This has possibilities:
Warner Bros. has tapped "Bridget Jones's Diary" scribe Andrew Davies to write "Beauty and the Beast," a new take on the classic tale that Guillermo del Toro will not only produce, but also direct.
WB's "Harry Potter" star Emma Watson is in final negotiations to topline the period pic.
DiNovi Pictures' Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan will produce with del Toro, who will write a treatment that Davies will then work off of.
Del Toro, who's currently filming "Pacific Rim" for WB and Legendary Pictures, is credited as a co-writer on both of WB's upcoming "Hobbit" movies. He recently exec produced Universal's "Mama" and DreamWorks Animation's "Rise of the Guardians."
Having wrapped her long-running role as Hermione Granger in the "Harry Potter" pics, Watson will next reteam with "Deathly Hallows" director David Yates. She currently co-stars in "My Week With Marilyn" and will soon be seen in Summit's "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."
Davies, who wrote "Bridget Jones's Diary" and its 2004 sequel, most recently penned "The Three Musketeers" and "Brideshead Revisited."
WME reps both del Toro and Watson, who are also respectively repped by Exile Entertainment and U.K.-based Markham, Froggatt and Irwin. Davies is repped by CAA.
