Walt Disney Animation Studios’ upcoming animated feature Hexed will be scored by Kris Bowers, Variety reports. The film stars Hailee Steinfeld, Rashida Jones, Jodie Foster, and Walton Goggins, and opens exclusively in theaters November 25.
Hexed follows Billie Doe, an impulsive teenager voiced by Steinfeld, who discovers hidden magical abilities that pull her into Hexe, a hidden witch realm, alongside her cautious mother Alice, voiced by Jones. Walton Goggins voices Beef Roger Crummchuk, a reclusive three-eyed cat who allies with the pair, while Jodie Foster voices the film’s antagonist, Queen Celeste. The expansive voice cast also includes Henry Winkler, Dan Stevens, Tracey Ullman, Stephen Fry, Brett Gelman, Samson Kayo, Jimmy O. Yang, Ron Funches, Cheri Oteri, Kathy Najimy, Wayne Knight, Alan Tudyk, Randall Park, Pat McAfee, Rachel Dratch, Ariana Madix, and Yvette Nicole Brown, among others. Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand direct, with Josie Trinidad co-directing, Roy Conli and Yvett Merino producing, and a script from Chief Creative Officer Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller.
Bowers described his approach to the score as rooted in exploration and experimentation, inspired by the film’s central character’s dream of flying, both literally and metaphorically. He built much of the score around unconventional, air-based instruments, including bird call whistles, a wind wand, nose flutes, bottles, kazoos, air sirens, and recordings of actual birds reworked into musical elements, blending those sounds with orchestra, an effected chamber woodwind ensemble, and synths to create a score that often blurs the line between acoustic and electronic. He said the film is ultimately a deeply emotional mother-daughter story, and he wanted the music to hold both that intimacy and the wonder of the larger fantasy world. Steinfeld also contributes a new original song for the film titled “Magic.”
Bowers has won an Academy Award, Best Documentary Short Film for The Last Repair Shop, which he co-directed with Ben Proudfoot. His composing work itself has earned Oscar recognition rather than a win; he was nominated for Best Original Score for The Wild Robot, though he hasn’t won in that specific category. The distinction matters for a composer whose career spans both filmmaking and scoring: Bowers holds an Oscar as a director, while his work behind the piano continues building toward that same recognition in its own category.
The project continues an unusually packed year for Bowers across film, television, and documentary work. In 2026 alone, he’s composed the score and theme for Netflix’s Bridgerton Season 4, scored Marvel’s The Punisher: One Last Kill special for Disney+, provided music for Amazon’s Spider-Noir, which earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination, and composed the score for Netflix’s animated feature Steps. He’s also scoring the upcoming Paramount/Skydance sports drama Mr. Irrelevant: The John Tuggle Story, premiering December 25, and reuniting with filmmaker Ben Proudfoot, having scored Breakwater Studios’ documentary The Eyes of Ghana.
With a score built around sounds as unconventional as bird calls and kazoos, the real test for Hexed will be whether that experimental approach translates into something audiences actually feel, rather than simply notice, once the film reaches theaters.