Disney Favorite Alan Menken Joins Skydance Animation’s ‘Spellbound’

The hype surrounding Skydance Animation has reached new heights with talk about their newest animated project, Spellbound, from their Annecy International Film Festival Panel. The Skydance animation team, in coordination with director Vicky Jenson, has been working on the film since the start of the pandemic (for Jenson, even longer).

However, at the recent film festival, Jenson spoke freely for the first time about the movie, the cast, and the characters. For fans of musicals and Disney animation, Jenson let loose another bombshell about the Spellbound project– the score is to be done by Alan Menken of Disney soundtrack fame.

The choice of a musical as the fledgling animation company’s second full-length animated feature film was a surprise. However, once announced, there was no surprise that Skydance Animation would follow John Lasseter’s influence when it came to the release of this project.

Lasseter, head of animation at Skydance Animation, came to Skydance after having worked at Disney for many years. His influence on the company since his arrival in 2019 is readily apparent, showing elements of his time at Disney and Pixar while also offering something new.

What has been made clear from the initial peaks into Spellbound is that it’s a completely different type of animation from any we’ve seen, and there’s reason to be excited about it.

Spellbound’s Recent Annecy Film Festival Panel

Recently, Spellbound was given its panel at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which highlights the best in animated films from around the world. The festival first started in 1960 in the town of Annecy and initially took place once every two years.

However, in 1998, as the animated film industry grew, so did Annecy. It turned into an annual festival, and animators & animation fans have come from far and wide to attend. This festival is often where the first news about upcoming movies is released, and that was true of Spellbound.

Festivalgoers at Annecy not only get to watch beloved classics in some of the most gorgeous scenery in all of France but also get to watch and listen to previously unreleased clips of animated features. Skydance was able to show off Spellbound this past June – highlighting its main characters, movie clips, and even playing never-before-heard music from the feature-length animated musical.

The Spellbound Score is written by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. Many of the songs from the soundtrack were still in the demo stage at the time of the festival, and because of this, Annecy listeners got the rare honor to listen to Alan Menken singing his songs.

“A couple of them are Alan Menken’s actual voice”, boasted Vicky Jenson, director of Spellbound, “which no one ever gets to hear.”

Followers of Skydance Animation have known for a while now that Alan Menken would be working on this project with the company. The addition of Glen Slater also happened early on but piqued the interest of fans of musicals.

Menken is known for his work on many beloved children’s films, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty, and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, and more. This era in the Disney timeline was known as the Disney Renaissance.

Menken’s music and lyrics bring a dramatic feeling to the settings of animated films, amplifying the storylines they portray and aiding the viewer in understanding the plot past a “children’s movie”.

Vicky Jenson spoke more about this at the Annecy Film Festival Panel, 

“These are completely original songs”, she said, teasing the soundtrack for Spellbound. “We haven’t heard anything from Alan Menken and Glen Slater in a long time. A lot of great movies have come out recently but a lot of it’s a couple of decades old. I’m excited we’re going to have brand new original music.”

The last film that Menken and Slater worked on together was Disney’s Tangled, which came out in 2010. The feature song from Tangled, “I See The Light”, was nominated for a Golden Globe award as well as an Oscar.

Alan Menken is known to the Skydance family, though this will be the first project on which he has worked. He and John Lasseter worked together on several projects while at Disney, including Tangled and Beauty and the Beast. 

As for other key performers highlighted on the panel, Rachel Zegler made a notable appearance. A relative newcomer to the movie world, Zegler made her big hit on Broadway in West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg. Although one might think that the Skydance team likely found Zegler after she came onto the Broadway scene, Vicky Jenson has jokingly laid claim to Rachel Zegler’s fame.

“I kind of like to think we discovered her because we saw her videos on YouTube around the same time that Steven Spielberg did…she is just fantastic. She’s a delight, she’s funny and such a pro.”

The production team at Skydance Animation has a recent history of casting newcomers. Eva Noblezada, who also was relatively unheard of outside of Broadway, was cast as the lead in their first feature-length film, Luck.

But why would Skydance pick such an ambitious project for what will be only their second feature-length film? Perhaps it has to do with the history of the production’s major players, like John Lasseter and Vicky Jenson.

Vicky Jenson, Skydance Animation, & What Else We Know About ‘Spellbound’

Fans of animation – especially musical animated features – should care about Vicky Jenson being part of the Spellbound project. Jenson has a history with animated children’s musicals. Jenson was the mastermind behind one of the most beloved computer-animated films of all time – Shrek.

Jenson was also integral to Shark Tale and The Road to El Dorado. The latter won a Critic’s Choice Award for Best Score.

Spellbound has been a labor of love for all at Skydance, including Vicky Jenson. Jenson has been part of the Spellbound crew for longer than the head of animation John Lasseter – for over six years. Spellbound has been in the works since 2017 when Paramount + first made a movie deal with Paramount +.

The deal eventually transferred to AppleTV+, where Blush, Luck, and now Spellbound can be viewed on demand.

The June Annecy International Animation Film Festival was the first time viewers got to hear musical numbers from Alan Menken & Glen Slater. However, it was also where those waiting for the movie’s release finally found out a little more about the movie itself.

Spellbound is the magical tale of a young princess. Princess Elian (Rachel Zegler) finds herself in the throes of a wicked curse that has turned her mother and father into beasts – beasts who do not know their daughter and are bent on destroying the castle.

Elian must simultaneously find the cure to the spell plaguing her parents – and keep their status a secret – all while keeping the kingdom running smoothly.

Spellbound features a star-studded musical-loving cast including:

• Rachel Zegler as Princess Elian
• Javier Bardem as King Solon
• Nicole Kidman as Queen Ellsmere
• Jordan Fisher as Callan
• Nathan Lane as The Oracle of the Sun
• Andre De Shields as the Oracle of the Moon
• Jenifer Lewis as Minister Nazara Prone
• John Lithgow as Minister Bolinar
• Tituss Burgess in a to-be-announced role

There is not yet any word on whether the film will get a theatrical release. However, musical fans can expect Spellbound to grace their screens sometime in 2024, with likely awards to come from the reuniting of Menken & Slater for the anticipated soundtrack.