Disney Animation's winter release finally has a name attached to its music. On October 16, the U.S. film music news site Film Music Reporter reported that Kris Bowers has been scoring Walt Disney Animation Studios' new feature Hexed (Japanese title: Billie to Mahō no Hajimari). The film opens in the U.S. on November 25, 2026, and in Japan on December 4. With the news arriving less than two months before release, the scoring work is presumably well under way.
Bowers is the composer whose score for DreamWorks' The Wild Robot earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score. Anyone who cried over the bond between Roz the robot and the gosling Brightbill will see why this pairing clicks: this new story, too, is about a parent and a child.
A Misfit Girl and Her Difficult Mother on a Magical Journey
Hexed is a fully original Walt Disney Animation Studios film, announced at Destination D23 in August 2025. Its heroine is Billie, an impulsive high-schooler with dyed red hair. After her hidden magical powers go haywire and get her expelled, she teams up with her estranged mother Alice in the witch kingdom of Hexe, where the two chase a family secret that could upend the witch world. Japanese promotion bills her as Disney's first heroine who is a present-day high school student.
The film is directed by Fawn Veerasunthorn (Wish) and Jason Hand (Moana 2), with Josie Trinidad as co-director. The voice cast is led by Hailee Steinfeld as Billie, alongside Rashida Jones, Tracey Ullman, Walton Goggins, Stephen Fry and Jodie Foster, who makes her Disney animated feature voice debut as an evil witch queen. Goggins plays Beet Roger, Billie's feline sidekick.
From Jazz Pianist to Master of the Tear-Jerking Orchestra
Kris Bowers has an unusual career path. He first made his name as a jazz pianist before moving into film music. Even the filmography Film Music Reporter lists shows remarkable range:
- Film: Green Book, King Richard, Haunted Mansion, The Color Purple, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Wild Robot, and the animated film GOAT
- Series: Bridgerton, Secret Invasion, Dear White People, Spider-Noir
That spans true-story drama, horror comedy, musical, Marvel and period romance. He also won an Academy Award as co-director of the documentary short The Last Repair Shop. He is not someone who fits neatly inside the "composer" box.
For score fans, the Disney connection is worth noting. Bowers has already scored a Disney film with the live-action Haunted Mansion, but this is his first feature for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Seeing a composer with jazz roots step into the heart of Walt Disney Animation, rather than Pixar, is exciting in itself.
A Mother-Daughter Theme We Hope Extends The Wild Robot
What follows is partly hope. The Wild Robot's score won hearts because the soaring lift of the full orchestra and the warmth of an adoptive parent, carried by piano and delicate strings, were joined in a single line. Bowers followed Roz and Brightbill's slow becoming-a-family with melodies that never tipped into excess.
Hexed is about a mother and daughter who clash. It is set in a witch kingdom, and its villain is a witch queen played by Jodie Foster. Mischievous scenes of magic gone wrong, the strange scale of the otherworld of Hexe, and the emotional climax of a parent and child moving toward reconciliation: all of Bowers' strengths are in play. It will also be interesting to hear what kind of swing his jazz-honed sense of rhythm brings to the magical chaos.
No soundtrack release or original songs have been announced yet. Given the U.S. opening on November 25 and how past Disney releases have gone, some kind of music release seems likely to be announced around the premiere. In Japan, audiences will get to soak in this new Disney sound in theaters on December 4, just before the year's end. If The Wild Robot made you cry, you might want to bring a handkerchief.
