Live-Action MULAN Movie On The Way From Disney

Saturday Night Live just made fun of Disney's recent habit of adapting their animated classics into live-action features with a sketch featuring Dwayne Johnson as a badass version of Bambi, and today brings news that the studio is already working on another live-action adaptation, this time of Mulan. THR has the story, which says that Disney has purchased a script from Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek "that centers on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, the female warrior who was the main character in Disney's 1998 animated film." Since this is still early in the process, there isn't any word yet about a director or actors who may be interested.

Mulan, of course, tells the story of a young girl who dresses like a man to take her aged father's place in the army to fight against the Hun onslaught. I wonder how they'll handle the dragon Mushu in the live-action version.

This is pretty much a no-brainer in the wake of the success of Cinderella, Maleficent, and Alice in Wonderland, but I'm still shocked that a live-action Aladdin hasn't been announced yet, because to me that seems like the most obvious slam-dunk when it comes to bringing these animated movies to life. While it'd be tough to find someone to follow in Robin Williams' footsteps as the Genie, Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer on The Simpsons) ably stepped up as a replacement in Return of Jafar, the Kingdom Hearts games, and the animated series, so if they keep the genie completely CGI in the inevitable remake, they could cast him since he already has experience. I'm guessing Disney isn't going to sit on that property forever. In the meantime, they have Beauty and the Beast and Dumbo already in the works, so we can probably expect more of these announcements very soon. Place your bets in the comments about what property you think they'll adapt next.

In the meantime, I'll have this stuck in my head for the rest of the day: