Disney’s Live-Action Hercules Is a Tiktok-Inspired Musical

From zero to hero — to TikTok star? Disney’s live-action adaptation of the 1997 animated movie Hercules will look to the short-form video app TikTok for inspiration, says producer Joe Russo. In their first film for Disney since Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame in 2019, filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo’s AGBO studio is producing the re-imagining from Guy Ritchie, director of Disney’s live-action Aladdin remake that starred Will Smith. Like the original animated Hercules, an unconventional and often anachronistic comedy from The Little Mermaid duo of John Musker and Ron Clements, the live-action version will be a musical with a modern filter — so to speak — on ancient Greece.

The AGBO-produced Hercules will be “a little bit more experimental in tone, a little bit more experimental in execution,” Russo told Variety. “I think they’re excited to see what we can all bring to it in a way that isn’t just a reinterpretation of the animated film. Guy is perfect for it because he has penchant for experimentation.” 

Ritchie is developing his own take on the script from David Callaham, whose credits include Wonder Woman 1984, Marvel’s Shang-Chi, and the upcoming live-action He-Man movie Masters of the Universe. 

Russo confirmed Disney’s live-action Hercules will be a musical like the original, and like the animated movie, serve as an unconventional approach on the Greek mythology of such figures as Zeus and hot-headed Underworld ruler Hades. 

“There are questions about how you translate it as a musical,” Russo said. “Audiences today have been trained by TikTok, right? What is their expectation of what that musical looks like and feels like? That can be a lot of fun and help us push the boundaries a little bit on how you execute a modern musical.”

The Russos’ relationship with Disney dates back to before 2014, when the brothers directed the Marvel Cinematic Universe installment Captain America: The Winter Soldier. They returned for its 2016 sequel, Captain America: Civil War, and the two-parter Infinity Saga climax Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and Avengers: Endgame in 2019. 

“We have an amazing relationship with them that we’ve built over a decade,” Russo said. “I think we have a point of view on how they can stretch the limits of their IP moving forward, rather than playing IP management.”

The animated Hercules centered on the super-strong Hercules (voice of Tate Donovan) and his journey to return home to Mount Olympus by proving he can move from “zero” to true hero. With his flying stallion Pegasus and personal trainer Phil (voice of Danny DeVito), Hercules must match wits with Grecian beauty Meg (voice of Susan Egan) and battle Hades (voice of James Woods), who plots to unleash the Titans and rule over the gods.