#I hope this was a more satisfying answer than the last bluebeard question anon :P

[laurasimonsdaughter]

What if Disney adapted Bluebeard?

If we're talking fairy tale animation, I don't think they'd ever touch it. Far too dark. It'd probably make a pretty decent dark fantasy semi-horror like Alice in Wonderland (2010) though!

Again, not really my genre, but if I were to take a stab at it:

It's a dark fairy tale-esque fantasy with both horror and romance elements, so obviously it gets set in quasy-Victorian era, with lush, but slightly historically inaccurate costumes.

The protagonist needs a name, of course, let's call her Emily. She is about 21 years old, beautiful, headstrong, and either not interested in marriage, or deeply romantic and eagerly looking for true love. Her parents are utterly unimportant, possibly one of them is dead because who even has two parents.

Her older sister Anne will probably get cut, sorry. She has a very good relationship with her brother (one of them gets cut too), but he is away from home for unclear reasons, maybe at sea or at war or whatever. Maybe he has a best friend who is secretly in love with Emily.

Bluebeard (that's his nickname, he has an actual name, something like... Dorian Morton) would be styled in Victorian Goth, very rich, very charming, probably called Lord and Sir without ever making clear whether he's gentry or nobility or whatever. Uncomfortably attractive, of course, but constantly surrounded by ominous lighting and music to warn the audience that he has a Secret. In spite of this he sweeps our heroine off her feet, she falls madly in love, they marry and he whisks her away to his terribly gothic mansion and it's all very romantic.

Once there she gets the all important "you are mistress of my heart and of my home, but never open the door that this golden key fits to, okay love you forever I am leaving for unspecified manly reasons" message and is left alone.

Now there are two routes this could go, depending on how dark or whimsical this movie wants to be. Either Emily finds a basement mausoleum with six marble coffins with the images of the previous wives carved lifesize onto the slabs (this makes Bluebeard a common murderer), or she finds six magical glass coffins where seven women are lying in a magical death sleep (this makes him something more sorcerer or warlock like).

Emily is horrofied, heartbroken, terrified. She manages to send a message to her brother, but Bluebeard comes home before she has any way of knowing if he even received it. She stalls for time, but Bluebeard finds out she looked in the room and he is very dramatic about this betrayal of his trust, making it very clear that he never wanted to harm any of his wives, but that he had to because they just didn't love him unconditionally enough and all wanted to leave him :(. He probably tells Emily that he loves her the most and that if she'll just forget what she saw they can live happily ever after. But she is a pure hearted heroine and tearfully refuses.

Lord Dorian Bluebeard Morton snaps dramatically and tries to kill her, (it's very important that this is the first time he is ever abusive towards her). She runs, he chases her to the roof of the mansion (maybe there is a tower for no reason), there's a storm, he falls to his death in good Disney fashion, possibly while looking Emily in the eyes and professing his love for her. (The small, but passionate fandom will insist this is an important moment of redemption for him.)

Emily's brother (and possible secondary romantic thread best friend) arrive just in time to see him fall and to comfort a stricken but brave Emily at the top of the stairs. (If they go for the magical angle this is where all the other wives wake up, terrified but relieved, and possibly have enough chemistry to prompt the fandom to write "what if all seven ladies just stayed in the house together" fix-its.)

There is a final scene where Lady Emily Morton, dressed in beautiful mourning blacks, walks the halls of her now bustling mansion, which looks less cursed now. Her brother is there to be affectionate, his best friend is possibly there to respectfully admire her. (The other wives can be there looking healthy and best-friend material if they survived.) Emily goes to the spot where her husband fell to his death and looks out dramatically, the music plays Bluebeard's theme. The end.

...is this a diluted Crimson Peak without the ghosts and the sister? Oh dear I think it is. Anyway, I would very much enjoy watching this with my sister, but probably not like it enough to go back for a second viewing.