Hercules is a classic Disney animated movie from 1997 that deals with Greek mythology — as you might have guessed from the name. Recently, Hercules was made relevant by Ariana Grande as the immensely popular singer performed the song "I Won't Say I'm In Love" from the movie during Disney's Family Singalong — which is now streaming on Disney+.
What's more, Grande also seemed to be lobbying for the role of Megara in a live-action remake of Hercules. That's at least what many of her fans thought as a petition to get her in the role amassed over 13,000 signatures and the suggestion blew up on Twitter. There seemingly wasn't a live-action remake of Hercules in the works back when that all went down two weeks ago.
Susan Egan, the voice actress who originally played Megara, even made it clear that she would be in favour of Grande playing the role — more on that here. What makes all this even more significant, though, is that Disney is reportedly now developing a live-action remake of Hercules.
It's said that this live-action remake would release in theatres rather than on Disney+ like the recent and upcoming live-action remakes of Lady and the Tramp, Lilo and Stitch, and Robin Hood. Jeffery Silver and Karen Gilchrist, both best known for The Lion King, are reportedly producing.
The live-action remake of Hercules will apparently feature the songs of the original as well as some new ones. Disney are apparently interested in getting Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book), Joe and Anthony Russo (Avengers: Endgame), or Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) to direct the remake. However, it's said that none of them are in talks with Disney just yet.
Once a director signs on, the studio will begin looking for actors. Apparently, the studio will meet with writers, directors, and actors via Zoom (the teleconferencing app) due to the lockdown. Given what we mentioned above, you would think Disney is considering Ariana Grande for the role of Megara. Then again, perhaps they just took all that as evidence that there's interest in a remake regardless of Grande's involvement.
All this comes way of The DisInsider. The site is often privy to exclusive information of this sort. So, this should all probably be taken at face value.