Film News

Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda to Write Music for Disney's Moana

Disney has also announced that ”Frozen”’s Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez will create music for the upcoming ”Gigantic”.

Bethany Rickwald

| New York City |

August 14, 2015

Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Broadway's Hamilton, has been tapped to write music for Moana, an upcoming film from Walt Disney Animation Studios. The announcement was made today at The Official Disney Fan Club's D23 EXPO 2015 in Anaheim with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who will be starring in the film as the mighty demi-god Maui, on hand. Miranda, who has been teasing the announcement on social media, also shared the news via a video Tweet (you can check it out below).

According to press materials, Moana follows "a spirited teenager who sets out to prove herself a master wayfinder." The movie will also feature the tallents of Grammy-winning composer Mark Mancina (The Lion King) and Opetaia Foa’i (founder and lead singer of the world music award-winning band Te Vaka). According to Miranda, the trio have been collaborating for over a year and a half. Moana is set to open in theaters on November 23, 2016.

Directors John Musker and Ron Clements (The Princess and the Frog, Aladdin) will helm the film with Osnat Shurer producing.

In addition, it was announced today that Frozen songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez will write music for the Disney movie Gigantic, set to hit theaters in 2018. According to Variety, the film, which is based on the classic "Jack and the Beanstalk" story, will be directed by Tangled's Nathan Greno.

Miranda received Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Critics Circle Awards for Hamilton, which is currently running at the Richard Rodgers Theatre after an engagement at the Public Theater. He is a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his musical In the Heights, and is also the coauthor of Bring it On: The Musical. Miranda received Emmy Award for his opening number for the 67th Annual Tony Awards, written with Tom Kitt.

A husband-and-wife team, the Lopezes are recipients of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Original Song for Frozen's "Let It Go." Robert Lopez's Broadway credits include The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q.