After Disney’s big cats have already been successfully relaunched with “The Lion King”, the house cats of the mouse house could soon follow: So the legendary film studio is planning a live-action hybrid adaptation of the animated classic “aristocrats“.
How exclusively reported, it seems that a suitable driver has already been found: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson to ramp up the remake. The musician, who won an Oscar for his 2022 documentary Summer Of Soul, is making his feature film directorial debut with The Aristocats, from a screenplay by Will Gluck (Peter Rabbit) and Keith Bunin (Onward).
In addition, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson will also co-produce the film and be responsible for the film’s music. Especially the last point should inspire music pleasure, after all, “Aristocats” lives from its beautiful jazz-musical interludes and Questlove is an absolute music expert who is not only known for genre greats such as Erykah Badu, Jay-Z, Amy Winehouse or John Legend Has produced songs, but also performs as a musician himself – he has been the drummer for the rap group “The Roots” for many years.
That’s what “Aristokatten” is about
Cats are musical creatures, but some cats have been so domesticated by humans that they have almost completely forgotten about their musical streak. This also applies to the well-behaved cat Duchesse, who leads a middle-class cat life with her three children Marie, Berlioz and Toulouse in 20th-century Paris with the immensely wealthy lady Adelaide Bonfamille. She is so fond of her noble fur noses that she even mentions them in her will, much to the dismay of her butler Edgar, who then comes up with a sinister plan.
Wanting to get rid of the cats once and for all, he drugs Duchesse and her children and puts them under a bridge far outside of town. Here the velvet paws soon meet the alley cat Thomas O’Malley, with whom they start their way back to the city. The tough tomcat shows them what it means to be a real cat and enjoy life to the fullest.
It is not yet clear whether we will see the remake of “Aristocats” in theaters or whether the film will come directly to Disney+. Since the film is also still in a very early stage of development, we don’t expect a release until mid/late 2024 at the earliest.