This news excites us greatly. First we have a live action Cinderella starring Cate Blanchett as an evil hag, then there's Sleeping Beauty starring Angelina Jolie, also as an evil hag, and now we can expect a live action Beauty and the Beast also from the folk at Disney. The Oscar winning animation was probably up there with my favourite Disney stories growing up, so I could only hope a live action film would do justice to this 'tale as old as time'. It's now up to British screenwriter Joe Ahearne whose recently worked with Danny Boyle on Trance to deliver the goods on the movie with the tentative title: 'The Beast.'

As per Deadline, here Disney will continue with their recent trend of going darker into the fairytale world. With the recent success of Oz: The Great and Powerful, both critically and financially, it seems Disney have more than enough confidence to go forth with another live-action retelling of an age old classic.

As for the cast? We'll have to wait and see.

Bring it on!