What is the Menken Rule and why is it affecting Moana 2's Oscar song choices?

Moana 2 has revealed which songs are being submitted for Oscar consideration, and the choices highlight an unusual Oscar “rule” Disney inspired!

Whenever a new Disney animated movie hits, folks are ready for a song from it to be nominated for an Oscar and, more often than not, winning. It’s been that way since the 1990s and has led to some intriguing choices and winners. 

With Moana in 2016, it was no shock that Tony-award-winning writer/composer Lin-Manuel Miranda provided some great songs. The one nominated for the Oscar was “You’re Welcome,” which lost the award to “City of Stars” from La La Land. 

Miranda won’t be handling the writing duties for Moana 2. Instead, the songs come from Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, best known for the acclaimed unofficial Bridgerton: The Musical and getting a huge break with this film. 

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the two songs submitted for Oscar consideration will be “Beyond” and “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?” According to early reviews, “Beyond” is the classic Disney “I want” anthem, much like the first film’s “How Far I’ll Go,” performed by Auli’i Cravalho. “Chee Hoo” is more like “You’re Welcome,”  a comedic number once again performed by Dwayne Johnson as Maui. 

The reason why only two songs are being considered for the Oscar is interesting as a rule Disney forced the Academy to make. 

What is the Menken rule?

As noted, Disney’s list of great Oscar-winning songs has been amazing. The Little Mermaid got two nominations with a win for “Under the Sea.” Beauty and the Beast had three nods and won the title number. Aladdin got two with a win for “A Whole New World.” Pocahontas won for “Colors of the Wind.” Hercules got one nod and Enchanted had three. 

This led to complaints due to the fact that all these nominated songs shared the same writer, acclaimed Disney legend Alan Menken. While no one can deny Menken’s fantastic talent, other songwriters began complaining he was getting way too many nominations and that it was simply not fair one songwriter could dominate the Oscars like this. The Academy eventually agreed and so in 2008 instituted what became nicknamed “The Menken Rule,” which dictated no more than three songs from one film could be submitted, no more than two songs by the same songwriters could be shortlisted and no more than two songs from the same film could be nominated. 

That meant Disney had to be picky with which songs to submit. Frozen was a no-brainer as “Let It Go” was an instant smash that won the Oscar. This is also the reason why Encato’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” wasn’t nominated despite its huge popularity. The studio and producers thought that “Dos Oruguitas” would be a better pick given that “Bruno” was more telling a key plotline of the film. These submissions were made before the movie came out, so no one at Disney expected “Bruno” to become such a hit with audiences. Without the “Menken Rule,” it’s likely “Bruno” would have been submitted as well and quite possibly won. 

Now, just because a song is submitted doesn’t mean it will get an Oscar nomination (last year saw no nominations for either Disney’s Wish or the hit musical Wonka), as there’s plenty of competition. There’s also the question of whether Moana 2 is a big enough hit to break out of the pack. Still, the chances of Barlow and Bear ending up on the Oscar stage next year are out there as they have two songs to push to add to Disney’s classic slate. 

Moana 2 premieres in theaters November 27.