Why Did 'Beauty and the Beast' Teaser Go Viral?

Disney has to be happy with the reception received by the first teaser trailer for its upcoming film adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. Release of the movie is still nearly a year away, but fans appear to be extremely eager to glimpse of the new movie's look and feel - and that's pretty much all they'll get from the brief new trailer.

Just 90 seconds long, the trailer spends the first 10 percent of its run time on a Disney logo before shifting to an external shot of the Beast's castle. A few interior shots are followed by a shot of the castle's door opening and then a voiceover by Lumiere (Ewan McGregor) and Cogsworth (Ian McKellen) speculating that the arriving girl might be "the one." The trailer concludes with Belle (Emma Watson) gazing in wonder at the Beast's magical rose.

The trailer quickly broke the YouTube record for most first-day views previously set by Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. On its first day, the Beauty and the Beast trailer raked in almost 92 million views, as compared to 88 million for The Force Awakens' second teaser.

The trailer's unprecedented popularity can probably be attributed almost entirely to Emma Watson. The actress' casting in the role of Belle has been widely praised, and the opportunity to get a first look at her in the role likely drove most viewers to the trailer. Unlike The Force Awakens, which was shrouded in mystery up to its release, this version of Beauty and the Beast promises to be a fairly straight-forward adaptation of Disney's animated and stage versions of the story, and the trailer doesn't provide any revelations of anything new.

In any case, the excitement over the film is palpable, and Disney will have a formidable task at hand keeping the anticipation high for the next 10 months.