“Sword in the Stone” remake finds director

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, best known for directing the zombie thriller “28 Weeks Later”, is in negotiations to helm “The Sword in the Stone”, Disney's live-action reimagining of the studio's 1963 animated fantasy.

Bryan Cogman, a writer-producer on HBO fantasy series “Game of Thrones”, wrote the script for the project, which is being produced by Brigham Taylor (“The Jungle Book”), reports Variety.

“Stone” was the final movie released by the studio before Walt Disney's death; it takes a lighthearted view of the legend of King Arthur, focusing on the young Arthur being mentored by the magician Merlin. It was loosely based on TH White's novel of the same name, which later became part of White's multibook Arthurian fantasy, “The Once and Future King”.

This is the second Arthurian project the studio is developing as it's also working on “The Merlin Saga”, with Ridley Scott circling the tale of the powerful wizard's rise.