'Dumbo' Flies Again! Everything We Know About Tim Burton's Live-Action Remake

The live-action remake's trailer was released Wednesday during the CMAs

Published on November 15, 2018 01:20 PM

Dumbo has joined the likes of Cinderella, The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast as Disney’s next live-action remake.

The 1941 circus classic is being directed by Alice in Wonderland’s Tim Burton, no stranger to crafting non-animated retellings of classic Disney tales.

“It was always one of my favorite Disney stories and one I had fond memories of,” Burton told PEOPLE in June. “It’s a very sweet story, and also very simple and primal — I think that’s why people like it so much. It’s about an outsider, someone who is misperceived, and I’ve always been drawn to stories like that.”

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Colin Farrell stars as Holt Farrier, a war veteran and former circus star who is asked to take care of the titular flying elephant.

“Walking on set was jaw dropping,” Farrell told PEOPLE of the new film. “Tim’s vision for this world and his honoring of not only the purity, but the true strength and resilience of children was like nothing I have been a part of in film before.”

Farrier’s two children, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins), are the ones who discover the elephant’s flying talents. Both Parker and Hobbins make their debut film appearance in Dumbo, though audiences may recognize Parker as the lookalike daughter of Thandie Newton.

Danny DeVito appears in the film as circus owner Max Medici, joking to PEOPLE in June that Dumbo marks the end of the “circus trilogy” between himself and Burton. The actor previously played the Penguin in Batman Returns and ringmaster Amos Calloway in Big Fish, two Burton-directed projects.

“I was so excited when I found out that Tim was gonna do it,” DeVito told PEOPLE. “He captured the charm of the original that we loved and he kept all the values of the story, and what happens when you’re born different. It’s always been perfect for me that movie, with Mrs. Jumbo and Dumbo and the resolve at the end. And I didn’t know what to expect when I read the script — it’s so embracing all those things, but it’s taking it a step farther in the aspect of freedom.”

Another frequent Burton collaborator is Batman (or Beetlejuice) himself! Michael Keaton will appear V.A. Vandeverse, the Dreamland venture-capitalist who acquires Medici’s circus.

“You have something very rare. You have wonder. You have mystique. You have magic. Come with me. Together we can soar on that elephant’s wings,” Vandevere says in the trailer, before ultimately separating the Dumbo from his mother.

Eva Green and Alan Arkin both have supporting roles in the film, as French trapeze artist Colette Marchant and Wall Street tycoon J. Griffin Remington, respectively.

Dumbo flies into theaters March 29, 2019.