Disney released a final trailer today for its live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. Directed by Bill Condon, the film, which is based on a public domain fairytale, will open in U.S. theaters on March 17.
The studio is promoting the film on Facebook with the tagline, “Rediscover a tale as old as time,” but “a tale as long as time” might be even more appropriate. The length of the new film has been padded out by nearly 40 minutes, expanding from a disciplined 84 minutes for the original to 123 minutes for the upcoming edition. Last year’s Jungle Book remake was similarly fluffed up by around half an hour.
The trailer, which summarizes the plot of the original animated version, doesn’t reveal the new scenes and songs that have most likely been added to justify the extra 40 minutes, but if the additions to The Jungle Book were any indication, it’s hard to improve on something that already works.
