Beastly movie news: Early peek at ‘Beauty and Beast,’ new ‘Fantastic Beast’ star

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Entertainment Weekly got the scoop on Disney’s first images of the live-action “Beauty and the Beast,” with a dolled up Emma Watson and a CGI’d Dan Stevens waltzing across the new cover.

“I can’t even think how many times I watched it as a child,” said Watson, best known until now for the Harry Potter movies. “I knew all the words by heart. I knew all the songs by heart.”

Bill Condon’s new take on the 1991 animated classic also stars Luke Evans as Gaston — he played tough guys in “The Girl on the Train” and “Hobbit” films — and Josh Gad as sidekick Le Fou. The Beast’s enchanted servants are an all-star British cast of Ewan McGregor (as Lumiere the candelabra), Ian McKellen (Cogsworth the clock) and Emma Thompson (Mrs. Potts). The movie arrives March 17.

More ‘Beasts’

Speaking of beasts and Harry Potter, the Potter prequel/spinoff “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is due in theaters Nov. 18, but everyone seems to be talking about its sequel, due November 2018. The big news is that Johnny Depp, of all people, will have a big role. And he has a cameo in the first “F.B.” The theory is he’ll play Gellert Grindelwald, the dark wizard who befriended a young Albus Dumbledore and then wreaked all sorts of havoc. Also, according to Movie Web, director David Yates says the action will move from New York City to Paris.

Going Solo

We don’t know much about the untitled “Star Wars” prequel that tells Han Solo’s origin story. But we do know that Alden Ehrenreich (whom we’ll see in this month’s Howard Hughes biopic “Rules Don’t Apply”) stars as Han, and Donald Glover is his sometime friend Lando Calrissian. But cinematographer Bradford Young has full confidence in directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (“The Lego Movie”). “They are prepared to say exactly what they wanna say and it’s complex, it’s layered, it’s smart, it’s visual, it’s dramatic, it’s funny, it’s uneasy, it’s unexpected, he told Collider. “We’re doing our own thing, that’s why we’re there.” The movie takes off in May 2018.

This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 4:46 PM with the headline "Beastly movie news: Early peek at ‘Beauty and Beast,’ new ‘Fantastic Beast’ star."