BURBANK, Calif. — The mood at Walt Disney Studios here last spring was euphoric: A risky live-action remake of one of Disney’s most beloved animated films, “Beauty and the Beast,” was coming off without a hitch. Disney had assembled an all-star cast led by Emma Watson as Belle. A bet on untested technology to create a brutish yet empathetic Beast had paid off. A 90-second teaser trailer had generated a record 92 million views in its first day online, leaving Hollywood slack-jawed — not even “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” had attracted as much interest.

But then came a tempest in an actual teapot.

Disney released a video showing Ms. Watson and her “Beauty and the Beast” cast mates at an early rehearsal. In the background, behind Luke Evans (Gaston) and Josh Gad (LeFou), was concept art of a white teapot with a human face on its belly. That was Mrs. Potts, housekeeper turned enchanted kettle? She didn’t look a thing like the one from the 1991 cartoon version. Where was her spout nose? The internet delivered a not-on-my-watch foot stomp.

“We wanted to keep the spout nose, we really did,” Bill Condon, who directed the new film, said recently with a sigh. “But no matter what we tried, she just looked like a pig.”

For Hollywood, it’s a tale as old as time: Mess with memories, even with the best intentions, and face the consequences.