Dreamworks Developing Their First Animated Musical, Monkeys Of Bollywood

Animated movies used to be all about the music, from Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs through The Lion King. In the last decade, however, particularly with the advent of 100% CGI animation, the musical aspect has taken the back seat (Pixar has yet to have any of their characters belt out a tune), but there is still hope. Both Tangled and The Princess and The Frog brought the music back in the last two years, and now Dreamworks is getting in on the action.

Variety reports that the studio is now getting into the animated musical game for the first time with Monkeys of Bollywood. Hiring composer A.R. Rahman and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, the story is based on the Hindu epic poem The Ramayana. In the story, two monkeys work together to stop an evil demon from taking over the world, and, in the spirt of the title, the film will be made in Bollywood fashion.

Dreamworks Animation has been going nuts in recent months, promising multiple sequels to Kung Fu Panda, How To Train Your Dragon and Madagascar; setting up the Oni Press comic Maintenance; and making a project called Me And My Shadow. There's not a lot that you can be certain about in this industry, but you can believe that we will be seeing a lot of animated movies in the coming years.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

NJ native who calls LA home and lives in a Dreamatorium. A decade-plus CinemaBlend veteran who is endlessly enthusiastic about the career he’s dreamt of since seventh grade.