Will Smith is in talks to star in a live-action take on Dumbo for director Tim Burton.

According to Deadline, the Oscar-nominated actor is being targeted by Disney for a key role in the film, based on the 1941 animation about a big-eared circus elephant. He would play the father of children who form a bond with Dumbo. According to Variety, Tom Hanks has been offered a role as the villain.

Burton, who scored his biggest box-office hit to date with 2010’s Alice in Wonderland, was originally attached to the film in 2015 and now the studio is “aggressively” pushing the film towards production. The script comes from Ehren Kruger, whose credits include Scream 3 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

2016 was a record-breaking year for Disney, who were behind every film in the global top five, including their live-action take on the Jungle Book. This year also sees the release of an updated Beauty and the Beast with live-action versions of Mulan, Peter Pan, Aladdin and the Little Mermaid also in the offing.

It’s been a less successful run for Smith, whose last film Collateral Beauty received largely negative reviews (the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it a “horrifyingly yucky, toxically cutesy ensemble dramedy”) and tanked at the box office with just $29m in the US. He’s next to be seen in the Netflix action fantasy Bright, where he plays a cop partnered with an orc and sequel Bad Boys for Life.