On June 27, 2023, claims began to spread across social media platforms that the animated movie "FernGully" would be receiving a live-action remake.
"Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jim Carrey will head up the live action remake of the 1992 film 'FernGully the Last Rain Forest," a Facebook post said. "Emma Thompson and Lukas Gage are also starring with Alan Silvestri returning to provide the soundtrack." Attached to the post was an image that claimed to be the poster for the movie, stating that it was being made by Disney and would be released Christmas 2024.
We also found the claim with the alleged movie poster on other social media platforms, like Twitter and TikTok.
At the time of publication, we found no evidence that "FernGully" is slated to be adapted into a live-action movie. We reached out to Disney and will update this fact-check if we receive a response from the company.
"FernGully" was not originally made by Disney. According to IMDB, it was only distributed by 20th Century Fox, which is now owned by Disney. The company did not have a movie scheduled to be releaseed on Christmas 2024 at the time of publication. According to Insider, an untitled Disney animated movie is scheduled to release on Nov. 27, 2024. The article said the next Disney movie would not be released until Feb. 14, 2025, when "Blade" is scheduled to premiere.
At the time of publication, no reputable publications had reported that a "FernGully" live-action movie was being made. If a movie that included actors like Zendaya and Benedict Cumberbatch were being made, it would have been widely reported on. The only article we found about the claim came from a Disney blog that wrote there was no evidence the movie was being made.
We checked the IMDB pages for the actors listed on the poster, and found the movie wasn't listed as a film in production or a project in development for any of them. We reached out to publicists and representatives for the actors listed. At the time of publication, we heard back from Thompson's publicist, who told us that the claim wasn't true according to Thompson's U.S. agents. Gage's publicist later told us he had not been cast in the movie either.
As the movie wasn't listed as a Disney release for next year by reputable sources; no reputable publication had reported the movie was being made; and at least one publicist for an actor listed on the alleged movie poster indicated the claim wasn't true, we rate this claim as False.