Disney has set commercials director and visual effects wizard Michael Gracey to direct its live-action Snow White project The Order of the Seven.

The China-set epic has a refurbished script from Toy Story 3 scribe Michael Arndt.

Disney has been developing the unique project since 2002, which centers more on Snow White's seven companions, who aren't as cute and jolly as in the 1937 classic Disney animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

In this iteration, the seven are a 19th century-set disparate band of international warriors belonging to a centuries-old order who have lost their way. Their meeting with an Englishwoman being chased by an ancient evil is the catalyst for their redemption.

While the project is set in China, the warriors will be from locales near (the U.S.) and far (Russia), and each warrior will have a unique fighting style.

Production will start next year.