Disney is developing a movie based on the iconic “Night on Bald Mountain” closing sequence from the 1940 animated pic “Fantasia” for its latest live-action adaptation.
Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless will write the screenplay and executive produce the film, which is still in early development.
The classic animated pic “Fantasia” consisted of eight musical segments, including “Night on Bald Mountain,” which centered on a winged creature that raised the dead.
Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky created the music in 1867, which was arranged by Leopold Stokowski for the film. The original sequence was animated by Vadimir Tytla and had one of the longest shots ever produced in a multiplane camera.
This will be the studio’s latest live-action reimagining of an animated hit. Disney has already struck box office gold with “Alice in Wonderland,” whose sequel “Alice Through the Looking Glass” is slated for 2016, “Maleficent” and “Cinderella.”
Live-action versions of “Beauty and the Beast,” starring Emma Watson; Jon Favreau-directed “The Jungle Book” (whose all-star voice cast includes Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong’o, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley and Idris Elba); “Mulan”; Tim Burton-helmed “Dumbo”; “Winnie the Pooh”; and “Tinker Bell,” with Reese Witherspoon, are all in the works.
