film so far having earned more than $1 billion worldwide at the box office. The film was released domestically on March 16 of this year and quickly became the highest grossing film domestically and internationally, and the biggest live-action movie musical of all time.
Beauty will screen for one week at the AMC Century City in Los Angeles and AMC Empire 25 in New York beginning December 1. Members of AMPAS, BAFTA, ACE, ADG, ASC, CAS, DGA, HFPA, MPEG, MPSE, PGA, WGA, CDG and VES will be admitted with a guest to screenings at both theaters with valid membership card.
If you were on the nominating committee, which Academy Award categories would you add “Beauty and the Beast” to?
About the film:
Directed by Bill Condon and based on the 1991 animated film, “Beauty and the Beast” is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a Beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart of the true Prince within. The film stars: Emma Watson as Belle; Dan Stevens as the Beast; Luke Evans as Gaston, the handsome, but shallow villager who woos Belle; Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle’s father; Josh Gad as LeFou, Gaston’s long-suffering aide-de-camp; Ewan McGregor as Lumière, the candelabra; Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, the harpsichord; Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe, the wardrobe; Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, the feather duster; Hattie Morahan as the enchantress; with Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, the mantel clock; and Emma Thompson as the teapot, Mrs. Potts.
“Beauty and the Beast” is written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos and produced by Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman, p.g.a. and Todd Lieberman, p.g.a. with Jeffrey Silver, Thomas Schumacher and Don Hahn serving as executive producers. Alan Menken, who won two Academy Awards® (Best Original Score and Best Song) for the animated film, provides the score, which includes new recordings of the original songs written by Menken and Howard Ashman, as well as three new songs written by Menken and Tim Rice.