The Nutcracker and the Four Realms isn't a 'dance movie'

Disney's upcoming live-action The Nutcracker and the Four Realms isn't a dance movie.

The fantasy-drama is based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, as well as composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's classic ballet The Nutcracker, and features Keira Knightley as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Mackenzie Foy as Clara.

While The Nutcracker is often associated with the ballet world, producer Mark Gordon says the film doesn't fall neatly into the category of "dance movies".

"The first question people ask is: is it a dance movie? And the answer is no, not really," he told SFX magazine. "We've honoured the ballet but enhanced the story, characters and visual splendour in a remarkable way."

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston, The Nutcracker follows Clara as she finds a Nutcracker doll among the family's Christmas gifts and is transported into a magical world of gingerbread soldiers and an army of mice.

Eugenio Derbez, Matthew Macfadyen, Richard E. Grant, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and ballet dancer Misty Copeland also have roles, though Gordon is certain that viewers will be most intrigued by Knightley’s energetic performance.

"I think you're going to see a wonderfully different side of Keira Knightley. She's so wonderfully big - you're going to be delighted by her performance," the producer gushed.

Previously, Knightley divulged details about her costumes for the movie and explained that some dresses were designed with drag queens in mind.

"I was so pleased. It was my first time where I could actually be like a drag queen, and I was so excited," she smiled in an interview with PrideSource. "I was really excited because normally you have to be so subtle in films."

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is due to hit cinemas from early November (18).