An Always Up-to-Date Schedule of Musical Film Adaptations!
Keep checking back for the latest movie musical news!
By: Team BWW Feb. 23, 2021
Wondering when your favorite musicals will be adapted into films? BroadwayWorld is here to provide you with an always up-to-date list of film adaptations.
Easily reference this list for the latest news and hot topics regarding films in production and in development.
Last updated: December 28, 2022
UPCOMING...
THE LITTLE MERMAID
The live action take on 1989's The Little Mermaid features new music from original creator Alan Menken and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Release Date: May 6, 2023
Cast: Halle Bailey, Jacob Tremblay, Daveed Diggs, Jonah Hauer-King, Awkwafina, Noma Dumezweni, Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem
Creative Team: Rob Marshall (director), David Magee (screenplay), Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda (music)
Last Update (2022): Photo: Disney Debuts First THE LITTLE MERMAID Film Poster
THE COLOR PURPLE
Based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize winning novel and the Warner Bros. / Amblin Entertainment motion picture, The Color Purple is an unforgettable story of enduring love and triumph over adversity.
Release Date: December 20, 2023
Cast: Fantasia Barrino as Celie, Danielle Brooks as Sofia, Corey Hawkins as Harpo, H.E.R. as Squeak, Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery, Colman Domingo as Mister, Halle Bailey as Nettie
Creative Team: Blitz Bazawule (director), Marcus Gardley (screenplay)
Last Update (2022): Video: Halle Bailey Wraps Filming On THE COLOR PURPLE Movie with A Gift From Oprah
IN PRODUCTION...
WICKED
The Broadway sensation Wicked looks at what happened in the Land of Oz...but from a different angle.
Release Date: Part one released in December 2024; Part two released in Decemer 2025
Cast: Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Glinda, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard, Marissa Bode as Nessarose, Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Bronwyn James as ShenShen, Keala Settle as Miss Coddle, Aaron Teoh as Avaric, and Michael Carmichael as Nikidik.
Creative Team: Jon M. Chu (director), Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz (screenplay), Paul Tazewell (Costumes), Alice Brooks (Cinematographer)
Last Update (2022): Keala Settle, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode & More Round Out WICKED Movie Cast
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Merrily We Roll Along follows Franklin Shepard, a talented Broadway composer who abandons his theater career in New York and all his friends in order to produce movies in Los Angeles.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein, Blake Jenner
Creative Team: Richard Linklater (director)
Last Update (2022): Ben Platt Reveals Progress on MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Film
MEAN GIRLS
Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the wild and vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois.
Release Date: TBA on Paramount+
Cast: Angourie Rice as Cady Heron, Reneé Rapp as Regina George, Auli'i Cravalho as Janis Ian, Jaquel Spivey as Damien
Creative Team: Tina Fey (screenplay), Arturo Perez Jr. and Samantha Jayne (directors)
Last Update (2022): Reneé Rapp, Jaquel Spivey, Auli'i Cravalho & More Lead MEAN GIRLS Movie Musical Cast
BEAUTIFUL: THE Carole King MUSICAL
Beautiful tells the inspiring true story of Carole King's remarkable rise to stardom.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones as Carole King
Creative Team: TBA
Last Update (2022): Daisy Edgar-Jones to Play Carole King In BEAUTIFUL Film Adaptation
IN DEVELOPMENT...
FOLLIES
The original production of Follies premiered on Broadway in 1971, where it was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, and won seven.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Heyday Films (production company)
Last Update (2021): FOLLIES Movie Adaptation Is In the Works
SUNSET BOULEVARD
Based on Billy Wilder's classic Academy Award-winning film, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tony Award-winning Best Musical features a celebrated book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: Glenn Close as Norma Desmond
Creative Team: Rob Ashford (director), Tom MacRae (screenplay)
Last Update (2021): Glenn Close Reveals SUNSET BOULEVARD Film is 'Getting Closer'
COME FROM AWAY
Come From Away tells the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: David Hein and Irene Sankoff
Last Update (2021): Development on COME FROM AWAY Movie Adaptation Paused Indefinitely Due to COVID-19
FLOWER DRUM SONG
Concord Theatrical is developing a new take on the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein's show with Daniel Dae Kim's 3AD production banner and Janet Yang Prods.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: TBA
Last Update (2021): Concord is Developing a New Take on a FLOWER DRUM SONG Movie
GUYS AND DOLLS
Guys and Dolls features popular songs like "If I Were a Bell, "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," "Luck Be a Lady," "Adelaide's Lament," and "A Bushel and a Peck."
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Bill Condon
Last Update (2021): Bill Condon Will Direct New GUYS AND DOLLS Movie
THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
A spoof of the contests that pit children against children to determine who has the best command of their voluminous vocabulary.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Dan Lin, Jonathan Eirich, Ryan Halprin (producers)
Last Update (2021): Disney to Adapt THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
THE KING AND I
Set in 1860s Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna, a British schoolteacher.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: TBA
Last Update (2021): Reimagined THE KING AND I Film Is in the Works
SPAMALOT
Monty Python's Spamalot is a musical comedy adapted from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Casey Nicholaw (director), Eric Idle (screenplay)
Last Update (2021): SPAMALOT Film Adaptation Acquired by Paramount Pictures
ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
Once On This Island is the tale of Ti Moune, a fearless peasant girl who falls in love with a wealthy boy from the other side of the island.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Wanuri Kahiu (director), Jocelyn Bioh (screenplay)
Last Update (2020): Jocelyn Bioh Will Adapt ONCE ON THIS ISLAND for Release on Disney+
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Little Shop is the story of Seymour, a meek florist who works at the aptly named Skid Row Florists.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: Billy Porter, Taron Egerton (rumored), Scarlett Johansson (rumored), Chris Evans (rumored)
Creative Team: TBA
Last Update (2022): Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
PORGY AND BESS
Porgy and Bess explores the relationships among members of a close-knit community in 1920s South Carolina.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Dee Rees (director, screenplay), Irwin Winkler and Charles Winkler (producers)
Last Update (2020): Dee Rees To Write & Direct Film Adaptation of PORGY AND BESS
SPRING AWAKENING
In a haunting and provocative story, Spring Awakening celebrates the journey from youth to adulthood.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: TBA
Last Update (2020): Steven Sater Tweets Updates on SPRING AWAKENING Movie and ALICE BY HEART Revival
GYPSY
Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother."
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Amy Sherman-Palladino (director)
Last Update (2019): MRS. MAISEL Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino to Pen Script for GYPSY Remake
JEKYLL & HYDE
The acclaimed musical follows the journey of Dr. Jekyll as he wrestles with his alter ego, Mr. Hyde, in an epic battle between good and evil.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Alexander Dinelaris (screenplay)
Last Update (2019): Broadway Musical JEKYLL & HYDE to Receive Film Adaptation
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
The film will pull from the '96 animated film and the Hugo novel. However, it will not pull from the production that Schwartz and Menken collaborated on for the stage in Europe.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: David Henry Hwang (screenplay), Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (music)
Last Update (2019): Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz to Work on Live-Action HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME for Disney
BE MORE CHILL
In Be More Chill, achieving that elusive "perfect life" is now possible thanks to some mysterious new technology-but it comes at a cost that's not as easy to swallow.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: TBA
Last Update (2018): BE MORE CHILL Movie in Development; Producers Set
BARE: A POP OPERA
The story focuses on two gay high school students and their struggles at their private, Catholic boarding school and has inspired the LGBTQ community since its inception in 2000.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Kristin Hanggi (director), Hillary Butorac Weaver and Janet Billig Rich (producers)
Last Update (2018): bare Will Navigate to the Big Screen; Kristin Hanggi Set to Direct Film
JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT
The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: TBA
Last Update (2017): Elton John, Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber Team for JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT Animated Film Featuring New Music
MISS SAIGON
Set in 1975 during the final days of the American occupation of Saigon, Miss Saigon is an epic love story about the relationship between an American GI and a young Vietnamese woman.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Danny Boyle (director)
Last Update (2016): Danny Boyle-Helmed MISS SAIGON Film Adaptation Set for 2018 Start?
OLIVER!
The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. It premiered in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, a successful Broadway production in 1963 and further tours and revivals.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Cameron Mackintosh (director), Matthew Bourne (choreographer)
Last Update (2014): Matthew Bourne & Cameron Mackintosh Are Bringing OLIVER! Back to the Big Screen
LYSISTRATA JONES
Based on the Aristophenes comedy, had its acclaimed Off Broadway run in 2011 and graduated to Broadway in 2012.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Andy Fickman (director), Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn (screenplay)
Last Update (2013): LYSISTRATA JONES Film Adaptation in the Works; Andy Fickman to Direct
SOUTH PACIFIC
The musical, with music by Richard Rogers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan, opened in 1949 at the Majestic Theatre.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Michael Mayer (director), Lynn Grossman (screenplay)
Last Update (2013): Michelle Williams in Talks for New SOUTH PACIFIC Film Adaptation; Producers Also Eyeing Hugh Jackman?
PIPPIN
In Pippin, Royal heir Pippin is spurred on by a mysterious group of performers to embark on a death-defying journey to find his "corner of the sky."
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: James Ponsoldt (screenplay)
Last Update (2013): PIPPIN is Heading to the Big Screen; James Ponsoldt to Pen Adaptation!
MEMPHIS
Memphis is an original story about the cultural revolution that erupted when DJ Huey Calhoun vision met Felicia's voice, and the music changed forever.
Release Date: TBA
Cast: TBA
Creative Team: Joe DiPietro (screenplay)
Last Update (2012): Deal in Place for Movie Adaption of Tony-Winning MEMPHIS
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