 In June 2014 , it was announced that a live @-@ action film adaptation of the original film was in the works with Academy Award @-@ winning filmmaker Bill Condon ( Chicago , Dreamgirls , Gods and Monsters ) directing and Evan Spiliotopoulos writing the script . Condon originally planned on not only drawing inspiration from the original film , but he also planned to include most , if not all , of the Menken / Rice songs from the Broadway musical , with the intention of making the film as a " straight @-@ forward , live @-@ action , large @-@ budget movie musical " . In September 2014 , it was announced that Stephen Chbosky ( The Perks of Being a Wallflower ) will re @-@ write the script . In January 2015 , Emma Watson announced on her Facebook page that she will portray Belle in the new live action remake film . In March 2015 , Dan Stevens , Luke Evans , Emma Thompson , Josh Gad , Audra McDonald , and Kevin Kline joined the film as the Beast , Gaston , Mrs. Potts , LeFou , Garderobe , and Maurice , respectively . The following month Ian McKellen , Ewan McGregor , Stanley Tucci , and Gugu Mbatha @-@ Raw joined the cast as Cogsworth , Lumière , Cadenza , and Plumette , respectively . Composer Alan Menken will return to score the film 's music , with new material written by Menken and Tim Rice . In June 2015 , Menken said the film will not include the songs that were written for the Broadway musical . Filming began on May 18 , 2015 in London and production officially wrapped in August 2015 . The film is scheduled to be released on March 17 , 2017 . 
