Live-Action ‘Lady And The Tramp’ Movie Gets First Casting News
Disney is currently hard at work procuring and developing exclusive content for its forthcoming online streaming platform. The as-yet-unnamed Disney streaming service, said to be comparable to Netflix or Hulu but strictly for streaming Disney-owned content, was announced in August of 2017 and has plans to officially launch in 2019. The service is also set to be utilizing BAMTech technology. BAMTech also helped develop interfaces for streaming platforms like WWE Network and HBO Now.
Today, Deadline is reporting that one such piece of exclusive content for the forthcoming Disney streaming service will be the live-action rendition of the Walt Disney animated classic Lady and the Tramp. It is believed that the upcoming Lady and the Tramp adaptation will not receive any theatrical release and will instead have its debut on Disney’s streaming platform, presumably also in 2019.
Deadline is also reporting that the Lady and the Tramp adaptation just received its first bit of official casting news. Emmy-nominated actress Ashley Jansen (Extras, The Lobster) has been tapped to play a supporting role in the feature film. Jansen will reportedly voice a Scottish Terrier by the name of Jackie. Originally, the role was portrayed as a male dog of the same breed, known as Jock. Jock was originally voiced in Disney’s 1955 animated feature as voiced by Bill Thompson.
Disney’s highly-anticipated streaming service is planned to feature exclusive content from all major branches of the Walt Disney company, including Marvel, which produces the extremely profitable Avengers franchise. It will also feature Star Wars titles from Lucasfilm as well as Pixar content and Walt Disney classics both old and new.
Walt Disney’s streaming platform is also in the process of acquiring 21st Century Fox, which would allow even more properties to be shown on the Disney streaming service. Currently, 21st Century Fox owns the rights to the X-Men franchise, a Marvel property Disney has not yet acquired. The acquisition would also presumably give Buena Vista (Disney’s distribution label) the rights to develop and distribute such properties as the Alien franchise, Kung-Fu Panda, Die Hard, The X-Files, Predator, Avatar, Night At The Museum, and numerous others, perhaps most notably in terms of television series properties, The Simpsons.
Walt Disney also owns the American television network ABC as well as the major sports network ESPN. If the Walt Disney company acquisition of 21st Century Fox ultimately does go through, this would give Disney a controlling stake in another streaming platform, Hulu, along with a 30 percent Hulu stake, currently held by Comcast.
Comcast also recently sought to acquire 21st Century Fox but lost in a bidding war to Disney.
