‘Breaking Bad’ Creator Vince Gilligan Teams Up With Disney For New Version Of Jack And The Beanstalk Movie

Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, the television show Forbes touted as “the best show ever,” and spin-off Better Call Saul, has teamed up with Disney studios to create a new, revisionist, version of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale. The film will be simply titled Beanstalk.

Disney picked up the movie based solely on a treatment Gilligan created about the boy, the magic beans, and the giant. Beanstalk, which is still in development, will be written by Thomas Schnauz, who won two Writer’s Guild of America Awards for his writing on Breaking Bad in 2012 and 2013. Schnauz also works on Breaking Bad spin off Better Call Saul, and wrote the third episode “Nacho,” as well as the penultimate episode “Pimento” of the critically-acclaimed series.

According to Deadline, Gilligan might use Beanstalk as a springboard to directing films. Although Gilligan has directed multiple award-winning television shows, he has yet to direct a movie. While the director is still undecided, what’s certain is Beanstalk will be produced by Vince Gilligan and Mark Johnson, producer of Breaking Bad, The Notebook, and Shooter.

The revisionist tale of Jack and the Beanstalk was purchased this week by Disney, based on an outline written by Gilligan. In Vince Gilligan’s version, the characters will be taken on a much different journey than expected. As viewers experienced in both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, plot twists are Gilligan’s calling card.

This isn’t the first time Disney has produced a film based on the classic fairy tale. In 1947, Disney released a version of Jack and the Beanstalk titled Mickey and the Beanstalk, which features Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy in lead roles.

Jack and his magic beans have gotten their fair share of action on the big screen lately, most recently in Jack the Giant Slayer, directed by Bryan Singer. That film, which released by Warner Bros., was considered a box-office failure, losing about $140 million.

Vince Gilligan’s Beanstalk will follow Disney’s current trend of releasing live-action fairy tales, such as the popular movie Cinderella, which has grossed over $450 million world-wide, and Alice in Wonderland, which was released in 2010 and starred Johnny Depp.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Vince Gilligan aims to please. At a screening of the second to last episode of the first season of Better Call Saul, he promised to thank long-time fans of his runaway hit television series for their loyalty. Fans will be rewarded with even more cameos of Breaking Bad characters in the second season of Better Call Saul.

[Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment]