Earlier this month, Colman Domingo surprised Disney fans with the news that he was working on a live-action movie based on Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog. Tiana is a beloved character, The Princess and the Frog is a popular movie, and Domingo is a celebrated actor and director, yet this news still wasn’t automatically good news for everyone. In large part, that is because of what live-action movies have come to be associated with when it comes to the House of Mouse.
Namely, Disney has increasingly put out live-action remakes of their classic movies, but unfortunately, they’ve rarely been popular. There have be some exceptions, such as 2015’s live-action Cinderella and the 2023 live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, both of which performed fairly well. However, on the whole, live-action remakes like Lilo & Stitch, Snow White, and most recently, Moana have put a bad taste in audiences’ mouths, which is what made many fans of The Princess and the Frog nervous when this news first came out. However, Domingo just assuaged everyone’s fears with this exciting new update.
It seems Domingo’s Princess Tiana project is going to avoid this thorny issue with live-action Disney remakes altogether because this movie will not, in fact, be a remake. Instead, Domingo recently revealed, this will be a brand-new movie, based on the characters from the original film. Speaking with Deadline, Domingo explained, “One of my comrades, Robert O’Hara, was seeking to develop a piece that is based on the film, but it really is about, like, really looking at the family and tying everyone in together.”
He continued, “All the magic and the spiritual nature of New Orleans and Mardi Gras and centering all these characters that we’ve loved from the film and putting them into this live action that is grounded and has humor and heart.” These comments make it quite clear that this new project is not going to be telling the same story of The Princess and the Frog but rather will be an entirely new narrative. What’s especially fascinating and exciting about this concept is just how much this new story could therefore entail.
Presumably, this movie could jump many years into the future and show what Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen are doing now or show more from Tiana’s childhood—or, potentially, some combination of the two. In fact, Domingo’s comments about family even suggest that this new movie could feature more of Tiana’s dad, who passed away before the main narrative of The Princess and the Frog began, which fans would no doubt be delighted to see.
However, it might be quite some time before audiences finally get to see what this new movie will really include, as Domingo confirmed in the same interview that no writing has begun on the project, saying, “We haven’t even put pen to paper, but we’re thinking and gestating on what could that be?”
