Disney is reimagining a '70s fave with extra soul and state of the art FX. Tara Bennett meets Pete's Dragon.
![Dragon Heart](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/5197/177195/5799cf8eb8154_13/.jpg)
Some say the ’70s was Disney’s forgotten decade, overshadowed by the golden eras either side of it. But the House of Mouse had a prolific, inventive run of movies back then, from ambitious SF epic The Black Hole to a live-action musical featuring an animated dragon...
While Pete’s Dragon was a modest success at the time, it never received the critical acclaim that met Mary Poppins, another live action-animated hybrid. Nor does it have the cross-generational nostalgia of that Julie Andrews classic. So in 2010 Disney targeted this boy-and-his-dragon tale as part of the back-catalogue that might be ripe for reinvention. They stripped the musical aspect from its DNA and asked writers to pitch them new takes. Indie director/writer David Lowery, best known for Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, was one who heeded the call.
A long-time Disney fan, Lowery tells SFX he saw the original film when he was six – but he hasn’t re-watched it, even to this day. “It’s not one of the crown jewels of their library,” Lowery says of the 1977 version. “It’s beloved by many people, but it’s not so beloved that you can’t take it and run. I saw it as an opportunity to tell a new story.”
The producers agreed. “The mandate from the studio was, ‘We want to make a movie called Pete’s Dragon. It has to have a boy named Pete in it… and a dragon. That’s it. They had been thinking about it for a while, but they didn’t have a goal to have it in theatres by 2016. They were more of the opinion that if the right story came along, and the right storytelling, it would be worth doing.”
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 2016 من SFX.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 2016 من SFX.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
![THE DYING DAYS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5197/1700064/YUq1l0XwY1715779742563/THE-DYING-DAYS.jpg)
THE DYING DAYS
RUSSELL T DAVIES, NCUTI GATWA AND MILLIE GIBSON LOOK AHEAD TO THE TWOPART SEASON FINALE
![BEWARE THE DUCHESS!](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5197/1700064/ALWXHCMee1715779304453/BEWARE-THE-DUCHESS.jpg)
BEWARE THE DUCHESS!
Oh, it’s been such a laugh.
![Demon Daze](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5197/1700064/KpWPEtU3W1715779140194/DEMON-DAZE.jpg)
Demon Daze
Archie launches its first Premium Event as Judgment Day comes to Riverdale
![JEDI SLAYER ONE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5197/1700064/KRToIITnd1715778140931/JEDI-SLAYER-ONE.jpg)
JEDI SLAYER ONE
A STAR WARS MURDER MYSTERY FROM THE CREATOR OF RUSSIAN DOLL? SFX GOES BACK TO THE HIGH REPUBLIC ERA TO INVESTIGATE THE CASE OF THE ACOLYTE
![Children Of The Evolution](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5197/1700064/gBXc0vjVr1715777948927/CHILDREN-OF-THE-EVOLUTION.jpg)
Children Of The Evolution
Nu-heroes assemble in Marvel's brave new Ultimates universe
![Atlas Smith And J-Lo](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5197/1700064/jNmrpvS9I1715777712845/ATLAS-SMITH-AND-JLO.jpg)
Atlas Smith And J-Lo
Atlas director Brad Peyton on his intergalactic AI actioner
![Pride Of Place](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5197/1700064/iReeCwlZK1715777603367/PRIDE-OF-PLACE.jpg)
Pride Of Place
Wedding bells ring for Mystique and Destiny in this year's Marvel Voices: Pride
![EightLegged Freak](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5197/1700064/f27ogAWKK1715777413301/EIGHTLEGGED-FREAK.jpg)
EightLegged Freak
The director of the Alieninfluenced Sting talks about his spider horror
![Beauty And The Beast](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5197/1700064/kpgZKPSrJ1715776942916/BEAUTY-AND-THE-BEAST.jpg)
Beauty And The Beast
Director Bertrand Bonello talks his vision of an artificial tomorrow in The Beast
![Paint It Black](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/5197/1700064/oc2giRuTE1715776061636/PAINT-IT-BLACK.jpg)
Paint It Black
The Orphan Black story continues with Echoes, a new series set 30 years after the original