Sing-Along Versions Of Musical Favorites Are Coming To Disney+, Starting With Encanto
Ever since "Encanto" became an international smash hit, it's been impossible to avoid talking about Bruno. From the time that the film dropped on Disney+ to now, the film has accumulated over 180 million views thanks to the average viewer rewatching it at least five times. Starting on Friday, March 18, 2022, fans will have a whole new way to watch the acclaimed animated feature with music by "Hamilton" and "Moana" maestro Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Not only will everybody be talking about Bruno, but they'll be singing about him, too.
Disney's Sing Along Songs
Back in the day, Disney released "Disney Sing-Along Songs" on VHS with the musical numbers from their biggest movies with the words on the screen so folks at home could sing along. Now, it looks like we're getting the modern version of that idea as The House of Mouse just announced that they would be introducing sing-along versions of many of their fan-favorite musicals on their streaming service, starting with the smash hit "Encanto." While watching the movie, viewers can follow along with lyrics onscreen and sing songs like "We Don't Talk About Bruno," "Surface Pressure," and the Oscar-nominated "Dos Oruguitas" with Mirabel and the rest of the family Madrigal. After your own casita is adequately immersed in the music of "Encanto," Disney+ subscribers can look forward to more sing-along releases later this year. So far, the upcoming titles include "Frozen," "Frozen II," the animated "Beauty and the Beast" from 1991, and the live-action "Beauty and the Beast" from 2017.
With an enormous catalog of musicals in the Disney vault, this seems like a cheap and easy way to get fans hyped up without creating new content. Especially since more and more of these classic films are getting remade and reimagined, it would make sense for the studio to rerelease the classic version with the new one as an added layer of promotional synergy. I'll bet that something like that is in the works for the upcoming live-action versions of "Pinocchio" and "The Little Mermaid." They could also use these sing-alongs to promote landmark anniversaries. In 2022, "Newsies," "Lilo & Stitch," "Hercules," and the OG animated "The Jungle Book" from 1967 are all celebrating milestones. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney+ announces plans for those rereleases imminently.
Of course, if you have young children at home that are obsessed with these movies, there's a good chance that they already know every word to every song in these movies. And by osmosis, you probably know every word to every song as well, whether you like it or not. So even if a dedicated sing-along version of a movie isn't exactly necessary, at least Disney is creating the next generation of karaoke fans.