Beauty and the Beast beats Star Wars to become 'most watched' teaser

It seems a tale as old as time has beaten out a story about a galaxy far, far away.

The first teaser trailer for Disney's live-action retelling of Beauty and the Beast was released this week and it quickly became the most viewed teaser of all time, taking the title away from the previous record holder, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The 90-second clip reached 91.8 million views in its first 24 hours online, nearly four million more views than The Force Awakens, according to the Hollywood Reporter, and has now received more than 9.6 million hits on YouTube.

Disney fans were given their first glimpse of Emma Watson in the new remake 25 years after Disney's classic animated film Beauty and the Beast, which was released in 1991.

The Harry Potter star plays Belle in the film, and at the end of the teaser trailer we see her reaching out to touch the enchanted rose kept in the Beast's castle.

Before that, the trailer shows the large empty rooms of the castle as it gathers dust, and candles melt down into nothing. We then hear the voices of Ian McKellen and Ewan McGregor as Cogsworth and Lumiere, before Watson steps into the castle and asks a frightened "Hello?"

The film, which is directed by Bill Condon (Dream Girls, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part One and Two), also stars Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Josh Gad, Luke Evans as Gaston and Dan Stevens as Beast.

Beauty and the Beast follows in the footsteps of other live-action Disney remakes, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, The Jungle Book and Alice Through the Looking Glass which is set to be released in July.

Beauty and the Beast is out in New Zealand cinemas next year.

- nzherald.co.nz