Deadline reports that Will Smith is in talks to the join the remake of the animated classic, Dumbo. This would add the project to list of upcoming films starring Smith, such as Bright, as well as two Bad Boys sequels. This project is one of many upcoming Disney remakes, such as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Mulan, and Cruella (which is set to star Emma Stone). Deadline also says that the is one of the remakes that Disney is moving very fast into production with, seeing as it already has a wirter, a director, and is now seeking out a lead actor.
Like the previous news about this project, this was met with a reaction of "Huh?". The same thing happened when the project was announced back in 2014, when it was announced Ehren Kruger (the writer of Transformers 2-4) would be writing the film, and that Tim Burton (director of Batman) was attached to direct.
However, Smith possibly joining the project does beg the question: Who is he playing? There were no prominent human characters in the original animated film. Are they adding some in? Is he doing a voice over role? Is he voicing Dumbo? Timothy? Some could guess that he's playing one of the crows, but I doubt Disney would us those characters, seeing as they were very controversial the first time around. And if Smith is voicing a crow, expect them to be very different from the animated film.
So what do you think? Does this change your opinion on the remake? Or does feel like a weird decision like the previous announcements? Comment below.
Dumbo will be directed by Tim Burton and written by Ehren Kruger. The release date is unknown.