Aladdin Director Guy Ritchie to Helm Disney’s Live-Action Hercules

While it certainly didn’t feel like a Guy Ritchie film, the live-action Aladdin still made a lot of bank at the box office, and it looks like the director is ready for one more team-up with the House of Mouse.

According to IndieWire, Guy Ritchie has signed on to direct a live-action adaptation of Disney’s Hercules from 1997. No cast members have been announced yet, but we should expect more or less the same treatment that the live-action adaptations have been doing to the animated source material.

While the story of Hercules has been told time and again by various studios, the Disney version shines by not including so many of the gory details in the original Greek myth, and instead focusing on Hercules as a god among men, searching for a place to belong.

Besides the fun Disney humor and colourful animation, the movie also has a wonderful soundtrack which takes inspiration from gospel and soul music—most evident with the musical numbers from the Muses:

We don’t know who Disney has in mind to cast, but they should definitely get a Hercules that is able to pull off the impressive physique. Since he’s a bit on the young side, some have been fan-casting Noah Centineo for the part—after all, he was set to be Netflix’s live-action He-Man before they cancelled the project.

One thing’s for sure though, they definitely have to bring back Danny DeVito to reprise the part of Herc’s trainer Phil. They can even do it with DeVito in just prosthetics.

As a fan of Ritchie, I was kind of disappointed that none of his signature style really showed off in Aladdin, but hopefully he’ll be more original when it comes to a property like Hercules.

No release date has been set for the film.