The first teaser for Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” is now a record breaker, besting the trailers of many films marketed to boys.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the teaser was viewed 91.8 million times in its first 24 hours, more than previous champ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which earned 88 million, and also more than Disney’s Marvel holdings “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
The film, which opens March 17, 2017, is a live-action version of Disney’s animated movie and stars Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens (“Downton Abbey”) as the Beast. The all-star cast bringing both human and… non-human characters to life include Emma Thompson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“Belle), Audra McDonald (“Private Practice”), Ian McKellen, Kevin Kline, Ewan McGregor, and Stanley Tucci.
Now, lest we forget, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” did bring us a couple of amazing new female characters to join Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia. Daisy Ridley’s Rey is a total badass and feminist dream. And Gwendoline Christie’s Captain Phasma brought some much-needed femme fatale to the Stormtroopers.
But if there’s anything more powerful than the nostalgia of young men of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, it might just be the nostalgia of young women of the ‘90s. “Beauty and the Beast” was released in 1991 and offered something of a feminist twist on previously wrought Disney princesses. Belle was a book reader and a thinker who was brave, outspoken, and embraced her individuality. That’s not something that little girls got to see in “The Little Mermaid” just a few years before. Belle was a game-changer for the Disney Princess. And now all of those little girls who saw her in the movie theater are all grown up — and might just have daughters of their own to share this film with.
So eat your heart out, “Star Wars.” You’re up against a tale as old as time.