Beauty and the Beast is an American musical romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a live-action adaptation of the 1991 animated film of the same name and was written by Evan Spiliotopoulos and produced by Mandeville Films.

The script was rewritten by Stephen Chbosky. The film stars Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast, which was released on March 17, 2017.

The film received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences and has grossed $1.2 billion worldwide on a $254.6 million production budget, surpassing the original film, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2017. In a vast castle of grandeur set in the heart of France, a handsome yet cruel and selfish prince is holding a ball to which the loveliest of women in all of the land were invited. They are all dancing away in the hope of winning the prince’s love and admiration as Madame de Garderobe sings. The ball is interrupted when an old beggar woman arrives at the castle in the hope of seeking shelter from the raging thunderstorm. All that she had to offer the prince was a rose. Repelled by her appearance and infuriated due to the sudden interruption, the prince mocks her and declines the rose. The woman then transforms herself into a beautiful enchantress, astonishing the prince and scaring away all of his guests. The prince begs the enchantress for forgiveness, but having seen that there is no love in his heart, she transforms him into a terrifying beast and his servants into household objects, before erasing himself, the castle, and the servants from the memories of the villagers, as well as the memories of their loved ones. She reveals the rose to be an enchanted rose and tells the prince that if he learns to love another and gain that person’s love in return by the time the last petal falls from it, the curse would be broken, or else he would remain a beast for the rest of his life and his servants would permanently become non-living antiques.