Beauty and the Beast: Emma Watson stars in new trailer

Disney has released the first teaser trailer for Beauty and the Beast, its next big-budget live-action retelling of a classic cartoon.

Set to be released on 17 March 2017, the company will be hoping it generates similar levels of success to recent hits The Jungle Book, Cinderella and Maleficent.

Emma Watson stars as Belle and fans catch a very small glimpse of her right at the end of the new teaser trailer.

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The bulk of the clip focuses on the magical surroundings of the Beast's castle as we hear a refrain of the 1990 cartoon's famous soundtrack.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"95275","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]

Watson first announced her casting in January 2015, telling fans on her official Facebook page that the animated film was "such a big part of her growing up".

She added: "Time to start some singing lessons. I can't wait for you to see it."

She later revealed that the musical elements were proving the most challenging.

"I sing, so that's really unexpected," she told Total Film. "I've never had to do that for a film role before and I think people will be interested to see me do something very different like that.

"It gives me a different challenge, really. That's terrifying in and of itself."

She is joined in the film by Dan Stevens as the Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere and Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts. Josh Gad, Stanley Tucci, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kevin Kline and Audra McDonald also star.

Andrew Pulver in The Guardian says Disney has "re-engineered its films aimed at early-teen girls, in the service of a new mission of empowerment" and he believes Beauty and the Beast will be the company's next step in eradicating "the sappy princess/fairy from its films".

The trailer suggests Disney will instead create "sturdy, self-reliant role models who may be subject to emotional trauma, but aren't subdued by it", he adds.

Fans took to social media to voice their excitement for the new film, with one user writing on YouTube: "This is how you are supposed to make a trailer, showed totally nothing and made you excited about the movie."