While a lot of Pixar movies have a musical element to them, the famed animation studio has never made a full-on musical. It looks like that may be changing, though, as Oscar-winning singer/songwriter Randy Newman, who has composed 6 previous Pixar movie soundtracks along with the iconicToy Storytheme song ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’, has revealed that directorLee Unkrich’s next project for the studio will be a musical. And it seems that project is theUntitled Dia de Los Muertos Movie.
TheUntitled Dia de Los Muertos Projectwas announced way back in 2012, and was described as a ‘wholly original’ film for Pixar that would delve into the holiday of it’s title. Since that time, we haven’t heard too much about the storyline.Untitled Dia de Los Muertos Projectdoes not have a proper title at this time, nor does it have a release date. One other thing it definitely won’t have is Randy Newman, who is not working on the animated fantasy adventure. In an interview withClassic FM, the musician describes his own somewhat bad reputation, and howLee Unkrichused Newman’s temp tracks instead of the finished version of the soundtrack forToy Story 3. This didn’t sit well with the composer, who then reveals he will not be collaborating withLee Unkrichon the director’s next project, which actually isn’t confirmed to be theUntitled Dia de Los Muertos Project, but most likely is:
“I’m not so sure I don’t have a reputation for being a little trouble. Lee Unkrich isn’t going to use me, I don’t think. And not only that, Lee Unkrich had Toy Story 3 temped with my music and it was limiting to me. It was fine, the movie did great and everything and maybe I’m wrong and if I look back on it I won’t know the difference, but it didn’t fit hand in glove the way I would have tried to do. And he fell in love with the temp, very much so. Now he’s not going to use me to work with him again. He’s doing a musical now.”
It is not known when Pixar and Disney will officially announced theUntitled Dia de Los Muertos Projecttitle and release date. Its also unclear how much longer a Pixar musical may take to complete compared to one of their normal outings. There is also the chance that Randy Newman is talking about a completely different Pixar project, though it’s unclear what that could even be at this point. If it’s something new, nothing about the movie has leaked yet. At any rate, it sounds as thoughLee Unkrichis indeed working on Pixar’s first full-fledged musical, which is coming after the success of Disney’sFrozen. That movie has surely influenced some of the decisions Pixar and Disney are making moving ahead, and it sounds likeFrozenis helping shape what theUntitled Dia de Los Muertos Projectmay eventually be.
