Alumna Jennifer Lee '05 to Executive Produce 'Encanto' for Disney

By
Cody Daniel Beltis
January 28, 2021

One of Columbia’s most accomplished filmmakers and Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Studios, alumna Jennifer Lee ’05, will executive produce Encanto, to be released by Disney on November 24, 2021. During their Investor Day 2020, Disney announced Encanto as their next animated film. A first look trailer for the new fantasy film can be seen below. 

The upcoming animated feature was written and directed by Charise Castro Smith and directors Byron Howard and Jared Bush, who co-directed Zootopia. The animated film appears to be another musical featuring songs composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the Broadway musical, Hamilton.

Set in Colombia, Encanto follows a young girl with a magical family. Disney has so far kept the movie's plot a secret for major publications, with a voice cast still yet to be announced. Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Stephanie Beatriz is in talks to play the lead role. Yet, Movie Insider, in a statement about the details of the plot said: “Encanto tells the tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia, in a magical house, in a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift from super strength to the power to heal—every child except one, Mirabel. But when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides that she, the only ordinary Madrigal, might just be her exceptional family’s last hope.” 

Disney has made a notable effort to broaden diversity in their films. In its Pixar division, Coco (2017) is set in Mexico and features Mexican characters, and its newest film Soul (2020) is set partly in Harlem and features a Black protagonist and jazz music. Disney animated films have also been striving for diversity in the past decade. The Princess and the Frog (2009) starred Disney's first Black princess and featured Louisiana Voodoo culture, and Moana (2016) featured a Polynesian protagonist. Encanto will be the first Latinx Disney animated film. 

Jennifer Lee is an American screenwriter, film director, and Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios. She is best known as the writer and director of Frozen (2013) and its sequel Frozen II, the former of which earned her an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Lee is the first female director of a Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film and the first female director of a feature film that earned more than $1 billion in gross box office revenue. In 2014, Frozen won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Annie Award for Best Animated Feature.