Lasse Hallstrom to Direct Live-Action 'Nutcracker' for Disney 

Lasse Hallstrom to Direct Live-Action 'Nutcracker' for Disney

Lasse Hallstrom, Ashleigh Powell  Bryan Bedder/Getty Images; Courtesy of Benderspink

Mark Gordon is producing the live-action project, which has a script by Ashleigh Powell.

Lasse Hallstrom is on board to direct a new big-screen version of

, which adapts the classic ballet by Peter Tchaikovsky and the accompanying story by E.T.A. Hoffmann,

The classic story told of a young girl named Clara who receives a nutcracker doll from her godfather on Christmas Eve. When she goes to check on it later that night, the clock strikes midnight, and she finds herself thrust into a fantastical world where she is in the middle of a war between gingerbread soldiers and an army of mice.

Mark Gordon is producing the live-action project, which has a script by Ashleigh Powell. Powell spent two years developing the script, with Disney quietly picking it up in a competitive situation last year.

Sam Dickerman and Allison Erlikhman are overseeing the project for Disney. Sara Smith is overseeing for The Mark Gordon Co.

have tried to get off the ground before. Universal was developing one with

producer Chernin Entertainment, while New Line had one with Temple Hill, the company behind

Powell broke out onto the screenwriting scene in 2012 with her Black List script

, now set up at Warners with David S. Goyer producing. She currently is developing the

A three-time Oscar nominee, Hallstrom most recently was nominated for 1999’s

Hallstrom is repped by UTA. Powell is repped by Gersh and BenderSpink.

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