Disney has been on a roll as of late transforming their best-known animated properties into live-action adaptations. Now the studio is jumping into Peter Pan territory, as new reports are saying that Reese Witherspoon has been hired to headline a new Tinkerbell movie that will go simply by the name Tink.
News of this project comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter, which says that Witherspoon will not only be starring in the movie, but also producing it under her Pacific Standard banner. At this time, Tink is still very much in the early stages, and hasn't yet found a director, but a script is very much in the mix. Victoria Strouse has been hired by Disney to work on the screenplay, having had experience with the company while penning the upcoming sequel Finding Dory (which will be in theaters next year).
Given the title of Tink, it's pretty clear that this live-action effort is going to focus on Tinkerbell and tell her side of the story, but an interesting note in the trade report says that the film will "play with the idea and the timeline of the well-known Peter Pan narrative." It's hard to tell if this means that the movie will just tell the story of Peter Pan (which Walt Disney Animation Studios turned into a feature in 1953) from Tinkerbell's perspective, or that it will just fit in with the continuity of the famed fairy tale. It should be noted that there is a comparison drawn between this new project and last year's Maleficent - which had similar goals character-wise.
Of course, Disney isn't the only company getting into the Peter Pan game. Later this year, Warner Bros. will be releasing Joe Wright's Pan, which stars Hugh Jackman, Garret Hedlund, and Rooney Mara, and serves as a prequel to the classic story. That being said, the movie doesn't seem to have an actress playing Tinkerbell in the film, so perhaps Disney is seeing that as a greenlight to move forward with their plans.
Between Maleficent and Cinderella, Disney has had a tremendous amount of success thus far with their live-action adaptations, and that ball looks like it will be rolling for many years into the future. Director Bill Condon is in the midst of making a Beauty and the Beast film with Emma Watson; Tim Burton is making his own adaptation of Dumbo; writer Peter Hedges is in charge of bringing Pinocchio to life; and Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek are scripting a new Mulan.
Reese Witherspoon can actually be seen in theaters now, starring alongside Sofia Vergara in the critically-panned comedy Hot Pursuit, but is also just coming off of her Oscar-nominated performance in Jean-Marc Vallee's Wild. In addition to the Tinkerbell movie, she is also attached to reunite with director Alexander Payne on his next project, Downsizing, and just this month signed on to the new sci-fi project Second Life, and the "Astronauts With PTSD" movie Pale Blue Dot.
