Disney's 'Oliver!' Remake Gets a Scriptwriter

A remake of the musical Oliver! is in the works at Walt Disney Co., and a scriptwriter for the [...]

A remake of the musical Oliver! is in the works at Walt Disney Co., and a scriptwriter for the film has just been found. As Deadline reports, Danny Strong (Game Change and The Butler) will be handling script duties for the musical remake, which is being helmed by Tony Award-winning director Tommy Kail (Hamilton).

This new version of Oliver! will have a twist, as Jeff Kwatinetz and Ice Cube of Cube Vision productions are producing the film alongside La La Land's Marc Platt. Ice Cube will also star in the iconic role of Fagin, a crimelord who uses the orphan boys as his personal gang of thieves and pickpockets. Things get dark for young Oliver when he falls in with Fagin's gang and must climb out of that hole.

The 1968 Oliver! won five Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Soundtrack) and launched a lineup of classic musical numbers, so this new version will have a lot to live up to. The closest comparison to this project we have is probably the 2014 Annie remake, which was produced by Jay-Z along with Will and Jada Smith.

Annie made a modest $133 million worldwide on a $65 million budget, and took a pretty hard critical drubbing. Let's hope Oliver fares better.

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