Disney Plans to Bring New ‘101 Dalmatians’ to Life : Movies: A live-action version of the animated tale, written by John Hughes, is expected to arrive in 1996.

Walt Disney’s classic 1961 animated film “101 Dalmatians,” a tale about the abduction of Dalmatian puppies by the arch-villain Cruella De Vil, will be made into a live-action movie for release at Thanksgiving in 1996, Disney Studios Chairman Joe Roth said Tuesday.

John Hughes, who earlier this year signed a multiyear, multi-picture deal with Disney, completed the 128-page “Dalmatians” script only a month after Roth personally approached Hughes in Chicago with the idea for making the live-action version. Filming is expected to begin in the fall. No director or cast has been chosen.

“I read the script over the weekend and it reminds me very much of ‘Home Alone,’ ” said Roth, referring to the mega-hit comedy that Hughes wrote and produced when Roth headed 20th Century Fox studios.

Like the animated film, the live-action “Dalmatians” will be set in England and follow the basic story line children and adult filmgoers have known for decades. In the original, the bombastic De Vil (voice of Betty Lou Gerson) plots a daring dognaping for the fur coats the puppies will make. The story is based on a book by Dodie Smith.

Hughes and his producing partner at Great Oaks Entertainment, Ricardo Mestres, said they are giving the characters--particularly De Vil and her accomplices--greater depth than in the original. Also, unlike in the animated movie, the animals will not talk, Hughes said.

“We decided we would take the animated film as a starting point and expand on it,” Hughes said. “If you do a direct translation of an animated movie, you don’t have the magic of drawings (and) you are left with a story that is a little thin.”

Hughes said the new film will involve hundreds of animals, from Dalmatian puppies to squirrels, skunks, raccoons and various farm animals such as draft horses, cows and even a 900-pound pig.

But the animals, Hughes said, will not be given fantastic powers. “They’re not going to pick up the phone and call police,” Hughes said.

Hughes said the movie will embrace physical comedy, with scenes ranging from “99 Dalmatian puppies running through the snow” to “two morons following rabbits all over the countryside.”

Roth noted that Disney had good fortune last Christmas with a live-action version of “Jungle Book,” and that he has been looking at Disney’s library and outside the company for films that could exploit the Disney label.

Roth said “Dalmatians” will be the first test of whether the entire Disney company, from the film division through its theme parks and consumer products, can promote a Disney live-action picture as if it were an animated film.

“Since the day I took the job (as Disney chairman last summer), my mantra inside this company has been that the Disney live-action label hasn’t been completely exploited,” Roth said. “And, that it means something to put Walt Disney’s name on a movie, whether it be animated or not.”

Roth said with that in mind, he is developing an updated version of “The Absent-Minded Professor” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” Roth also said Disney has acquired rights from RKO to the 1949 gorilla-runs-amok film “Mighty Joe Young,” which Roth said he hopes to develop along the lines of “Jurassic Park.”

Hughes recently has had two movies that misfired at the box office--”Baby’s Day Out” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” But he hopes that the recent marriage with Disney will be a better fit.

In addition to “Dalmatians,” Hughes and Mestres are also gearing up for another Disney release, “The Bee,” starring Daniel Stern, who will also direct. Scheduled for release in August, 1996, the comedy is about a man who is tormented by a bee.