Disney CEO Confirms ‘Encanto’ Will Be an Entire Franchise

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney+

Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek has hinted at the future of the mega-popular Encanto (2021) characters, indicating that the hit movie will become an entire franchise.

The Walt Disney Animation Studios film premiered in theaters on November 24, 2021. After a relatively unimpressive 30-day theatrical run, Encanto has exploded on Disney’s streaming platform. It’s Lin-Manuel Miranda soundtrack is now even officially more popular than the hit Frozen (2013) score, which featured hits like Idina Menzel’s “Let It Go” and “For the First Time In Forever.”

Felix (L) and Pepa (R) in 'Encanto'

One Encanto song in particular — “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” — has skyrocketed up the charts. And, as it turns out, composer Miranda (Hamilton, Moana, Mary Poppins Returns) had such a hunch about the tune’s popularity that he had an “NDA for toddlers” with his sons.

Mirabel (L) and Abuela Alma (R) in 'Encanto'

During last week’s first-quarter Walt Disney Company earnings call, Chapek confirmed that the company has launched an entirely new franchise with Encanto:

“We’ve had a very strong start to the fiscal year, with a significant rise in earnings per share, record revenue and operating income at our domestic parks and resorts, the launch of a new franchise with Encanto, and a significant increase in total subscriptions across our streaming portfolio to 196.4 million, including 11.8 million Disney+ subscribers added in the first quarter…”

encanto antonio

As for where the franchise might go in the future, the options are nearly endless.

From a potential sequel film in the vein of Frozen II (2019) to Disney+ Original series like Moana and Princess Tiana are both getting to more toys and merchandise — which are already flying off the shelves, with the Magical Casa Madrigal Play Set sold out everywhere — to, perhaps, even a Broadway show, Encanto‘s popularity will undoubtedly continue to rise.

Mirabel (L) and Bruno (R) in 'Encanto'

Miranda, in fact, recently spoke to E! News about his desire to see the popular movie come to the stage:

“I think it weirdly lends itself well. They don’t always, you know? Like, I can’t picture a Moana Broadway musical. I don’t know how you’d do the ocean. My first draft of the last song in the movie, ‘All of You,’ was like seven minutes long. It was so late in production that they were like, ‘Lin, we won’t make the movie in time. You actually have to cut this down.’ So I’ve got the Broadway finale like in the chamber.”

Lin Manuel Miranda says one of his family members is DONE with Bruno’s song from “Encanto”

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney+, Uncategorized

This week, the most popular song from Disney’s Encanto soundtrack made big news nationally by beating a record held since 1994 and 1995, but that doesn’t mean it’s sitting well with everyone.

According to Billboard.com, the most well-known song from Encanto has finally topped “Let It Go” from Disney’s 2013 smash, Frozen. “Let It Go,” performed by actress and singer Idina Menzel, who voices Queen Elsa throughout the film as well, made it as high up the Billboard Top 100 chart as No. 5. This week, however, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Disney’s latest animated feature surpassed the icy single and secured a spot on Billboard’s chart at No. 4, a feat “Let It Go” was not able to achieve.

“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is now tied for the highest-ranking song from a Disney animated film on Billboard’s chart with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” from Disney’s 1994 The Lion King and “Colors of the Wind,” from Disney’s 1995 Pocahontas, both of which achieved the No. 4 spot on the chart once upon a time.

And while the success of the song aimed at reminding the Madrigal family not to mention Bruno’s name is great for Disney and great for the writer of the song, Lin Manuel Miranda, there are some close to the film who have had just about enough of the song.

“My son came home from school today and he was like, ‘Daddy, everyone’s singing it,’” Miranda explained. “He’s both proud and like, ‘All right, already.’ Because remember, he heard that song last May.”

Miranda shares sons Sebastian, 7, and Francisco, 3, with his wife, Vanessa Nadal. It’s Sebastian, his older son, who’s heard “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” just about as many times as he can stand. It sounds like he wishes we also wouldn’t sing about Bruno.

According to his father, Lin Manuel Miranda, Sebastian is “way over it.”

In an interview with PEOPLE, Miranda says he was shocked by the success of the song and sees it as a bit random that the wild success would be from “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”

bruno disney's encanto

“I’m surprised [the most popular song is] ‘Bruno,’” Miranda explains. “I feel like [‘Bruno’] is my ‘Send in the Clowns,’ which was the late Stephen Sondheim’s biggest hit and probably the most random of an incredible career and life making music. But I’ll take it!”

Kid skips class to ‘hang out’ with one of our favorite Disney celebrities

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney+, Uncategorized

Via DIsDining.com

A student at Centennial High School in Roswell, Georgia, had a lot of explaining to do.

The young man, Luke Stevens, told his United States History teacher that he wouldn’t be in class the next session because he was going to be hanging out and having lunch with the “creator of Hamilton.”

Teachers have heard all the excuses, and the one seemed as implausible and impossible as any Luke’s teacher had heard to that point.

But Luke had all the proof he needed. In fact, he didn’t have to say a word because Lin Manuel Miranda, who was in the Atlanta, Georgia, area for a fundraiser Luke’s mother was heading up on her birthday, was only too happy to record a video of himself speaking directly to Luke’s teacher and corroborating his story.

In the video that Luke ultimately took to his teacher, Miranda introduced himself and tried to put Luke’s teacher’s mind at ease by telling her that he’d be handling U.S. History studies with Luke that day:

“This is Lin Manuel Miranda. I’m sorry he can’t be in U.S. History class right now, but he’s with me. We’re gonna go over the Bill of Rights, and anything you may be covering right now. We cover a lot in about two-and-a-half hours of ‘Hamilton,’ but we’re gonna go over it in specifics now. So this is not lost time.”

Miranda followed that by expressing gratitude to Luke’s teacher for excusing him from class that day.

When Luke sent the video message to his teacher, who’s a big fan of Lin Manuel Miranda, she was overwhelmed and told Luke she was “freaking out.”

“OMG!!!!,” she said in a message to the student. “Tell [Miranda] I just saw [Hamilton] for the first time and I love it! We will be using his songs tomorrow to teach about Washington’s precedents and the cabinet battles!!”

Not only did Miranda give Luke the proof he needed to prove his reason for absence was not a lie, but he also sat down and played the “Happy Birthday” song on the piano for Luke’s mom, Tamara Stevens.

Lin Manuel-Miranda Releases Early Demo of “How Far I’ll Go” From Moana

Posted on by Mathew Corn Uncategorized

This week, Playbill reported that that composer Lin Manuel Miranda released an early demo of the song “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana, sung by his Hamilton co-star Phillipa Soo.

“How Far I’ll Go” was performed for the film by Auli’i Cravalho, and it received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song in 2017.

Click below to hear what Miranda calls a ‘ROUGH EARLY’ draft of the song, performed by Soo ‘in the basement of The Public Theater’, back in 2015. Although the demo sounds similar to the finished product, there are some key differences. For instance, the first verse’s “I’ve been walking along the edge of the shoreline, I’ve been wanting something more / something that is only mine” is just as beautiful but still strikingly different from the chorus of the completed song. Also, as Lin Manuel Miranda points out himself, this demo is “so dingdang high” in pitch, but it’s still a stunning rendition.

It’s interesting to note that Soo actually also recorded a deleted song from the movie, too, as reported by Teen Vogue. “Warrior Face” appears on the Moana soundtrack, but never made the cut of the film. Soo is also credited with supplying ‘additional voices’ for the film, but we can’t be sure which character(s) she portrayed.