Emma Watson’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Sequel Idea Sounds Quite Pleasant
Although the tale (as old as tiiiime) of Beauty and the Beast is a self-contained one with no existing basis for continuation, that hasn’t stopped Disney from considering the possibilities of a follow-up to their recent live-action reimagining — especially now that it’s earned over $1 billion at the box office, breaking a previous record held by the seemingly untouchable Star Wars. But while Disney has been mulling a potential spinoff or prequel, Emma Watson would rather see a direct sequel, and she’s already come up with a good starting point.
While speaking with Access Hollywood, Watson said she’s open to reprising her role as Belle in Beauty and the Beast 2 — she even has an idea for where the sequel could begin:
I would love to do a sequel… I always thought that Belle would become a teacher and she would run a library in the castle and open it up to the village. This was where I was going.
Narratively speaking, revisiting the world of Beauty and the Beast doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. If Disney goes with a spinoff, which character(s) do they follow? Gaston and LeFou? If they go the sequel route, Watson’s concept is a nice starting point, and though it’s hardly the basis for an entire movie, it sounds…pleasant. Belle’s just hanging out in the library, loaning books to enrich the lives of the townspeople and sipping tea in the evenings under a soft cashmere blanket in that sick castle. Get Nancy Meyers to direct and cast Meryl Streep as the prince’s aunt who comes to open a bakery at the castle — imagine the KITCHEN.
To be honest, I’d much rather see a prequel that explores the life of Dan Stevens’ prince and fam before they were cursed. There was nothing more intriguing or delightful than the first five minutes of Beauty and the Beast, in which the prince is depicted as a Caligula-meets-Marie Antoinette type hosting a ball that was clearly on the verge of devolving into straight-up powdered wig hedonism, like the Disney version of Salo.
The success of Beauty and the Beast has inspired Disney to rush development on a handful of other live-action projects, including The Lion King (to be directed by Jon Favreau) and Aladdin (with Guy Ritchie at the helm) — and that barely scratches the surface of the increasingly exhaustive list of live-action remakes they have planned. Do they really need to add a Beauty and the Beast sequel / spinoff / prequel / cash-in to the mix?