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- Jake Lipson
Disney seems to be going in a direction where we get one Legacy Collection title per year.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame for its 25th anniversary last year. Aladdin for its 30th anniversary this year.
Which makes me wonder...what's next year?
There is no Walt Disney Animation Studios film turning 30 in 2023. They went from Aladdin in November 1992 to The Lion King in June 1994. The closest would be The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was deemed too dark for Disney and released originally through Touchstone Pictures. Disney has embraced it more in recent years. But I don't know if there is that much to add to its soundtrack, which already runs 62 minutes for a 75-minute film.
With Aladdin available, Hercules is now the final Alan Menken musical from the Disney Animation renaissance period which does not have a Legacy Collection release. So I think that one is due. But its 25th anniversary would be this year. I'd be happy if they gave it to us next year anyway, but almost all of the Legacy releases have been tied to a specific "significant" anniversary for the film. The only exception is Beauty and the Beast which was released in 2018 when the film was 27. I hope they don't make us wait another five years for Hercules to turn 30.
2023 will be the 25th anniversary of Mulan from Disney and A Bug's Life from Pixar. I would certainly welcome more complete editions of either or both of those. The existing soundtrack for Mulan is only 52 minutes and leaves off a lot of Jerry Goldsmith's great score for that film. Disney doesn't tend to promote A Bug's Life nearly as much as its Pixar brethren, but I really like that film and think it is one of Randy Newman's best scores. The existing soundtrack release is only 48 minutes.
2023 is also the 20th (!) anniversary of Finding Nemo. Its current soundtrack release is 61 minutes. WALL-E will turn 15. Its current soundtrack release is 62 minutes and the United States CD version has been out of print for some time.
Disney Animation's Brother Bear will turn 20. It has a 49-minute soundtrack release currently. I like that movie a lot, but it is certainly the least popular title I've already mentioned. I would welcome a new edition of that, but I would be really surprised if they did it instead of one of the bigger titles.
Of course, Frozen will be turning ten. It already got a very nice 2-disc CD release in 2013, but the bonus tracks were all cut songs and score demos. I think it probably still has some score unreleased from the actual film. It does the thing that most Disney soundtracks do where the songs are presented first, followed by the score. I would certainly welcome a new edition of this featuring the entire score and re-ordered so all of it flows in and out of the songs chronologically. But the fact that they already did a 2-disc version of it before would seem to make it less likely. Frozen has certainly had a huge cultural impact in the last almost-decade, though, so I could see justification for doing something for its anniversary.
Monsters University will also turn ten, but I'd be really shocked if they did a new release for that before Monsters, Inc., which is clearly the more beloved of those two films.
Going further back into Walt-era films, Peter Pan will turn 70. Its current soundtrack is 53 minutes and already includes a couple bonus tracks. I'm not sure how much score they have would to add, though. It is a 77 minute movie. This would also present a cross-promotional marketing opportunity because the live-action remake Peter Pan and Wendy will be coming to Disney+ next year.
But if they're only going to pick one of these films with significant anniversaries, I haven't got a clue how they go about doing that. There are more than enough titles for them to do several releases per year as used to be the case. But since they've slowed down, I would think they'll probably just do one again, if that.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame for its 25th anniversary last year. Aladdin for its 30th anniversary this year.
Which makes me wonder...what's next year?
There is no Walt Disney Animation Studios film turning 30 in 2023. They went from Aladdin in November 1992 to The Lion King in June 1994. The closest would be The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was deemed too dark for Disney and released originally through Touchstone Pictures. Disney has embraced it more in recent years. But I don't know if there is that much to add to its soundtrack, which already runs 62 minutes for a 75-minute film.
With Aladdin available, Hercules is now the final Alan Menken musical from the Disney Animation renaissance period which does not have a Legacy Collection release. So I think that one is due. But its 25th anniversary would be this year. I'd be happy if they gave it to us next year anyway, but almost all of the Legacy releases have been tied to a specific "significant" anniversary for the film. The only exception is Beauty and the Beast which was released in 2018 when the film was 27. I hope they don't make us wait another five years for Hercules to turn 30.
2023 will be the 25th anniversary of Mulan from Disney and A Bug's Life from Pixar. I would certainly welcome more complete editions of either or both of those. The existing soundtrack for Mulan is only 52 minutes and leaves off a lot of Jerry Goldsmith's great score for that film. Disney doesn't tend to promote A Bug's Life nearly as much as its Pixar brethren, but I really like that film and think it is one of Randy Newman's best scores. The existing soundtrack release is only 48 minutes.
2023 is also the 20th (!) anniversary of Finding Nemo. Its current soundtrack release is 61 minutes. WALL-E will turn 15. Its current soundtrack release is 62 minutes and the United States CD version has been out of print for some time.
Disney Animation's Brother Bear will turn 20. It has a 49-minute soundtrack release currently. I like that movie a lot, but it is certainly the least popular title I've already mentioned. I would welcome a new edition of that, but I would be really surprised if they did it instead of one of the bigger titles.
Of course, Frozen will be turning ten. It already got a very nice 2-disc CD release in 2013, but the bonus tracks were all cut songs and score demos. I think it probably still has some score unreleased from the actual film. It does the thing that most Disney soundtracks do where the songs are presented first, followed by the score. I would certainly welcome a new edition of this featuring the entire score and re-ordered so all of it flows in and out of the songs chronologically. But the fact that they already did a 2-disc version of it before would seem to make it less likely. Frozen has certainly had a huge cultural impact in the last almost-decade, though, so I could see justification for doing something for its anniversary.
Monsters University will also turn ten, but I'd be really shocked if they did a new release for that before Monsters, Inc., which is clearly the more beloved of those two films.
Going further back into Walt-era films, Peter Pan will turn 70. Its current soundtrack is 53 minutes and already includes a couple bonus tracks. I'm not sure how much score they have would to add, though. It is a 77 minute movie. This would also present a cross-promotional marketing opportunity because the live-action remake Peter Pan and Wendy will be coming to Disney+ next year.
But if they're only going to pick one of these films with significant anniversaries, I haven't got a clue how they go about doing that. There are more than enough titles for them to do several releases per year as used to be the case. But since they've slowed down, I would think they'll probably just do one again, if that.
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