Even though Warner Bros. is working on its own films about the King Arthur legends, the Walt Disney Company is reportedly developing a live-action remake of The Sword in the Stone. The studio first adapted T.H. White’s version of the Arthurian legends in 1963.
News of the project was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. It will be written by Game of Thrones writer/producer Bryan Cogman and produced by Brigham Taylor, a producer on Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
The Sword in the Stone was the final Disney animated film released before Walt Disney’s death in 1967. Released in 1963, it is based on the first novel in White’s King Arthur trilogy, The Once and Future King. The story centers on a young Arthur, nicknamed Wart, who is mentored by Merlin and pulls the sword from the stone.
As Variety points out, Cogman appeared to confirm the rumors on Twitter, posting a picture of himself at the sword in the stone in Disneyland. He wrote “research” in the caption.
This project is one of over 10 in the works at Disney that is based on stories already adapted by the studio as an animated or live action film.
At the moment, Warner Bros. is also working on a film about the Arthurian legends. Guy Ritchie’s Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur hits theaters in July 2016.