‘dope’ director developing african princess fairytale movie ‘sade’ with disney

When Disney bought Marvel, we were all more than ready to call Shuri our African Disney princess but the entertainment giant has done one better by buying the script for a live-action fantasy centering an African princess called ‘Sadé’. Sadé is young African princess “whose kingdom is threatened by a mysterious evil force and accepts her newly discovered magical powers to protect her people, with the help of the kingdom’s prince,” according to Variety.

‘The Princess and the Frog’ gave us Tiana (Disney’s first Black princess) almost a decade ago so the success of Black Panther has obviously forced Disney execs to sit up and take notice of the fact that blackness is bank and Africa is the new frontier of storytelling. The studio bought the pitch from Ola Shokunbi and Lindsey Reed Palmer who will co-write the screenplay. ‘Dope’, ‘The Wood’ and ‘Brown Sugar’ director Rick Famuyiwa and Scott Falconer (production designer for ‘Dope’ and ‘The Chi’) will executive produce through their Verse production banner.

There is no director attached as of yet but we know the speculation over who will play Sadé is going to be HEATED. Will Disney hire an actual African to play the princess and could it be a new face? We’ve been let down before but the list of creatives working behind the scenes could be an indication that our forthcoming Disney princess will receive the thought and care she deserves.