Hoping to cash in on children's combined love of How To Train Your Dragon, CGI/live-action hybrids, and the late '70s oeuvre of Mickey Rooney, Disney is planning a remake of their 1977 sort-of classic Pete's Dragon.

According to Deadline, the new film will "reinvent the core story" of the film--not so much as to be an original idea, obviously, but at least enough that it's not going to be a musical anymore. The more surprising part of the story is that the studio hired David Lowery to script with his producing partner Toby Halbrooks. A longtime editor who recently edited the surreal Upstream Color, Lowery last wrote and directed the Sundance hit Ain't Them Bodies Saints, a gritty drama that starred Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara in the story of an escaped convict reuniting with his family. His hiring would seem to indicate Disney is looking to take the tale in an edgier direction, but Deadline notes that, as of now, Lowery is only attached in a writing capacity. So there's still time for director Tim Hill to get in there and make it so that when the dragon farts, fire comes out.