Disney is planning yet another live-action film, and this one will be under the sea!
Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda is teaming up with Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken to write songs for the live-action reboot of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. The Broadway star is also on board to produce the film alongside Marc Platt, who is producing Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns (starring Miranda and Emily Blunt).
Menken is known for composing the music for popular Disney animations – including 1989’s The Little Mermaid, 1991’s Beauty and the Beast and 1992’s Aladdin – writing iconic hits such as “Under the Sea,” “Part of Your World” and “Kiss the Girl.”
Last December, Miranda told EW that Mermaid is “the movie that’s probably most responsible for me being here. I started taping the Oscars because I wanted to see Geoffrey Holder’s performance of ‘Under the Sea.’ That was the beginning of the end. Or, the beginning of the beginning, depending on how you look at it … I could sing you not only the songs in Little Mermaid but the music to the score. That’s how important those scores are in my life and in my upbringing.”
A plethora of Disney live-action remakes are on its way, ranging from Beauty and the Beast, Cruella, Dumbo, and a Tinker Bell pic, as well as Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Mulan, The Sword in the Stone and Genies.
Miranda recently worked as a songwriter on the Disney film Moana. Below he is shown singing “Under The Sea” with Moana actress Auli’i Cravalho.
