Disney’s upcoming live action retelling of the “Nutcracker” tale, titled “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” has been teased as a decidedly different take on the beloved Christmas classic. And now, with the release of the film’s first trailer, it looks like the flick will indeed live up to that promise.
The gorgeous teaser is jam-packed with fantastical imagery and lots of little details to delight fans who are already familiar with the famous Tchaikovsky ballet. (That mouse wallpaper behind Clara is a particularly clever bit of foreshadowing to the showdown with the Mouse King.) But there’s plenty of new stuff, too, including Clara (“Interstellar” star Mackenzie Foy) donning the titular character’s military-style uniform, and Morgan Freeman (playing Clara’s godfather, the mysterious Drosselmeyer) just looking generally badass.
“It’s Christmas Eve — a time of mystery, expectations,” Drosselmeyer says in the trailer. “Who knows what might happen?”
That’s part of the draw of “Four Realms,” which takes most of its inspiration from the original “Nutcracker” fairytale, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” written by German author E.T.A. Hoffmann in 1816. The film finds Clara transported to another world, where she befriends a soldier (Jayden Fowora-Knight) and travels with him across the Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers, and Land of Sweets, where they meet the Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightley). They then journey into the dreaded Fourth Realm, ruled by the menacing Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren). Misty Copeland stars as the Lead Ballerina, in the film’s only ballet sequence.
“The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” directed by Lasse Hällstrom, is due in theaters on November 2, 2018.
Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of “The Nutcracker” is assembling an impressive cast, and the latest reported addition is quite sweet.