Disney's live-action remakes of its classic animated movies are the closest thing you can get to a sure bet in Hollywood these days. The studio's track record so far has just been too strong, both with critics and audiences. But what's particularly cool is that Disney isn't just phoning it in with recognizable brands. Movies like The Jungle Book and Pete's Dragon take the original source material and then find a way to make an audience in 2016 feel like they are truly getting their money's worth while watching a story they already know.
The people at Disney know that finding serious talent to take old, animated stories seriously is a winning formula, and they have no intention of changing it up anytime soon. Case in point: The Little Mermaid. Deadline has just revealed that the studio is working out a deal with Hamilton mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda to write new songs for the movie. That alone is worthy of excitement, but they're also bringing back original songwriter Alan Menken, who won Oscars for Best Original Song and Score for the animated version.
This new live-action The Little Mermaid doesn't have a director yet, but it is apparently a priority for the studio so you can count on news to become more and more frequent in the coming months. In the meantime, if you're jonesing for some Miranda-written songs in a Disney movie, it just so happens you can find them in Moana.
