Tim Burton Will Direct Live-Action Dumbo for Disney!

The movie is still in development and doesn't have a release date

By Zach Johnson Mar 10, 2015 6:40 PMTags
DumboDisney

Dumbo has its director.

Tim Burton will helm the live-action reimagining of Walt Disney's 1941 animated classic. Sean Bailey, president of production, shared the news Tuesday, E! News can confirm. This isn't the first time Burton has collaborated with the movie studio, of course. The 56-year-old filmmaker produced and co-wrote 1993's The Nightmare Before Christmas, and he also directed 2010's Alice in Wonderland. Burton is also producing Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, which is slated for release on May 27, 2016.

Dumbo is still in development and doesn't have a release date.

A 70th anniversary edition of the animated film was released in the U.S. on Sept. 20, 2011.

Burton's project is one of many upcoming films based on the studio's animated classics. Cinderella, starring Lily James in the titular role, is in theaters Friday. In addition to Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, the studio will release a live-action version of The Jungle Book in 2016. It stars Neel Sethi as Mowgli, Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, Lupita Nyong'o as Raksha, Giancarlo Esposito as Akela and Christopher Walken as King Louie. Beauty and the Beast, adapted from the 1991 Academy Award winning animated feature, hits theaters in 2017. It stars Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as Beast and Luke Evans as Gaston.

Perhaps Burton should set up a meeting with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. After all, in the October 2013 issue of O, The Oprah, Magazine, the actor confessed, "It's one of the first movies that I remember seeing with my mother. That scene where Dumbo's mom reaches through the cage bars and cradles him in her trunk? So classic. I still put it on now and then, and always have a good cry." During a January 2014 appearance on TBS' Conan, Gordon-Levitt elaborated, saying, "It's a really good movie. It makes me cry every time." Though certain scenes in the film were grim, he said, "Fairy tales were always told to kids to actually teach them something."