Will Smith may be joining the circus for Disney and Tim Burton’s Dumbo

The House of Mouse is currently toying with the idea of signing multi-talented actor Will Smith to star in director Tim Burton’s upcoming live adaptation of the 1941 animated classic DUMBO. With plans to fast-track the film’s production – that will follow a script written by Ehren Kruger – this re-imaging of the high-flying and existential journey of Disney’s famous big-eared elephant is well on its way to becoming a reality.

Here’s the thing though, more than a few stars will have to align if Smith plans on joining the circus – notably the fact that the rapper turned Hollywood megastar is aiming to start filming BAD BOYS FOR LIFE for director Joe Carnahan and Sony Pictures in the very near future. Currently, Smith, beside his co-star Joel Edgerton, is filming BRIGHT – the Max Landis written, David Ayer-directed Netflix film.

I’m curious as to who Smith will portray in Disney’s DUMBO, particularly when you consider just how few human characters there are in that film to begin with. Will he be the nefarious Ringmaster, perhaps? Maybe he’ll lend his vocal stylings to the role of Timothy Q. Mouse, Dumbo’s friend and confidant in his times of woe and wooziness. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. Though considering that Walt Disney president of production Sean Baily has stated that the film "will add a unique family story that parallelsDumbo's journey", one might assume that Smith will act as the father figure of that family.  

In the meantime, the animated-to-live-action reboots of Disney’s Classic Animated collection have fared rather well for both the box office and with fans of the timeless animation studio. Your guess is as good as mine on this one, though I’m sure we’ll be hearing plenty about it as the details fly in.

You can catch will Smith in David Frankel's drama COLLATERAL BEAUTY, in theaters now. Meanwhile, Disney and Tim Burton's DUMBO is expected to bring the circus to theaters some time in 2018.