Disney Taps Maleficent Composer For ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’
Composer James Newton Howard, who is known for scoring Disney’s Maleficent and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, is set to score Raya and the Last Dragon for Walt Disney Animation Studios.
The film, which has been in development at the studio for a few years now, is currently in the final stages of post-production. Luckily, despite the shutdown, Disney was able to work on the film remotely.
Source: Grammys.com
Raya will be an epic fantasy adventure with southeast Asian themes, writer Adele Lim said at the panel. The film is set in a realm called Lumandra, described as “a reimagined earth inhabited by an ancient civilization.” Five clans form the land of the dragon, and Raya is determined to find the last dragon.
Restore peace. Find the last dragon. Watch the new trailer for Raya and the Last Dragon, in theaters March 2021. #DisneyRaya pic.twitter.com/BTlpIVz6MS
— Disney (@Disney) October 21, 2020
Cassie Steele is the protagonist Raya, and the rapper Awkwafina (Nora Lum) plays the dragon, named Sisu. “She’s not like any other dragon that you’ve seen before; she’s a water dragon,” Awkwafina said.
Raya and the Last Dragon’s development goes back to 2017, when Disney shelved Gigantic, a re-telling of Jack and the Beanstalk that would’ve taken place in 15th century Spain and focused on the young hero befriending an 11-year-old giantess. “We are focusing our energies on another project that has been in the works,” Ed Catmull, the Walt Disney, and Pixar Animation Studios president said at the time.
From directors, Don Hall (Big Hero 6) and Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting), co-directors Paul Briggs (The Princess and the Frog) and John Ripa (Frozen), producers Osnat Shurer (Moana) and Peter Del Vecho (Frozen 2), and featuring the voices of Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) as Raya and Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) as the aforementioned last dragon Sisu.
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Raya and the Last Dragon opens in U.S. theaters on March 12, 2021. James Newton Howard has also completed the score for Disney’s Jungle Cruise, which is currently scheduled for next July.
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