Questlove to direct live action take on Disney’s The Aristocats

by Dan Cooper |
Film still from The Aristocats. A white cat, Duchess, and ginger cat, Thomas O'Malley, sit opposite each other with a harp between them.
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The acclaimed musician and filmmaker Questlove will take up the reins on Disney’s revival of its animated classic The Aristocats.  It’s been around a year since we heard anything regarding Disney’s intention to create a live action version of its 1970s animated tale, The Aristocats. Reports last January surfaced and suggested that Will Gluck was set to helm a live-action adaptation of the animated hit. Things have been pretty quiet since then but a fresh report today via The Hollywood Reporter signals a creative change in the project. Now it looks like Amir ‘Questlove’ Thompson, Grammy and Oscar winner, will be making his feature debut in the director’s chair to bring The Aristocats to fruition. Perhaps those original reports overstated Gluck’s role, although the Peter Rabbit director is creatively involved: the film is based on his script and he and he and his production company are producing. The 1970 animated film follows a family of well-off cats living in Paris. When the butler discovers the pets will inherit their owner’s fortune, he kidnaps them and abandons them in the countryside. The pampered cats must learn to survive on their own, and get home before their inheritance is stolen. The original Aristocats was a big success in 1970, grossing $191 million at the worldwide box office on a $4 million budget. It also cemented its place in popular culture with catchy song ‘Ev’rybody Wants To Be A Cat’. This new film will join Disney’s other live-action remakes of its’ animal-centric films – including The Lion King, Jungle Book and Lady And The Tramp. Plus, on the non-animal front we have live action remakes of The Little Mermaid and Snow White on the way as the House of Mouse continues to mine its back catalogue for animated titles to give the live action treatment. We’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it. — Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website: Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here. Buy our Film Stories and Film Junior print magazines here. Become a Patron here.
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