‘The Little Mermaid’ Composer Confirms 4 New Songs For Disney’s Remake

Halle Bailey Little Mermaid Ariel Disney

Composer and songwriter Alan Menken revealed he wrote four new songs for Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.

Disney’s slate of live-action remakes includes a retelling of The Little Mermaid, a story the company previously adapted for the screen in 1989. While production on the remake was scheduled to begin this month, the coronavirus pandemic prompted Disney to postpone filming for an undetermined amount of time.

During an interview for The Actors Fund with host Rosie O’Donnell, The Little Mermaid composer Alan Menken commented on what he has been doing with his free time in the midst of this pandemic. At one point, Menken, who composed the score and co-wrote the songs for the animated version of The Little Mermaid with Howard Ashman, revealed that the songs for Disney’s remake were recorded before the shutdown, including the four new ones he co-wrote with Lin-Manuel Miranda:

“It’s been a great time for writing. Yeah, we had production stop on The Little Mermaid movie. We recorded all the songs. I wrote four new songs with Lin-Manuel Miranda.”

Are you excited to hear what Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda have in store for the remake? Let us know in the comments section below.

Disney’s original The Little Mermaid centered on princess Ariel, who longed to explore the world beyond the sea. After saving Prince Eric from drowning, Ariel turns to the sea witch Ursula and trades in her voice in order to become a human for the chance to meet the man she rescued.

Directed by Rob Marshall from a script written by David Magee, Disney’s The Little Mermaid stars Halle Bailey as Ariel, Melissa McCarthy as the villainous sea witch Ursula, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Jacob Tremblay as the voice of Flounder, Awkwafina as the voice of Scuttle, Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian the Crab. Academy Award winner Javier Bardem was last reported to be eyed for the role of King Triton.

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alan Menken will write new songs for the remake to be included alongside the classic tunes the latter penned for the animated version of The Little Mermaid. In addition to his duties as a songwriter, Lin-Manuel Miranda will serve as an executive producer alongside Rob Marshall, Marc Platt, and John DeLuca.

Stay tuned to Heroic Hollywood for the latest news on Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.

Source: Twitter

Sebastian Peris

Sebastian Peris

Canadian film buff, political junkie, comic book geek, and board game enthusiast.