Images From Live-Action ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Give First Look at Lumiere and Cogsworth

The first images of several fan-favorite characters from Disney’s upcoming live-action Beauty and the Beast reboot hit the internet today after months of anticipation.

The images, which are rumored to come from the film’s 25th Anniversary Blu Ray according to SlashFilm show two key settings from the film. The first appears to be a behind the scenes shot, and shows Luke Evans from behind as the villainous Gaston singing in his tavern to a large crowd, including Josh Gad as his sidekick Le Fou. The still looks to be from the film’s version of the Alan Menken/Howard Ashman song “Gaston” from the 1991 animated film.

The second shot displays concept art of the new CGI versions of popular characters Lumiere (the candlestick) and Cogsworth (the clock). The duo, voiced in the new film by Ewan McGregor and Sir Ian McKellen respectively, have a somewhat more realistic look than their traditional animated counterparts.

This is the first indication of how the 2017 film will tackle the singing “enchanted” objects that define the Disney version of the story.

While the characters may look different, some things are staying the same.

The film will be a musical using both the classic songs and new tracks written by Menken (Ashman passed away in 1991 just prior to the original film’s release). The composer gave some information about the new songs last year.

“So we wrote another song called ‘Forever More,’ like ‘I now know what love is.’ There’s another song called ‘Days in the Sun’ which is a lullaby as all the objects and characters living in the castle are going to sleep, they’re all singing about remembering before the spell. I think it’s gonna (sic) be a wonderful movie,” said Menken

Beauty and the Beast is scheduled to be released March 17, 2017 and stars Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, and Stanley Tucci in addition to Gad, Evans, McKellen, and McGregor. The film is based on the Oscar-nominated 1991 Disney animated version, which spawned a hit Broadway adaptation in 1994.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c38r-SAnTWM