Beauty and the Beast

Because we tend to think of him more commonly as “slick neo-soul songbird” or “La La Land’s chief threat to the integrity of jazz” or “husband of Chrissy Teigen,” it can be easy to forget that John Legend’s got an Oscar under his belt. The musician and composer took the golden statuette for Best Original Song with his original tune “Glory” from Ava DuVernay’s thunderous Martin Luther King biopic Selma, and ever since, he’s been Hollywood’s go-to guy for poppin’ fresh (is that still what the kids are saying?) theme music. And today, a new announcement from Disney reported by Deadline lines up Legend’s next big gig.

We never got to hear Emma Watson’s singing had she not turned down La La Land, but thanks what we’ve got the new Beauty and the Beast for. The latest TV spot for Disney’s live-action remake, which debuted during the Golden Globes, features Watson singing “Belle” from the classic animated movie.

The Emma Watson-led Beauty and the Beast will come to theaters in a couple months’ time, but the cover version of the song as old as time needs to keep anticipation high until then. Watson did her part on Twitter earlier today by posting the first look at the latest theatrical poster for the live-action adaptation of Disney’s landmark animated film, perhaps the high-water mark of the Second Coming in the ‘90s. The new poster acts as an informal roll call for the new faces of this classic tale, including all the famous faces lending their likenesses to the film in one splashy design.

Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast hits theaters a little more than two months form now (!!!), and they’re already rolling out the TV spots. We’ve seen Belle meet the Beast and try to talk to a hairbrush, and now the Beast is getting a little bit of dating advice from his animate inanimate pals.

Despite volumes of scholarship from feminist theorists on its undertones of spousal abuse and insidious romanticizing of male brutality, Disney‘s Beauty and the Beast has remained a cherished childhood favorite worldwide. Kids love talking furniture, go figure. The live-action remake starring Emma Watson and an unrecognizable Dan Stevens is hot on the way to its March 17 release, and Disney has now released two new TV spots to further amp up the anticipation. In the first, embedded above, the Beast implores lovely Belle to “think of the one thing you’ve always wanted, and feel it in your heart.” We get a glimpse of the timeless ballroom-waltz scene, some barroom carousing from Gaston, and yet another look at the deeply unsettling character designs for Lumiere and Cogsworth.

With the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast officially one of the most anticipated movies of next year, and a trailer that looks just like the original cartoon (except with, you know, real people) we’ve all been dying to know what they sound like singing those iconic songs. I, for one, am most excited for Luke Evans to belt “Gaston” with as much gusto as the song allows for (a lot), but a ton of other classics will make their way into the picture, from the furniture and cutlery ensemble number “Be Our Guest” to the theme “Beauty and the Beast.” There’s been no official soundtrack release yet, but today we’ve gotten our first listen to Emma Watson’s Belle singing her part of the movie’s opening number.

When it comes to online movie polls, which ones do you think the public is usually most excited for: little indie pictures or huge superhero/sci-fi/fantasy blockbusters? Spoiler alert— it’s the blockbusters. Shocking, I know. In Fandango’s year-end poll of the most anticipated movies of 2017, Star Wars: Episode VIII, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and the live-action Beauty and the Beast took the top spots.

Everyone knows how Beauty and the Beast starts off — a haughty prince refuses to give shelter to an old lady who turns out to be a fairy, who then curses him and his whole castle, turning him into a monster and his staff into inanimate objects. Well, the inanimate objects are still pretty animate, able to talk and dance and sing at poor Belle, who should be checking her food for hallucinogens rather than singing along, but who cares, this is a Disney movie. For those of you dying to see the rest of the castle’s inhabitants in their more flesh-and-blood forms, they’re human again in a new poster standee for the movie.

I’d be hard-pressed to name a Disney villain I like as much as Beauty and the Beast’s Gaston. In addition to being a Sondheim-esque twist on the traditional idea of a fairy tale prince  —  vain, violent, and eager to confuse chivalry with misogyny  —  the character of Gaston has also become something of a method actor’s dream for Disney theme park employees. Remember the time that Gaston challenged a kid to a push-up contest? Or how about the time that Gaston got shouted down by a young girl? It turns out that no one goes viral like Gaston, either.

Over nearly 80 years, the 56 feature films from Walt Disney Animation Studios have become beloved and instantly recognizable their iconic fairy tales, memorable comic-relief sidekicks, terrifying villains, and some of the greatest songs in cinema history. This week heralds the release of Disney’s latest animated film, Moana, which boasts songs co-written by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. So there’s no better time to compile a list of the 25 best songs in animated Disney history — with a couple of important pre-list caveats. First, to avoid overloading the list with songs from only a few films, each movie here could only be represented by a maximum of two songs. Second, this list has films in the official Disney animation canon only, so nothing from Pixar or even The Nightmare Before Christmas. With that in mind, here’s the list!