After recently scoring six Grammy nominations, Sabrina Carpenter is shifting her attention to Hollywood, where she’s set to star in and produce a musical movie based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland for Universal Pictures.
Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers) is set to write and direct the project, with Marc Platt (Wicked) producing alongside Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton of Alloy Entertainment. Sources have said that Alice in Wonderland is a passion project for Carpenter, adding that the global pop star actually approached Universal nearly a year ago with the project.
The original novel, published in 1865, tells the story of a young girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of talking animals and nonsensical creatures. The most famous adaptation of the story is Disney’s 1951 animated movie. The story also became a billion-dollar blockbuster in 2010 with Tim Burton’s live-action film starring Mia Wasikowska as Alice and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. It was followed by Alice Through the Looking Glass in 2016, but critics and audiences trashed the sequel, and it became a box office bomb.
Although Carpenter is known for her music these days, she isn’t exactly inexperienced in the world of acting. She’s appeared in The Goodwin Games, Orange is the New Black, Girl Meets World, and much more. She’s picked up a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year for Man’s Best Friend, as well as Best Pop Vocal Album. She also nabbed noms for Manchild, with the hit single up for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Music Video.
Given the enormous success of Wicked, Universal may be eyeing Carpenter’s Alice in Wonderland project as another potential moneymaker. The first part of Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the stage musical received rave reviews and grossed over $756 million worldwide. The second installment, Wicked for Good, will premiere on November 21 and is gearing up for a big opening. The sequel is projected to open somewhere in the range of $112 million to $115 million.
What do you think of Sabrina Carpenter tackling Alice in Wonderland?
