The Sword In The Stone joined the ever-growing list of stories that Disney has raided from its animated library to turn into live-action adventures back in 2015. The movie now has a director in the shape of 28 Weeks Later's Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.
Game Of Thrones veteran Bryan Cogman has been sticking with swordplay to write the script for the new movie, which like the original, will loosely draw from T. H. White’s novel, which became a part of the multi-book Arthurian series The Once And Future King. While Sword focuses on Arthur’s youth, the books follow his rise to power and his struggles with ruling the isle of Gramarye, trying to prove that chivalry can be just as effective as force, but ultimately realising that even he needs to use might to maintain order.
Fresnadillo's hiring would seem to point to the Mouse House looking to get a darker tone for the film than the 1963 outing, though an Arthurian adventure appears more of a risk after King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword failed to make much of an impact last year. Still, Disney has another project in the works alongside this one, with Ridley Scott developing a Merlin-based movie.