Hercules

Genre: Animated/Family.

Studio: Buena Vista.
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures.

Project Phase: In the Can.

Who's In It: James Woods (Hades); Danny DeVito (Phil); Tate Donovan (Hercules); Susan Egan (Meg); Rip Torn; Paul Schaffer (Hermes).
Who's Making It: Ron Clements, John Musker (Director); Ron Clements, Don McEnery, Irene Mecchi, John Musker, Bob Shaw (Screenwriters); Alice Dewey, Ron Clements, John Musker (Producers); Alan Menken (Musical Score); David Zippel (Lyrics); Tom Finan (Editor); Andy Gaskill (Art Direction).

Premise: Zeus forces Hercules to live on Earth and orders him to complete 12 great tasks. Along the way Hercules must learn to live up to the responsibilities that come along with being a hero.

Release Date: June 27, 1997.

Comments: Disney's take on the 12 legendary tasks of Hercules is going to be another loose adaptation, in the vein of Pocahontas or The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Legendary Disney villain creator Andreas Deja will be designing Hercules. A big production number called 'Zero to Hero' is said to be incredible.

Rumors: Unknown.

Scoop Feedback:

June 30, 1996... [A wealth of information supplied by 'ss1'.]

August 8, 1996... An attendee at this summer's The Hunchback of Notre Dame press junket saw some sneak footage of the new Hercules feature, and this is what they had to say:

"James Woods plays the villain, Hades, who has fire for hair. His two cronies are Bobcat Goldthwaite and Matt Frewer. I didn't catch who played Herc. Danny DeVito's there too. There's a chorus of women who tell the story through gospel music. They showed us a song, called 'Zero To Hero,' where quick cuts show Herc defeating a montage of monsters, and with each one, he gets more and more popular. It's kind of a spoof on celebrity, because as he gets more and more popular, people were starting to sell lots of merchandise, things like tennis shoes called 'Air Hercs.' The music was good, but the lyrics weren't great. And to be honest, the scene reminded me of an old Schoolhouse Rock segment. The girls were doing things like standing on the word zero and kicking the z, so it turns around and now it's an h. I half expected one of the girls to start singing "Verb! That's what's happening!" [A herculean scoop provided by 'egoman'.]

August 13, 1996... Cary Elwes may be providing one of the voices for the film. [Scoop reported anonymously.]

September 21, 1996... The release date is mid-June claims this anonymous scooper, and in the words of the informant, the "product style guide is applicable for toddler boys product." Projected merchandise sales, the scooper tells us, is expected to be a little under the Pocahontas merchandise revenue. [Scoop mailed in anonymously.]

November 4, 1996... A full 5-minute preview is available on the Toy Story videotape. [Scoop info sent in by Bill.]

June 17, 1997... Paul Schaffer, the band leader of The Late Show with David Letterman, will be supplying the voice of Hermes the messenger in Hercules. Dave's been giving him a hard time about it, too - looks like he's still miffed about that whole Disney takeover of Times Square. [Scoop provided by 'KryptonKnight'.]



Have a Scoop/Information about a New Film Project? Copyrights and trademarks for the film and related entertainment properties mentioned herein are held by their respective owners and are used with permission or solely for the promotional purposes of said properties.
All other text and images copyright © 1995-98 Corona Productions.
Last updated: Sunday, 12-Jul-1998 17:36:39 PDT.
webmaster@corona.bc.ca