Disney to re-imagine Beauty and the Beast

The classic fable of 'Beauty and the Beast' is to get the re-imagining treatment at Disney.

But the news comes with a pleasing twist – that British screenwriter Joe Ahearne is to pen the new project for the Mouse House.

[Related story: Oz sequel already in the works]

As well as writing Danny Boyle's forthcoming neo-noir 'Trance', Ahearne has also been responsible for writing cult vampire series 'Ultraviolet', as well as directing David Tennant several times in 'Doctor Who', which earned him a Bafta nomination.

According to Deadline, the film will be called 'The Beast', and will follow a slew of fairy tale-based excursions in Hollywood.

'Red Riding Hood', 'Mirror Mirror', 'Snow White and the Huntsman', 'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters' and 'Jack The Giant Slayer' have all emerged recently – not to mention Disney's fairytale-esque 'Oz: The Great and Powerful'.

Few of the titles have set the box office alight, however, other than Sam Raimi's new 'Oz' prequel and Tim Burton's 2010 'Alice In Wonderland', which scored over $1 billion worldwide, and is cited as the reason for the current obsession for rebooting fairy stories.

Though lessons will have to be learned from Bryan Singer's 'Jack The Giant Slayer', which suffered a disastrous opening weekend when it was released earlier this month.

So far it's pulled in just $66 million (£44 million) of its solid $195 million (£131 million) production budget.