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Ready to get into the holiday spirit? Disney is here to help.
On Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, Disney will be hosting The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular at 8:00 p.m. EST/PST on ABC. This marks the show’s 10th anniversary. The seasonal celebration will feature new musical performances from Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disneyland Resort in California and Aulani and a Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, Hawaii. Notable performers that you’ll want to catch live will include Bebe Rexha, Derek Hough, Gwen Stefani, Trisha Yearwood and Nicole Scherzinger, among others.
The event first began back in 2016 and has featured some major musical guests in the past, including Kelly Clarkson, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, OneRepublic, Alessia Cara, Ciara, Darius Rucker, Fifth Harmony, Jason Derulo and Lea Michele.
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Where to Watch The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular 2025
The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular 2025 will go premiere Monday (Dec. 1) on ABC. You can tune in to the special via your local affiliate channel, which can be found using the on-screen guide for DirecTV.
Right now, the service’s Entertainment package is available for $49.99 a month, a package which includes access to ABC. Along with you your subscription to this package, you’ll have access to 90+ local channels ESPEN Unlimited and Disney+ and Hulu bundle with ads and 130+ MyFree DIRECTV channels.
If you don’t have time to tune in live, you can stream the show the next day with a Hulu with Disney+ bundle for just $12.99/month. These Disney+ bundles save users on average 44% per month. Think of it this way. A standalone subscription to Hulu and or Disney+ with ads is 11.99/month, which is basically the cost of the aforementioned bundle. You’re getting more bang for your buck by bundling because it gives you access to a wider variety of streaming services all in one place. Stick with us. Your wallet will thank you.
Bundle subscribers will have access to a vast range of Disney+ and Hulu titles, including movies and series from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic along with Hulu Originals. Some of our favorites currently, perfect for getting you into the Christmas mood, include A Very Jonas Christmas Movie, Elf, Die Hard and The Polar Express. If you’re not ready to jingle your bells, you can always tap into other cheerful content including The Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Roses, Elio, Dancing with the Stars and the Glen Powell football comedy Chad Powers.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
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BTS‘ Jung Kook and Jimin are back for a second season of adventure for their hit show Are You Sure?!
The eight-episode season will premiere on Dec. 3 and sees the duo break new ground by traveling to Switzerland and Vietnam. Two episodes will be released each week up until Dec. 24. The season was filmed after both members completed their mandatory military service.
According to a press release, this season sees Jungkook and Jimin “embarking on an unforgettable 12-day journey that spans from the majestic mountains of Switzerland to the vibrant shores of Vietnam. Traveling light with only their luggage, a modest budget, and a trusty guidebook, the pair dive into a mix of thrilling adventures, serene getaways, and spontaneous, fun-filled moments.” Sounds like good TV to us.
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The show’s first season became the most-watched non-drama series globally for 42 days according to Disney+ and saw the boy band members explore New York, South Korea’s Jeju Island and Sapporo, Japan.
The show’s second season will be the metaphoric table-setter for the main course, which will find the pair reuniting with Jin, Suga, RM, J-Hope and V next year now that all the group’s members have completed their military training. The group released their last studio album, Be, a whopping five years ago. The full-length offering debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in Nov. 2020.
In the meantime, if you want to tune into the latest season of Are You Sure!?, we’re showing you how below.
How To Watch “Are You Sure?!”
The second season of Are You Sure!? will be available to stream on Disney+ starting Dec. 3.
While you could get a solo subscription to Disney+ for $11.99 a month, you could also get two streaming services for the price of one by bundling Hulu with Disney+ for $12.99/month. These Disney+ bundles save users on average 44% per month. Think of it this way. A standalone subscription to Hulu and or Disney+ with ads is 11.99/month, which is basically the cost of the aforementioned bundle. You’re getting more bang for your buck by bundling because it gives you access to a wider variety of streaming services all in one place. Stick with us. Your wallet will thank you.
Bundle subscribers will have access to a vast range of Disney+ and Hulu titles, including movies and series from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic along with Hulu Originals. Some of our favorites currently, perfect for getting you into the Christmas mood, include A Very Jonas Christmas Movie, Elf, Die Hard and The Polar Express. If you’re not ready to jingle your bells, you can always tap into other cheerful content including The Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Roses, Elio, Dancing with the Stars and the Glen Powell football comedy Chad Powers.
Watch the Trailer for Season 2 of “Are You Sure?!” Below
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
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You know them, you love them, and now, The Beatles’ legacy is being immortalized in a re-released anthology series.
The iconic British band has amassed a whopping 20 number one hits on Billboard’s Hot 100, with famed tracks like “Hey Jude,” “Get Back,” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” holding the record for the most No. 1’s since 1965. The band’s musical reach is unmistakable, which is why Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post digital team and Apple Corps’ multimedia production team have restored and remastered the 1995 anthology series about the band, set to stream on Disney+.
The Beatles Anthology will feature previously unseen footage restored in vivid fashion. We’ll see The Beatles journey from Liverpool to becoming a global phenomenon as told through the perspective of all four members. The original eight episode documentary featured long-form interviews with the band along with archival concert footage and studio sessions.
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The production team behind the remastering has worked on several Beatles projects in the past, including the 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back and the original Let It Be film, which they restored. Keep reading for more details on how to watch The Beatles Anthology.
How to Watch The Beatles Anthology
You can find The Beatles Anthology streaming only on Disney+, with the first three episodes becoming available on Wednesday (Nov. 26.). The series will then continue to release three more episodes on Thursday (Nov. 27), before unveiling the final three episodes on Friday (Nov. 28).
Hulu & Disney+ Bundle
Instead of getting one of two streaming services to watch the anthology, you can bundle Hulu with Disney+ for $12.99/month. These Disney+ bundles save users 44% per month on average. A standalone subscription to Hulu or Disney+ with ads is $11.99/month, which is just one dollar less than the cost of the bundle. You’re getting more bang for your buck by bundling because it gives you access to a wider variety of streaming services all in one place.
Beyond the obvious saving perks, subscribers will have access to a wide range of Disney+ and Hulu titles, including movies and series from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic along with Hulu Originals. Some of our favorites on the service currently are perfect for getting you into the Christmas mood, including Elf, Die Hard and The Polar Express. If you’re already bored of jingle bells, you can always stream blockbuster flicks like A Real Pain or Insidious: The Red Door along with classic family-friendly shows like Hannah Montana, Dancing with the Stars and more.
Hulu + Live TV
For the most content options, Hulu + Live TV gives you access to the entire Hulu library in addition to more than 95 live TV channels, Disney+ and ESPN for just $89.99 per month with ADs or $99.99 per month to go ad-free. The ad-free option does exclude ESPN Unlimited given the streaming service features live sports and other programming.
Watch the Trailer for The Beatles Anthology Below
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Disney+ dropped the two-and-a-half minute trailer for the upcoming refresh of The Beatles Anthology series. The beloved documentary chronicling the formation, fame and frenzy surrounding the Fab Four — which was originally broadcast in 1995 in the U.S. and U.K. before being released on video — will make its streaming debut on the service beginning Nov. 26.
The first three episodes will drop that day, followed by parts 4-6 on Nov. 27 and episode 7-9 on Nov. 28. The series has been restored and expanded from eight to nine episodes, including a new ninth ep featuring what a release promised was, “illuminating and previously unreleased footage of Paul, George and Ringo during the creation of the original 1990s Anthology series and music project.”
The series follows John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison as they look back on the legendary band’s eight-year rise to global superstardom, with the Disney+ version slated to feature a new restoration of the footage and a sound mix overseen by the Apple Corps production team working in conjunction with director Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post crew in Wellington, New Zealand.
The trailer opens with the voice of Lennon describing the origins of the group. “I met Paul and said, ‘do you want to join me band?’… Then George joined. Then Ringo joined,” he says. What follows is a whirlwind tour through the group’s early years, with Ringo explaining, “We’ve heard it from everybody else, now you can hear it from us” as archival footage has Lennon lamenting, “the demand on us was tremendous.”
The clip then takes us from a series of high points, the group’s legendary Feb. 1964 Ed Sullivan appearance that launched a million bands to the first-ever major stadium rock show at New York’s Shea Stadium in 1965, which was followed by a second show at Shea that Starr completely forgot about. “I thought we only played there once,” Starr says. “How was it?”
The new ninth chapter finds the then living members — McCartney, Starr and Harrison — regrouping in 1995 to work on the first “new” Beatles song since the group’s split in April 1970, “Free as a Bird.” In addition to the original doc series, The Beatles Anthology project included a four-volume set of double albums (which also contained another “new” song “Real Love”) as well as 2000 coffee table book.
“Nothing will ever break the love we have for each other,” says Lennon, who was murdered by a crazed fan outside his New York apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980. “The Beatles exist without us,” adds Harrison, who died in 2001 of cancer at age 58.
Watch The Beatles Anthology trailer below.
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The Jonas Brothers are taking over Christmas with their new film, aptly titled A Very Jonas Christmas Movie.
There’s no better way to get into the holiday spirit by watching this Christmas-meets-comedy film that is available to stream now on Disney+ and Hulu. The film sees brothers Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas face a series of escalating obstacles on their journey home from London to New York, racing against time to spend Christmas with their family.
It’s your standard wacky holiday movie, akin to such beloved titles such as Home Alone and Elf. The new movie is directed by Jessica Yu and stars the Jonas Brothers, obviously, alongside talents including Chloe Bennet, Billie Lourd, Laverne Cox, KJ Apa, Andrew Barth Feldman, Andrea Martin, Kenny G, Justin Tranter, Randall Park and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
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Now, this wouldn’t be a proper Jonas Brothers-led film if there wasn’t an original soundtrack. The brothers created an album, produced by Justin Tranter, with seven brand new songs, along with three additional tracks. The soundtrack includes the tracks “Best Night,” “Like It’s Christmas,” “Home Alone” and a live version of their 2019 single “Sucker.” If you’re itching to get into the Christmas spirit a little bit early, here’s how you can watch the Jonas Brothers’ new movie.
How To Watch A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
As mentioned, A Very Jonas Christmas Movie is now available for streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
Instead of getting one of two streaming services, you can bundle Hulu with Disney+ for $12.99/month. These Disney+ bundles save users on average 44% per month. Think of it this way. A standalone subscription to Hulu and or Disney+ with ads is 11.99/month, which is basically the cost of a bundle. You’re getting more bang for your buck by bundling because it gives you access to a wider variety of streaming services all in one place. Stick with us. Your wallet will thank you.
Subscribers will have access to a wide range of Disney+ and Hulu titles, including movies and series from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic along with and Hulu Originals. Some of our favorites currently, perfect for getting you into the Christmas mood, include Elf, Die Hard and The Polar Express. If it’s too early to jingle bells, you can always tap into other cheerful content including The Simpsons, Elio, Dancing with the Stars and the Glen Powell football comedy Chad Powers.
Watch the Trailer for A Very Jonas Christmas Movie Below
And, if you’re in the mood for more of the JoBros, the pop group is still on their JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour in celebration of their 20th anniversary. The band will be making stops in major cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, with a stacked setlist of top tracks sure to get you out of your seat with hits including “Lovebug,” “S.O.S” and “Year 3000.”
The band will be touring up until Dec. 22, when they will make their final stop in Brooklyn, N.Y., at the Barclays Center. If you’re looking to relive the 2000s, we’ve included sites where you can snag tickets to the band’s tour below. You might even be able to grab a deal on ticket pricing, on us, of course.
Where to Buy Tickets to Jonas Brothers’ JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour
Courtesy of Ticketmaster
low prices
Ticketmaster
Shop tickets for the Jonas’ Brothers’ latest tour via Ticketmaster.
If you’re a Jonas Brothers fan on a budget, Ticketmaster has a good amount of seating options still available for as low as $43 at some venues. Ticketmaster has an initiative in place for ticket buyers called Fan Guarantee that allows for cancellations, refunds or exchanges within 24 hours of booking, subject to certain exclusions, so you’ll never have to prep a backup plan pre-concert.
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StubHub
Shop tickets for the Jonas’ Brothers’ latest tour via StubHub.
StubHub features some of the best seating for Jonas Brothers’ tour we’ve seen so far, even for concerts that are only days away. You can shop a slew of seats, both up close and far from the stage, with ease, thanks to the ticketing service’s FanProtect Guarantee. This ticketing initiative ensures that you’re shopping for valid tickets or your money back. In the unfortunate event that your concert or show gets canceled and not rescheduled, you will receive a credit worth 120% of the amount you paid for the impacted event, or the option of a cash refund.
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Vivid Seats
Shop tickets for the Jonas’ Brothers’ latest tour via Vivid Seats.
You can grab seating options to the Jonas Brothers’ tour with Vivid Seats now for a discounted price when you use promo code BB30 to score $30 off your purchase. When you’re shopping for Jonas Brothers tickets on Vivid Seats, you’ll be able to clearly see which tickets are the most affordable and which ones are going the fastest without even clicking on them, thanks to icons above each venue. Like other ticketing sites, Vivid Seats also has a 100% Buyer Guarantee that vows your transaction is secure, that your tickets will be delivered before your event and that those tickets will be valid and authentic no matter what.
promo codes
SeatGeek
Shop tickets for the Jonas’ Brothers’ latest tour via SeatGeek.
You can shop Jonas Brothers’ tour tickets while still saving on SeatGeek. You can use promo code BILLBOARD10 to receive $10 off at checkout. The ticketing service includes a safety net for prospective buyers with their Buyer Guarantee that ensures smooth ticket purchases no matter the venue.
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TicketNetwork
Shop tickets for the Jonas’ Brothers’ latest tour via TicketNetwork.
You can also shop for JONAS20 tour tickets through TicketNetwork for a fraction of the original cost with our code BILLBOARD300 to save $300 off orders of $1,000 or more, and BILLBOARD150 to save $150 off orders of $500 or more. Waiting on getting paid before you buy your seats? You can also buy your tickets on the website now and pay later with help from Affirm. To further help you narrow down your decision before purchasing, the website includes all-in pricing that lets you see exactly what you’ll be paying before heading to checkout (fees included).
Courtesy of Gametime
Lots of seating left
Gametime
Shop tickets for the Jonas’ Brothers’ latest tour via Gametime.
Gametime has a bunch of seating options still available for pretty much all of the stops on the Jonas Brothers’ tour. Pricing varies based on how close or how far you are from the stage, so pick your tickets wisely. The ticketing service guarantees the lowest prices, event cancellation protection and on-time ticket delivery, ensuring a smooth sailing pre and post-purchase.
Trending on Billboard From the fiery summer release of ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires to the icy winter melody of “Snow Angels,” Freya Skye and Malachi Barton are back together again. Skye’s Nova and Barton’s Victor started out on opposite sides of an ancient fight as members of the rival Daywalkers and Vampires, respectively, […]
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Echoing disagreements between YouTube and music rights holders, Alphabet-owned YouTube TV is currently in fraught negotiations with Disney over the amounts the pay TV streaming platform is willing to pay for the company’s TV channels, which were pulled from YouTube TV on Oct. 30 after the two sides failed to agree on the terms of a licensing renewal.
The fracas is part of a larger pattern, artist manager and businessman Irving Azoff wrote in a Nov. 5 op-ed at Billboard. Azoff, a longtime YouTube critic, called the company “a behemoth bully” that uses its vast market power to coerce content owners. “The playbook is always the same: if you refuse to accept YouTube’s below-market terms, YouTube threatens to go dark until you capitulate.”
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Similar disagreements have plagued the music industry’s relationship with YouTube over the decades. (YouTube TV is run separately from YouTube, which generates most of its income from advertising.) Most notably, Warner Music Group pulled its catalog off YouTube in 2008 after licensing negotiations broke down. Over the years, rights owners have frequently — and publicly — complained about YouTube’s relatively low royalty payouts and a business model that allows for user-generated content that often includes copyright-protected music.
The pay TV dispute pits one of the world’s largest tech companies against the owner of some of America’s most popular TV channels. Disney owns more than 20 TV channels that span sports (ESPN, ACC Network, SEC Network), entertainment (FX, Freeform, Localish), family (Disney Channel), National Geographic and ABC and its local affiliates. Disney CEO Bob Iger has called these broadcast TV brands an “asset” that operate alongside its growing streaming platforms, Disney+ and Hulu.
News reports say that Disney offered YouTube TV terms commensurate with its latest deals with the largest pay TV providers, Comcast and Charter, while YouTube insists it has “been working in good faith” on a deal “that pays them fairly” for their content. However, Disney has cited YouTube TV’s “repeated refusal to negotiate in good faith” and demand for preferential treatment.
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Disputes over carriage — the agreements in which a multi-channel video distributor includes a TV network’s channels — are not uncommon. YouTube also removed Televisa/Univision channels in October and narrowly averted a blackout with Fox in August. As for Disney, carriage disputes caused its channels to briefly go missing from DirecTV in 2024, Charter in 2023 and Dish in 2022.
But the Disney-YouTube battle isn’t a battle of equals — or close to it. A relative newcomer to the pay TV business, eight-year-old YouTube TV is the fourth-largest pay TV provider in the U.S. with nearly 10 million subscribers. But YouTube TV is a small fraction of parent company Alphabet’s total business. At $83 per month and 10 million subscribers, YouTube TV generated $7.4 billion in the first nine months of 2025 — just 2.6% of parent company Alphabet’s $289 billion of revenue in that period.
For Disney, the loss of carriage fees works out to approximately $2 billion annually, or 2% of Disney’s revenues, Lightshed Partners’ Rich Greenfield told CNBC on Monday (Nov. 3). That weighs more heavily on Disney, which generated $72 billion of revenue in the first nine months of its fiscal year (the company releases fiscal year results on Nov. 13), than YouTube TV. “When Charter loses ESPN, everybody goes, ‘How can Charter survive?’,” said Greenfield. “There’s not one investor going, ‘God, is Google going to survive this?’”
Failing to reach a resolution could drive consumers to find Disney programming elsewhere. Consumers can access Disney or any other TV content in numerous places. Desired sports content such as Monday Night Football is available through ESPN Unlimited for $29.99 per month or $299.99 per year. Bundling ESPN Unlimited with Hulu — wholly owned by Disney — and Disney+ offers sports and a wider variety of programming that costs $29.99 per month with ads or $38.99 per month without ads.
A new survey from Drive Research found that 24% of YouTube subscribers have already canceled or plan to cancel their YouTube TV subscription as a result of the dispute. Additionally, 30% of subscribers said they have subscribed or intend to subscribe to ESPN Unlimited or Hulu’s live sports plan to maintain access to sporting events. Clearly, the backlash to the Disney fracas is real — but a giant like YouTube TV can afford to shed subscribers in a way other carriers likely couldn’t.
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David Israelite’s guest column on October 23, 2025 explained how little music creators get paid across different streaming services. I just want to lay out the facts and be clear: YouTube pays the least for music, full stop. They always have and always will unless someone stands up to them. They’ll throw up smoke screens and tempt you to look the other way, but let’s not be fooled.
YouTube recently touted that it paid artists $8 billion over the past year. This sounds impressive, but it’s not. During the same period, Spotify generated roughly $18 billion in revenue and paid about $12 billion to music rights holders — nearly 67% of its revenue. By contrast, YouTube generated $60 billion in revenue and paid only $8 billion to rights holders — about 13%. YouTube will say they’re not just a music service. But I would argue that YouTube never would have become such a successful platform without music, and even if only one-third of their revenue comes from music (and it’s likely higher), they certainly should be paying more than Spotify, not 50% less.
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How does YouTube pay less than their competitors? They are a behemoth bully. They have 2.7 billion monthly active users and more than $60 billion in annual revenue. It’s the dominant video platform, with more hours streamed than Netflix. It’s the largest music service, with more users than Spotify. And in the “traditional” TV space, it’s on track to surpass Comcast as the largest U.S. cable provider. This company now owns audience and content delivery in a way the world has never seen before.
Their tyranny isn’t just limited to music. If you read the headlines, you will see a pattern of coercion: YouTube vs. Televisa/Univision. YouTube vs. NBCUniversal. YouTube vs. Fox. YouTube vs. Paramount. And now YouTube vs. Disney. The playbook is always the same: if you refuse to accept YouTube’s below-market terms, YouTube threatens to go dark until you capitulate. They then shift the blame and spin the story — when in reality, YouTube just wants to pay less.
And now they’re trying to dictate terms to consumers too. If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber, you received an email saying “if Disney’s content is unavailable for an extended period of time,” YouTube will give you a paltry $20 credit. So, YouTube gets to unilaterally decide for consumers how long is too long and how much ESPN is worth to them? They bully the people creating the content and then they bully the consumers who want access to it.
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Disney understands that “content is king,” but at YouTube, content is just a pawn in their game. And the game at YouTube is clearly about aggregating services and market power (across Google and YouTube) and using that market power to strong-arm everyone in the ecosystem — rights holders, content creators, advertisers, everyone — for their own financial gain. YouTube is showing us what happens when unchecked power and greed collide.
Thankfully, Disney is standing up to YouTube, and we all need to support Disney because enough is enough. As artists, consumers, and companies, let’s voice our support for Disney in this battle with YouTube. And in parallel, Washington needs to take a good hard look at YouTube’s abuse of market power and explore whether it’s time to break up Google so that YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV are separate businesses that finally have to compete on a level playing field.
YouTube: without the artists, athletes, and actors, there is no business.
Irving Azoff holds the title of chairman and CEO of The Azoff Company and is the personal manager of the legendary Eagles, Jon Bon Jovi, U2, John Mayer, Van Halen, Gwen Stefani, Steely Dan, Maroon 5, and many others. The Azoff Company is a privately held media and entertainment company dedicated to investing in positively disruptive businesses that put artists and fans first. Azoff was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.
Trending on Billboard The Prep & Landing story continues this holiday season, picking up with a brand-new animated special about elite elf duo Wayne and Lanny in Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol, and Billboard Family is exclusively premiering the tinsel-topped trailer below. The fourth special in the Emmy-winning franchise — and the first in […]
As a film and television composer who’s worked on Deadpool & Wolverine and Stranger Things, Rob Simonsen is no stranger to finding a way to weave pop music into his lush scores. But what he was a stranger to was composing for an animated film — until now.
The veteran composer — whose work also includes 2009’s 500 Days of Summer, 2018’s Love, Simon and 2024’s It Ends With Us — will make his animated debut this weekend with Pixar‘s Elio, which hits theaters on Friday. In addition to Simonsen’s score, which hops from 11-year-old Elio’s begrudging home planet of Earth to the far reaches of outer space where he dreams to live forever, there are also two prominent music placements in the film: Talking Heads‘ existential 1981 single “Once in a Lifetime” and Vicente García‘s “Carmesí,” a top 20 hit on Billboard‘s Tropical Airplay chart in 2017.
In a conversation with Billboard, Simonsen tells us how both of those songs ended up in the movie, how he musically guides viewers between multiple planets in the sci-fi adventure, his 1973 Disney favorite that still resonates today, how he created his own “space disco” track for a memorable montage, and why he “felt at home” working in animated film.
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Rob Simonsen attends the World Premiere of Disney and Pixar’s “Elio” at El Capitan Theatre on June 10, 2025 in Los Angeles.
Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney/Pixar
I would love to start with when and how you got involved in this project. I’m not seeing any other animated work in your bio, and your only previous Disney project is Deadpool & Wolverine – so was that the connection?
They found me before Deadpool. Actually, I had done some scores that I think they found to use in their film, and they called me to meet with me and shared this really touching story [of Elio] with me. And I really loved what they were going for, and I felt like I understood it and was really excited. Of course Pixar [is] an incredible brain trust, an incredible group of people, and so there was a bit of a sympathetic resonance, I think. And, yeah, we got underway.
How long ago was that?
I think two and a half years ago, something around there. This one had a longer time frame than what I’m normally used to, working in live-action. I wrote a suite after seeing an initial cut and having a conversation with the director and really felt what they were going for. And I sat down and I wrote a suite and I sent it, and that ended up being “Elio’s Theme,” which is in the film — starts and ends the movie.
What was the biggest difference between scoring an animated film and the other movies you’ve previously worked on?
Oh, lots of stuff. You know, getting used to seeing hand sketches of really emotional scenes and filling in the blanks with your imagination, which actually is a process that I love. In a lot of ways, there’s not the limitations of exactly what frame something needs to hit. So you’re allowed to create music that has a little bit more inherent music logic to it. And in some cases, they’re able to get some of these things in kind of early and maybe have some musical moments even to hang the cut and the animation on.
Oh wow, that has to be very cool when that happens.
That happened pretty rarely, but when it does happen, it’s certainly nice.
This movie travels to so many different locations, so can you talk about creating music for each setting of this movie? So when Elio is on Earth, versus when he’s in the Communiverse, versus when he’s on Hylurg.
We were definitely trying to give each different location its own flavor. So for Hylurg, we focus on this low male choir and low brass. And for the Communiverse, we use these choir dolls, which are these small, handmade wooden robot dolls that are made by a Swedish company called Teenage Engineering. And we used them as kind of our vocal choir for the Communiverse, which they’re encoded with vowels and words and consonants, and it sounds like language, but it’s not English. It’s not really any specific language. So it has this kind of uncanny resemblance to human voices, but yet it sounds otherworldly, slightly technological. And then on Earth, it’s quite grounded, and there’s a lot of atmosphere, with simple piano melodies to kind of speak to Elio’s heart and his longing.
One of my favorite music moments is when Glordon and Elio are in the Communiverse and basically just treating it like one big amusement park, and there’s sort of a montage of all the fun they’re having. What were you going for with that music?
Kind of a pop track, a space disco cut. I love space disco. What an amazing little subgenre of the ’70s and ’80s. You know, Meco doing these kind of orchestrated but synthesized disco versions of all these sci-fi movies, theme songs and whatnot. And do a modern version of that, but also something that has this kind of nostalgic whimsy to it but with a solid beat that kind of makes you bop your head hopefully.
There are also two pop music parts of the movie – let’s start with the first one, Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime.” Was that something you were involved in selecting, or was that the dream song that the filmmakers already wanted there?
Yeah, they picked that actually. By the time I saw the first cut, when I was brought on, it was in there. And I love that song, so I was happy to see it there.
I was racking my brain to think of another moment in a Disney/Pixar movie that features an existing song in its entirety like that and was having a hard time coming up with one. It’s jarring in a very cool way!
Yeah, it is a bit different for them. And off the top of my head, I’m not sure that I know of another one.
The other moment is a Vicente García song called “Carmesí,” which plays on Aunt Olga’s car radio in the movie. How was that song chosen?
I know they were chasing some options. And I think, actually, Zoe Saldaña [who voices Elio’s Aunt Olga] may have mentioned that song and put it forward as a song that she liked. So I think that there was a cool thread of involving her in that choice.
Between Stranger Things and Deadpool & Wolverine, you’re very familiar with how a song can get a big bump from being placed in a movie like this. Do you see a world where this young audience is going to discover Talking Heads and David Byrne or Vicente García through this film?
Sure, especially since there’s only those two song pieces. The Talking Heads, it’s interesting — it’s an older song now, but it still feels fresh sonically. And yeah, I hope that a young generation gets introduced to David Byrne.
Were you a Disney kid growing up or before working on this? What does working on a Disney project mean to you?
Disney has changed the world and has had so many influences and impacts on the world. And I really love that [Walt] Disney was a real visionary and someone who was trying to transport people to new places, but yet, in these new places, you hopefully find something inspiring about life and humanity and the experience of being human, and he was a really forward-thinking person. So, I mean, it’s undeniable the mark that Disney has left, and Pixar as well. Their track record is incredible, and they’ve had so many movies that have been so enjoyable to watch and have been so well-made and so smart, and I think they really cracked the code on making films that appeal to adults and kids. So it was a real dream to get a call from them and to work on this one.
Do you have a personal favorite Disney project from your past?
You know, I love [1973’s] Robin Hood. I loved it as a kid, and I recently rewatched it, and I was struck by how relevant it is to today’s times. So I recommend that movie as a rewatch to anyone now. It’s really, really resonant, and the music is incredible in that it’s very, very catchy melodies and a great score by George Bruns, who is an amazing Disney composer, and Roger Miller delivering these amazing songs. Some of those melodies are just constantly in my head. I find myself absentmindedly whistling the “Whistle Stop” song from Robin Hood when I’m walking down the street.
Do you hope to do more animated work after this?
Yeah, I would love to. I really enjoyed working with animators. They’re so sensitive. You know, their whole job is to capture the essence of a human emotion with drawings and representations of humans, and knowing exactly what kind of emotion to go for. And emotion is almost infinite in terms of the gradation of it and the spectrum of human emotions. And Pixar, they’re the best at doing these very specific facial expressions, and the performances that they infuse their characters with is really impressive. And I saw as these animations kind of improved over time and got more specific, a character would wince in a certain way or kind of make a face in a certain way. And I just appreciate how much study of humanity animators have to do, and that’s what we do as film composers, you know? You’re a study of human emotions. So I felt at home with these people. So I’d love to do it again.
What was it like seeing the movie in its entirety the first time?
I think when I saw the whole thing, I had some notes for myself. [Laughs] But, you know, we really worked hard and I think banged it into great shape, and I think the movie really sings. Sitting back and watching it with an audience for the first time at a premiere was great. There’s a lot of enthusiasm for the characters and a lot of laughs, and it’s very breezy and, I think, very poignant in moments. So to be able to feel that with a group of people, you know, that’s an irreplaceable experience.
