“Cats need an awful lot of music”: Disney continues to focus on live-action film adaptations of the greatest animated classics: a suitable director has now been found in Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for the live-action remake of “Aristocats”
After Disney’s big cats have already been successfully remade with “The Lion King”, the house cats of the Mouse House could soon follow suit: The legendary film studio is planning a live-action hybrid adaptation of the animation classic “Aristocats”.
As Deadline exclusively reports, it seems that a suitable director has already been found: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is to direct the remake. The musician, who won an Oscar for his documentary “Summer Of Soul” in 2022, will direct his feature film debut with “Aristocats” based on a script by Will Gluck (“Peter Rabbit”) and Keith Bunin (“Onward: No Half Measures”).
In addition, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson will also co-produce the film and be responsible for the film’s music. This last point in particular should delight music lovers, after all, “Aristocats” thrives on its wonderful jazz musical interludes and Questlove is an absolute music expert who has not only produced songs for genre greats such as Erykah Badu, Jay-Z, Amy Winehouse or John Legend, but also appears as a musician himself – for example, he has been the drummer of the rap group “The Roots” for years.
THAT’S WHAT “ARISTOCATS “
IS ABOUT.
Cats are musical creatures, but some of the house cats have been so domesticated by humans that they have almost completely forgotten their musical streak. This is the case with the well-behaved cat Duchesse, who lives a bourgeois cat’s life with her three children Marie, Berlioz and Toulouse at the home of the wealthy lady Adelaide Bonfamille in 20th century Paris. She is so fond of her noble furry noses that she even includes them in her will, much to the displeasure of her butler Edgar, who then comes up with a sinister plan.
He wants to get rid of the cats once and for all, so he stuns Duchess and her children and drops them off under a bridge far outside the city. Here the velvet paws soon meet the street cat Thomas O’Malley, with whom they make their way back into the city. In the process, the rough-and-tumble tomcat shows them what it means to be a real cat and to enjoy life to the fullest.
It is not yet clear whether we will see the “Aristocats” remake in the cinema or whether the film will perhaps 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.
