Directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed Avengers: Endgame and are currently working on the new live-action Hercules movie, are teasing what’s in store for a possible Disney Cinematic Universe.
According to ComicBook.com , Disney intends to develop the project beyond just one movie. They would like to take the Hercules property and spin an entire franchise’s worth of stories out of one movie.
Joe Russo offered an update saying: “It is still in development, the script is about to come in a week. We’ve taken a lot of time and care with it. They want to see something really cool that they wanna get lost in it for a decade, so that’s our mission is to provide them with that experience.”
He went on to say, “I think you always have to bring something new to the table because from our perspective as storytellers, it’s not compelling for us to do a literal translation. We’ve already done that with our Marvel films,” Anthony said. “We don’t do literal translations of the comics because we feel like if you want that story you can go read that story. We’re going to give you a different story. I think we’ll do something that’s in the vein of the original and inspired by it, but we also bring some new elements to the table.”
This should be no surprise as Disney continues to probe the waters with expanding various franchises. Disney’s live-action Aladdin was a huge success for the company and spawned a sequel, which is currently in development. 2017’s live-action Beauty and the Beast has also led to a prequel series in development for Disney+, and 2019’s live-action The Lion King also reportedly has a sequel in the works.
A release date has not been set yet for Hercules. Keep checking WDWNT for updates.
This has to be literally the worst idea ever.
This is not a cinematic universe, it’s a franchise. There is a huge difference.
Personally, I think there’s room for a Disney Cinematic Universe rooted in the cross-pollination Walt used in the creation of Disneyland (a place where all of the stories lived)… But it’s certainly a jump to think the Russo’s teased a ‘universe’ in development here. It could easily be ‘Hercules’ taking its cue from the countless stories from Greek mythology. There’s certainly a layered, decades worth of stories there. But we’ll see…
So a Once Upon a Time reboot?