Why/what is this so popular??????
Because women, young girls, and gay men all generally dig huge production musical love stories. And this huge production musical love story is based off a hugely popular Disney animated musical love story that they all have seen and dug.
Freegards
Because when you are a parent of young kids you can't take them to 90% of the sludge Hollywood spews out. You get really tired of taking them to mediocre/stupid cartoons. When something decent with high production values comes out you head for it like someone finding water in a desert.
“Beauty and the Beast” is a centuries old story/fairy tale that is beloved by many.
The 1991 Disney animated version was and still is EXTREMELY popular with children and adults alike.
There is also a literary fan base who will want to see the movie. It’s much like followers of the Romeo and Juliet or the Pygmalion/My Fair Lady motifs. They will see any new iteration of the same story. They are fans.
While I’m not happy about Disney/Hollywood’s obsession with mainstreaming homosexual behavior and perverting part of the story story that they well know will have a large children’s audience, I will eventually see this movie (not in a theater) because I’m a fan of the story.