Lin-Manuel Mirandamay be a household name thanks to his skyrocketing success in 2016, but the talented composer/writer/performer has been hard at work for more than a few years already. Sure, the record-setting success ofHamiltonand the more recent acclaim for his work on Disney’sMoanakeep him in the day-to-day zeitgeist, but this is not Miranda’s first brush with success. The last time his name started appearing in headlines was in 2009 when his musicalIn the Heightswon four Tony Awards, one Grammy Award, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Around that time, Miranda took his movie idea for an animated tale about an adventurous capuchin monkey to DreamWorks Animation, where it had languished for the last six years. (The film treatment ofIn the Heightsunderwent the same shelf treatment at Universal Pictures.) Now, asDeadlinereports, Miranda’sVivoproject has found new life, so to speak. Set up at Sony Pictures Animation, the tale about “a capuchin monkey with a thirst for adventure – and a passion for music – that makes a treacherous passage from Havana to Miami to fulfill his destiny” is due out on August 23, 2025.
Miranda himself confirmed as much on Twitter soon after the news broke:
Miranda’s 11 original songs will anchor the animated adventure epic; hisIn the HeightscollaboratorQuiara Alegria Hudesis writing the script.The CroodsdirectorKirk De Miccowill helm the picture, which will be produced byLisa StewartwithLaurence Markas executive producer. Few other details are available on the project at the moment, but sinceVivo’s tunes are a few years old, perhaps Miranda will freshen them up a bit in the meantime.
Then again, his schedule appears to be pretty full-up these days. He was recentlyreported as the point manfor the adaptation ofThe Kingkiller Chronicle, hasa secret project in the works with DisneyandZootopia’s co-director,Byron Howard, and isinvolved with Disney’s live-action remakeofThe Little Mermaid. Oh, and remember thatIn the Heightspicture? It’s now set up with The Weinstein Company withJon M. Chuset to direct. If any studio out there has some old Miranda projects gathering dust, now’s the time to bring them back out.
