03.15.17“Beauty and the Beast,” the fairy tale, dates back nearly 300 years. It’s had a long and winning life in film, television, and the theater, culminating, for recent generations, in 1991 with Disney’s animated version of the story of unbounded love. Now, Disney’s new live-action version of “Beauty,” which has experienced a small tempest over an “exclusively gay moment” — a novelty for a conservative and tradition-bound company — is on pace for a robust $120 million opening weekend.

Meet the Producers Who Breathed New Life Into ‘Beauty and the Beast’