Disney seems to be developing a live-action fairytale film “Sadé,” which will centered on an African princess who has to accept her responsibility to save her kingdom.
The pitch came from a Nigerian writer by the named Ola Shokunbi, alongside American writer Lindsey Reed Palmer, who will co-write the screenplay.
The story is as follows:
A young African girl named Sadé 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.
Disney has since bought the pitch from Ola Shokunbi and it appears that it’s now in the works to becoming a reality. This is pretty huge in my opinion. This will be the first princess that is based from the continent of Africa, and will be told from an Africans perspective. I’ve always said that the best way to have representation is for people to tell the story themselves. Personally, I ain’t to big on Disney princesses but this could be amazing for bringing more positivity to the African image for both the natives and for the outside world.
I just hope people will allow this movie to stand on its own two feet and not be constantly compared to Black Panther’s success because lets face it, I’ve already seen people trying to attach Black Panther success to Sadé.
Either way, I really hope Disney stays true to Ola’s vision and don’t try to”westernise” it to make certain groups of people feel good about themselves. Other than that, I can’t wait to see it in action.