Dan Trachtenberg Developing Original Pic Inspired By ‘Sleeping Beauty’ At Disney

EXCLUSIVE: After breathing new life into the Predator franchise at 20th Century, Dan Trachtenberg and Disney have found another property on which to give a fresh spin. Sources tell Deadline the Prey director is coming on to direct an original idea inspired by the classic Disney tale Sleeping Beauty. The untitled project is in early development and is said to take the story in an entirely new direction with Trachtenberg’s distinct sensibility.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, insiders say this take has no connection to the Maleficent films starring Angelina Jolie. Trachtenberg and Rayna McClendon came up with the new story, with Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf penning the script.

Trachtenberg and his longtime producing partner Ben Rosenblatt will produce, as will Star Wars producer Michelle Rejwan. EVP Production Jessica Virtue is overseeing the project with Creative Executive Alina Mota, reporting to Disney Live Action president Daria Cercek.

Trachtenberg and Disney have strong ties after he helped to successfully relaunch the Predator franchise with 2022’s Prey, which was a success on Hulu, earned critical praise and landed an Emmy nomination for Outstanding TV Movie. He followed that with last year’s Predator: Badlands and the animated pic Predator: Killer of Killers for Hulu, which has a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The three Predator pics from Trachtenberg are the highest-rated on Rotten Tomatoes in the franchise.

He is currently in pre-production on a top-secret pic at Paramount.

Anfanger and Schimpf are the co-creators of the Comedy Central series Big Time In Hollywood, FL.

Trachtenberg is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Johnson Shapiro Slewett and Kole. Anfanger and Schimpf are repped by Mosaic, CAA, and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.