--- title: Beauty and the Beast Movie: What to Know, Cast, Release Date description: Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, already one of the most discussed movies of 2017, hits theaters March 17 canonical: https://time.com/4674071/beauty-and-the-beast-what-to-know/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-24T21:33:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T11:49:27.000Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Everything You Need to Know About Disney's New 'Beauty and the Beast' Movie og:description: Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast hits theaters March 17 og:url: https://time.com/4674071/beauty-and-the-beast-what-to-know/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9589e3e1c5d8177/6988b4340b72e309836ec270/emma-watson-beauty-and-the-beast.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Everything You Need to Know About Disney's New 'Beauty and the Beast' Movie twitter:description: Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast hits theaters March 17 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9589e3e1c5d8177/6988b4340b72e309836ec270/emma-watson-beauty-and-the-beast.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Everything You Need to Know About Disney's New _Beauty and the Beast_ Movie > Sponsored content. 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Updated: Dec 13, 2023 11:49 AM UTCPublished: Feb 24, 2017 9:33 PM UTC Disney’s [live-action adaptation of _Beauty and the Beast_](http://time.com/4654739/beauty-and-the-beast-trailer-emma-watson/), one of the [most-anticipated movies of 2017](http://time.com/4596089/most-anticipated-movies-2017/), hits theaters March 17\. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the premiere. **The film has a** [**star-studded cast**](http://time.com/3822701/beauty-and-the-beast-emma-watson-cast-photo/)**.** [Emma Watson](http://time.com/4676604/emma-watson-belle-beauty-and-the-beast-2/) plays Belle and [Dan Stevens](http://time.com/3732813/dan-stevens-emma-watson-beauty-and-the-beast/) inhabits the Beast. Luke Evans [will fight like Gaston](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuJTqmpBnI0) while Josh Gad portrays sidekick Le Fou. Kevin Kline will also appear as Belle’s father, Maurice. **Emma Watson is aware of the common critiques of the plot.** In a recent [interview with _Entertainment Weekly_](http://ew.com/movies/2017/02/16/beauty-and-the-beast-emma-watson-belle-beast-relationship/), Watson defended Belle’s relationship with the Beast, which some say encourages women to stay in abusive relationships. “It’s something I really grappled with at the beginning; the kind of Stockholm Syndrome question about this story,” she said. “That’s where a prisoner will take on the characteristics of and fall in love with the captor. Belle actively argues and disagrees with \[Beast\] constantly. She has none of the characteristics of someone with Stockholm Syndrome because she keeps her independence, she keeps that freedom of thought.” Watson later [told _Vanity Fair_](http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/02/emma-watson-cover-story) that she took Gloria Steinem to see the final cut of the film because she wanted her to approve that the film did not conflict with feminist ideals. Steinem agreed, and said that the film “mirrored” Watson’s activism. **Playing Belle made Watson feel like she fully matured as an actor.** “When I finished the film, it kind of felt like I had made that transition into being a woman on-screen,” she told _Vanity Fair_. **MORE** [Here’s Proof That the New _Beauty and the Beast_ Trailer Is Pretty Much the Same as the Original](http://time.com/4573300/old-new-beauty-and-the-beast-trailers/) **Your favorite talking appliances are back and more alive than ever.** Lumiére ([Ewan McGregor](http://time.com/3830208/ewan-mcgregor-lumiere-beauty-beast/)), Mrs. Potts ([Emma Thompson](http://time.com/3746591/emma-thompson-mrs-potts/)), Cogsworth ([Ian McKellen](http://time.com/3818523/ian-mckellen-cogsworth-beauty-beast-disney/)), Plumette ([Gugu Mbatha-Raw](http://time.com/3819780/beauty-and-the-beast-gugu-mbatha-raw/)), Madame de Garderobe (Audra McDonald) and Chip (Nathan Mack) chatter away throughout the movie. And Stanley Tucci plays a [new character](http://time.com/3831145/stanley-tucci-beauty-and-the-beast/), Cadenza, a harpsichord. (See [character posters](http://ew.com/movies/2017/01/26/beauty-and-the-beast-character-motion-posters/) for each at _EW_.) **The film will feature Disney’s** [**first gay character**](http://time.com/4686896/disney-beauty-beast-emma-watson-dan-stevens-gay-character/)**.** Director Bill Condon told _Attitude_ that LeFou, played by Gad, is involved in a subplot that touches on his feelings for Gaston. “LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” Condon said. “Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its payoff at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a [Disney](http://fortune.com/fortune500/disney-53/) movie.” Condon’s announcement prompted controversy surrounding the “exclusively gay moment.” Evangelist Franklin Graham called for a [boycott](http://time.com/4691035/franklin-graham-beauty-and-the-beast-gay-character/) of the movie, saying in a Facebook post: “They’re trying to push the LGBT agenda into the hearts and minds of your children — watch out!” An Alabama movie theater has also announced it will [refuse to screen the film](http://time.com/4690579/alabama-theater-beauty-and-the-beast-gay/) upon its release. In March, Disney [indefinitely postponed the release of the film in Malaysia](http://time.com/4700660/beauty-and-the-beast-disney-malaysia/) after censors took out the brief gay scene in the movie, as scenes supporting homosexuality are forbidden in the predominantly Muslim country. Following the strong reactions, Condon said the whole matter had been blown out of proportion in an interview with [Screen Crush](http://screencrush.com/beauty-and-the-beast-bill-condon-gay-moment-overblown/). “Oh God. Can I just tell you? It’s all been overblown. Because it’s just this, it’s part of just what we had fun with,” Condon told Screen Crush. “You saw the movie, year? You know what I mean. I feel like the kind of thing this has been, I wish it were — I love the way it plays pure when people don’t know and it comes as a nice surprise.” Ewan McGregor, who plays the talking candlestick Lumière in the film, [had no time for the controversy](http://time.com/4700869/ewan-mcgregor-on-beauty-and-the-beast-gay-character/). During an appearance on _The Late Show_, McGregor told Stephen Colbert: “He’s a gay character. It’s 2017, for f-ck’s sake.” **No one is smug like Gaston.** The self-satisfied hunter, played by Evans, was [introduced](http://time.com/4684745/beauty-and-the-beast-gaston-clip/) in a new clip from Disney by Gad’s LeFou in proper, hammy musical form. > [](https://twitter.com/beourguest/status/836306421138403328) **Condon decided to remake the film to “distinguish Belle again, 25 years later, as a 21st century heroine.”** In an [interview with _EW_](http://ew.com/movies/2017/02/15/beauty-and-the-beast-behind-the-scenes-video/?xid=entertainment-weekly%5Fsocialflow%5Ftwitter), Condon said: “She is a character in an animated movie, so it is a question of taking these characters and putting them into this extra dimension, putting them into a live-action context, which means adding levels of psychology and nuance, and updating it.” **MORE** [How _Beauty and the Beast’s_ Screenwriter Shaped Disney’s First Feminist Princess](http://time.com/4344654/beauty-and-the-beast-linda-woolverton/) **Ariana Grande and John Legend sing an** [**updated version**](http://time.com/4659730/beauty-and-the-beast-song-2017/) **of the theme song.** The full movie soundtrack also features a song by Celine Dion and contributions from Josh Groban. **Belle is more than just a bookworm.** In the original animated movie, Belle’s father was an inventor while Belle stuck to reading books. But the live-action version presents Belle as the inventor, Watson [told](http://ew.com/article/2016/11/02/beauty-and-the-beast-emma-watson-kevin-kline/) _EW_. “In the animated movie, it’s her father who is the inventor, and we actually co-opted that for Belle,” she said “I was like, ‘Well, there was never very much information or detail at the beginning of the story as to why Belle didn’t fit in, other than she liked books. Also what is she doing with her time?’ So, we created a backstory for her, which was that she had invented a kind of washing machine, so that, instead of doing laundry, she could sit and use that time to read instead. So, yeah, we made Belle an inventor.” **The movie references Harry Potter.** Watson earned worldwide fame through her portrayal of Hermione Granger, and _Beauty and the Beast_ [acknowledges the role](https://www.moviefone.com/2017/02/23/beauty-and-the-beast-harry-potter-reference/) in a bit of dialogue that is very similar to a conversation from _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone_. In a clip released by Disney, Belle speaks with a man named Monsieur Jean who appears confused. “Have you lost something?” Belle asks. He replies, “I believe I have. Problem is, I can’t remember what.” > [](https://twitter.com/beourguest/status/833768214505009155) The exchange is a sly callback to a moment in Harry Potter when Neville Longbottom is showing his classmates his Remembrall—a ball that will turn red when the owner has forgotten something. “The only problem is, I can’t remember what I’ve forgotten,” Neville says when the sphere turns red. **The film is one of** [**more than a dozen**](http://time.com/4525871/disney-live-action-movies/) **classics being remade by Disney.** Live-action versions of _Mulan_, _Aladdin_ and _The Lion King_ are among the ones expected to premiere in the next few years. **Critics have offered mostly positive reviews so far.** TIME movie critic Stephanie Zacharek [called](http://time.com/4689999/beauty-and-the-beast-review/) the film “wondrous” and said the musical arrangements are like “lush floral bouquets, laced with grand orchestral curlicues.” Currently, the movie has a 71% rating on [Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beauty%5Fand%5Fthe%5Fbeast%5F2017/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4674071/beauty-and-the-beast-what-to-know/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4674071/beauty-and-the-beast-what-to-know/"},"headline":"Everything You Need to Know About Disney's New Beauty and the Beast Movie","datePublished":"2017-02-24T21:33:31.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T11:49:27.000Z","description":"Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast hits theaters March 17","url":"https://time.com/4674071/beauty-and-the-beast-what-to-know/","keywords":["movies","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9589e3e1c5d8177/6988b4340b72e309836ec270/emma-watson-beauty-and-the-beast.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta9589e3e1c5d8177/6988b4340b72e309836ec270/emma-watson-beauty-and-the-beast.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BEAUTY AND THE BEAST","caption":"","creditText":"Laurie Sparham—Disney","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4674071/beauty-and-the-beast-what-to-know/","name":"Everything You Need to Know About Disney's New Beauty and the Beast Movie"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast hits theaters March 17","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4674071/beauty-and-the-beast-what-to-know/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4674071/beauty-and-the-beast-what-to-know/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```