According to MCU songwriting team Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, one of WandaVision‘s songs was originally intended for a Disney movie.
Since Marvel Studios’ original Disney+ series relied on a television sitcom format, theme songs played a huge role in the show and its success.
Disney tapped Frozen and Coco songwriting duo, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, to pen WandaVision‘s catchy sitcom themes; but now it seems that classic television wasn’t their only source of material.
WandaVision Songwriters Recycled Their Own Disney Song
In talking with the D23 Inside Disney podcast, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez explained how they adapted an unused Disney song for WandaVision.
When asked about working on the now-canceled animated Disney musical, Gigantic, and whether they’re able to use past songs on new projects, Robert Lopez confirmed that “We actually did” and one Gigantic song made its way into “this show called WandaVision:”
“That’s a really interesting question. We actually did… Luckily enough, the songs went back to us after ‘Gigantic.’ We cleared it with all the legal-ness of it and we realized we were allowed to use them. We haven’t used many of them, but we did use two of them. One, we used in this show called ‘WandaVision.'”
Lopez went on to share that the Gigantic tune became WandaVision‘s Episode 3 theme song, “We Got Something Cooking:”
“A little ditty that we wrote for ‘Gigantic’ and we just took the tune, and the chords, and it became [‘We Got Something Cooking.’] … That’s from ‘Gigantic.’ And also, there’s a song called ‘These Are Your Rights’ and it’s from a Netflix special the Obama’s produced–”
Gigantic was an animated musical set in Spain and followed Jack as he discovered an 11-year-old female giant living in a world of giants within the clouds.
The film, as well as Kirsten Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez’s involvement, was first announced at the 2015 D23 Expo. Gigantic was officially canceled in 2017.
Episode 3 of WandaVision was set in the 1970s and its “We Got Something Cooking” intro was inspired by shows of that era and particularly The Brady Bunch.
The title seemingly referred to Wanda and Vision preparing for the birth of their twins, Tommy and Billy.
Gigantic Found New Life in the MCU
It’s fascinating to learn that WandaVision‘s songwriters actually adapted a scrapped Disney tune into a ’70s-inspired theme for an MCU series.
However, that’s far from the only feat this husband and wife team tackled for WandaVision.
The two penned seven different themes for the Marvel show, 6 of which had to capture the narrative of the episode while also reflecting a different decade of television.
The other song was a theme for a single character and eventual Emmy winner, “Agatha All Along,” a tune Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confessed he “would go around singing.”
Given the songwriting’s team success, it wouldn’t be surprising if Marvel Studios calls on them again.
But in the meantime, it’s great to learn how that an unheard song from the canceled Gigantic found new life in the MCU and contributed to WandaVision‘s hit playlist.
All episodes of WandaVision are available to stream on Disney+.
