The fairy tale spirit may live on, as Disney has resumed development on a live-action film adaptation of its 2010 animated hit Tangled after putting it on indefinite hiatus earlier this year. Casting is currently pending confirmation, but Deadline reports that Avengers star Scarlett Johansson is circling the role of Mother Gothel, voiced by actress and singer Donna Murphy in the original.

Michael Gracey, of The Greatest Showman fame, is still attached to direct a script from Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, with Kristin Burr from Burr! Productions and Emmy winner Lucy Kitada (The Baby-Sitters Club) serving as producers. The studio’s decision to pause the project followed the tepid earnings of its Rachel Zegler-led Snow White reboot, although last year’s Lilo & Stitch painted a different picture with a total gross of over US$1 billion at the global box office; other musicals, including 2023’s Little Mermaid and 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, have enjoyed similar success.
Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about Rapunzel, Tangled centres on the magically long-haired eponymous princess, who has spent her entire life in a tower and was eventually rescued by an outlaw named Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi, Thor: Ragnarok). Mandy Moore voiced the character in the first movie, which generated US$592 million worldwide and scored an Oscar nomination for “I See the Light”.
The feature subsequently received two spin-offs: the 2021 short film Tangled Ever After and the 2017 TV series Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.