The upcoming live action film of Disney's classic "Beauty and the Beast" has set a new online record, with 127.6 million views in its first 24 hours upon release, Walt Disney announced. The recorded views smashed the records previously registered by "Fifty Shades Darker" with 114 million views and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" with 112 million views.
Variety reported that the total views of "Beauty and the Beast" trailer did not include those from China. The trailer provided a sneak peek of Belle, the Beast, Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts. The trailer was reminiscent of the 1991 animated film featuring the iconic waltz between the titular Beauty and the Beast.
In the said report made by Disney, the large chunk of views came from Facebook which totaled 29 million views. Out of this total, 27 million views came from Emma Watson's official page alone. Meanwhile, the hash tag #BeautyAndTheBeast was the leading trend worldwide on Twitter in the first half hour after its launch. Disney also pointed out in its report that the trailer is currently among the top trending videos on Youtube.
The new live action film of "Beauty and the Beast" is under the helm of Bill Candon. Emma Watson will star as Belle while actor Dan Stevens stars as the Beast. The cast also include Ewan McGregor as Lumière, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Stanley Tucci as Cadenza, Luke Evans as Gaston, Josh Gad as LeFou, Kevin Kline as Maurice, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, and Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe.
"Beauty and the Beast" is set to premiere in theaters on March 17, 2017.
