Reboot? Stop me if you’ve heard this one before

REMAKES and reboots are all the rage right now – and it’s no wonder. They can’t seem to stop making money. Look at Beauty And The Beast, Disney’s latest live-action hit.

Take one much-loved animation, reinvented with Emma Watson in the lead role and – as the story’s singing French candle Lumiere might say – voila! Piles of cash.

I’m always banging on about remakes but they are lucrative for Hollywood studios so they aren’t going anywhere for the time being.

I wasn’t that surprised last week to see that a trio of musical geniuses – Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice – were involved in another adaptation, reboot ... whatever you want to call it.

Hit musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has been delighting theatre audiences around the world for decades now.

It’s enjoyed numerous revivals on the stage over the years starring the likes of Paul Jones, Jason Donovan, Stephen Gately and Lee Mead.

Now it’s going to be turned into a family-friendly animation, which is quite funny when you think about it.

Elton John and Tim Rice teamed up to write the music for The Lion King back in 1994.

That was a hit and eventually Elton and Tim turned it into a smash Broadway musical. And it’s now set to be a live-action film.

We’re now getting an animated take on Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a live-action version one day as well.

Of course, we shouldn’t complain too much – the story of Joseph and his wonderful coat was taken from the Book of Genesis.

If we go back any further for inspiration we’ll have Adam And Eve: The Musical playing in the West End by September.

Which actually isn’t a bad idea – it wouldn’t need a cast of hundreds.

I hope you saw the story about Gary Barlow appearing in the next Star Wars movie, which was everywhere last week.

It emerged during our chat last week and was seized on once it was broadcast on Lorraine.

But it was, of course, first revealed in this column last week.

The Force is clearly with this column!

▼ Fans were cynical of Disney’s Beauty And The Beast remake but it’s been a huge hit.