The Academy Awards last Sunday had all the glitz and glamour you would expect, but it also had some news coming off the red carpet that’s really stands out like a shiny gold statuette. La La Land and The Greatest Showman songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul announced before the show that they’re developing two new songs for Disney’s live-action Aladdin remake with longtime Disney composer and songwriter Alan Menken.
After losing an Oscar to a Disney movie, Benj Pasek and Justin are now working with the mouse. If you can’t beat ’em… join ’em. They came close though, with their Greatest Showman smash hit “This Is Me”, but ending up losing out to “Remember Me,” from Disney’s Coco. Beyond this year the songwriting duo is already quite accomplished having picked up an Oscar last year for writing lyrics to the La La Land tune “City of Stars.”
During their red carpet interview with Variety they talked about their excitement to be a part of the Disney Family and to get to work with Menken. “We’re really thrilled that we got to collaborate with one of our heroes, Alan Menken, and we collaborated with him and wrote the lyrics for two new songs for Aladdin that’s coming out next year,” Pasek said.
“The Greatest Showman” songwriters Benj Pasek & Justin Paul are working on new music for Disney’s #Aladdin (Watch) pic.twitter.com/ChjfFssMi6
— Variety (@Variety) March 5, 2018
Scoring several prominent Disney animated features, composer Alan Menken is best known for films including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules and Tangled.
Based on a tale from The Arabian Nights, the film is a live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1992 animated hit. The Guy Ritchie film stars Egypt-born Canadian actor Mena Massoud as Aladdin, alongside Will Smith as the Genie. It hits theaters on May 24, 2019.