<\/p>\n
Almost a decade ago, Disney reimagined a classic animated film<\/a> with a modern princess twist, giving audiences a heroine who was bold, independent, and unforgettable.<\/p>\n The live-action version of Beauty and the Beast<\/em> starring Emma Watson<\/a><\/strong> was released in theaters on March 17, 2017. It reimagined the classic story for a modern audience while preserving the magic of the original animated film.<\/p>\n From the film’s opening moments, audiences were swept away by the film\u2019s stunning visuals, elaborate costumes, and the magic of a story that feels both timeless and brand new. Watson’s Belle was charming, smart, and spunky, traits that made her impossible not to root for.<\/p>\n In a Disney featurette<\/a>, Watson explained Belle’s modern twist. She explained she \u201cwanted to give her this element of being quite industrious and very inventive. I know what she meant to me as a young girl. When you love something that much, you really want to do it justice.\u201d<\/p>\n Parade Daily<\/strong>\ud83c\udfac <\/strong>SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/strong><\/a> \ud83c\udfac<\/strong><\/p>\n The film’s director, Bill Condon<\/strong> said that this version of Belle’s story was different from the original. In the updated version, Belle wasn’t looking for a prince to save her.<\/p>\n He called the character “the first modern Disney princess who doesn\u2019t want to be a princess. Someone more interested in figuring out who she is than finding a guy and getting married.\u201d<\/p>\n To Vanity Fair<\/a><\/em>, Watson further explained the updated heroine. \u201cI hope girls and anyone who watches the film understands that when you feel odd or different, it\u2019s O.K. Belle didn\u2019t fit in, and she didn\u2019t let people judge her\u2014and that made her strong and important.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED: 76 Years Ago Today, Disney Released One of Its Most Beloved Animated Classics<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The 2017 version of the film would go on to gross over $1.2B worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo<\/a>. In contrast, the 1991 animated film version<\/a> grossed $451M worldwide.<\/p>\n This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Mar 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aol.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Almost a decade ago, Disney reimagined a classic animated film with a modern princess twist, giving audiences a heroine who was bold, independent, and unforgettable. The live-action version of Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson was released in theaters on March 17, 2017. It reimagined the classic story for a modern audience while preserving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2333270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[23301,368981,330223,452138,452139],"class_list":["post-2333269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-disney","tag-disney-princess","tag-emma-watson","tag-modern-princess","tag-modern-twist"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2017-Film-That-Gave-a-Disney-Classic-a-Modern-Princess.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2333269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2333271,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333269\/revisions\/2333271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2333270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2333269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2333269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2333269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}