Disney and Musicals: Why the Studio Can't Stop Singing
How Disney tried to quit musicals, and why it always comes back.
Part 1: The songs were there from the start
REAL: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Disney's first feature film, was full of songs, and "Someday My Prince Will Come" and "Heigh-Ho" became hits. Walt Disney believed songs could move a story forward and make characters feel alive.
Through the 1950s and '60s, the songs kept coming: Cinderella, Peter Pan, The Jungle Book. REAL: brothers Richard and Robert Sherman wrote songs for Disney films like The Jungle Book and Mary Poppins, and for the theme-park ride "It's a Small World."
Part 2: The slump and the comeback
After Walt died in 1966, the studio lost its way. The '70s and early '80s films were smaller, and some, like The Black Cauldron (1985), barely had songs at all.
Then came The Little Mermaid (1989). REAL: songwriters Howard Ashman and Alan Menken brought a Broadway approach: an opening number, an "I Want" song for the hero ("Part of Your World"), a big villain song and a showstopper. It launched the Disney Renaissance, the ten years that gave us Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.
REAL: Beauty and the Beast (1991) became the first animated film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Part 3: Disney tries to quit
By the early 2000s, DreamWorks' Shrek was a smash hit, and it made fun of fairy tales and musicals. Disney tried something new: adventures with fewer songs, like Atlantis (2001) and Treasure Planet (2002). They didn't do well. Then Home on the Range (2004), a musical with singing cows, didn't do well either.
Disney was having an identity crisis.
Part 4: The musical comeback
Tangled (2010). A careful test. Computer animation, a funny modern tone and songs by Alan Menken again. "I See the Light" was nominated for an Oscar. (And Maximus the horse deserves his own movie.)
Frozen (2013). REAL: "Let It Go" won the Oscar for Best Original Song and became one of the most-played songs of the decade. Every parent knows every word, whether they wanted to or not.
Moana (2016). Songs co-written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Encanto (2021). REAL: "We Don't Talk About Bruno" topped the Billboard Hot 100, beating "Let It Go"'s chart peak.
Disney was back to being a musical studio.
Part 5: Viral hits vs. timeless classics
Here's the question: are today's Disney songs built to last, or built to go viral? The Renaissance songs feel timeless. Some newer ones feel made for short videos and memes, and they burn bright and fast.
Will anyone sing "Into the Unknown" in 20 years? We'll see.
The lesson
Disney tried to quit musicals, and every time, it came back. Songs are part of Disney's DNA. The real question isn't whether Disney makes musicals. It's how: as a quick hit or as a classic.
What's the best Disney song ever? Tell us in the comments.
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