Marvel Star Chris Hemsworth to Lead Disney’s Prince Charming Movie

Chris Hemsworth is Marvel royalty — and soon to be a Disney prince. The Thor and Avengers star is in talks to play the lead role in Disney’s live-action Prince Charming movie, though the deal is not yet closed. Paddington and Wonka filmmaker Paul King is directing from a script he co-wrote with Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2) and Jon Croker (No One Gets Out Alive). Deadline first reported the news.

Disney’s Prince Charming is the regal royal who charms the humble servant Cinderella in Walt Disney’s 1950 animated classic, but Deadline reports that the new movie “will not specifically be linked to Cinderella.” Disney first began developing the Prince Charming movie in 2015, after Kenneth Branagh’s live-action adaptation of the famed fairy tale — which starred Lily James as Ella and Richard Madden as Prince Kit — grossed over $540 million at the global box office.

In the original Cinderella, Prince Charming dances with a mysterious maiden who flees the royal ball before midnight — and before the prince can learn her name. Using the single glass slipper she leaves behind, the Prince then casts a search throughout the kingdom to find his true love: the woman whose foot fits the slipper.

The unnamed Prince had a larger role in 1950’s Cinderella, including a solo musical number that was cut from the 74-minute film. He was co-lead in the 2007 direct-to-video animated sequel Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, where the sword-wielding Prince helps foil a magical plot by Cinderella’s cruel and cold-hearted stepmother, Lady Tremaine, to undo Cinderella and the Prince’s happily ever after.

An early version of Disney’s Prince Charming was written by Matt Fogel (The Super Mario Bros. Movie) and was to be produced by David Hoberman (Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast remake), Todd Lieberman (2022’s Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers), and Tripp Vinson (who produced the Hemsworth-starring Red Dawn remake in 2012). That version never materialized, but Disney followed 2015’s Cinderella with successful re-imaginings of such classic films as The Jungle Book, Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid.

Hemsworth most recently starred opposite Anya Taylor-Joy in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and voiced Optimus Prime in the animated Transformers One. He’s set to reunite with his Thor: Ragnarok co-star Mark Ruffalo in the Amazon MGM Studios thriller Crime 101 and the Australian actor is reportedly attached to headline the live-action Transformers / G.I. Joe crossover movie in the works at Paramount. Hemsworth is also expected to reprise his role as Thor, the Asgardian God of Thunder, in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2026 and 2027.