Back in May, Walt Disney Pictures announced that they were in the early stages of developing a live-action version of their animated classic ‘The Little Mermaid’. At the time, the only thing that we knew about the latest addition to the massive slate of live-action projects was that talks with “major producers, including some with a strong connection to the studio” were taking place. Now, “major” might not even be enough to describe the latest update on the production.
According to Deadline, Disney has tapped legendary songwriter Alan Menken to return under the sea with Ariel, Prince Eric, and the rest of the iconic characters from the 1989 film. But on top of that, the studio is teaming Menken together with ‘Hamilton’ virtuoso Lin-Manuel Miranda to work on songs for the upcoming remake. Miranda is also set to produce the film with Marc Platt and oversee the development of the story (though he’s not attached to write the script at this time). With this project, the Tony winner’s relationship with the House of Mouse grows even stronger as he has already worked on music for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ and ‘Moana’ in addition to co-starring in Rob Marshall’s ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ alongside Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep.
Miranda’s fondness for this story is well documented. Not only does he name the film as one of his chief inspirations since the age of nine, but he also named his son Sebastian after the lovable crustacean from the movie. And more recently while working on ‘Moana’, he frequently fawned over directors Ron Clements and John Musker on social media due to their involvement in ‘The Little Mermaid’. Since he clearly has reverence for the source material and has shown time and time again how extraordinarily talented he is with musicals, it’s a no-brainer to make him part of this world. But in case you need more convincing, check out the very first digital #Ham4Ham where Miranda (who is clearly having the time of his life) is joined Menken for a medley of the Oscar-winning music from ‘The Little Mermaid’:
What do you think about Lin-Manuel Miranda teaming with Alan Menken to work on the live-action adaptation of ‘The Little Mermaid’ for Disney? Do you think that it could be as big a hit as ‘Hamilton’? And how great would it be if this was the movie that scored him the final piece of his EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) Award? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences far too much. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
