Justin Timberlake To Release New Material On DreamWorks Animated Film ‘Trolls’ In 2016

The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Justin Timberlake will be composing new material for the upcoming DreamWorks animated film, Trolls.

Justin Timberlake to Voice a Singing Troll Doll in DreamWorks' 'Trolls' http://t.co/z1am8ifTve

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According to the Reporter, the nine-time Grammy winner will not only write and perform original music for the film, but will also be voicing one of the characters as well as serving as executive music producer.

“I have always envisioned bringing the two worlds of film and music together for one epic event [and] couldn’t be more excited that they will collide in DreamWorks’ Trolls,” says Timberlake. “This film is very special, the music is going to be very special and I can’t wait for everyone to experience it all.”

The material will be a welcoming sound to the ears of the pop star’s fans; Timberlake has not released new material since dropping the second half of the 20/20 Experience back in 2013, with the first part of the Experience becoming the best-selling album of 2013 in the States.

As music director, Timberlake will oversee the creative direction of the film’s music along with contributing several tracks to the film’s soundtrack, a first for the “Mirrors” singer.

With the recent success achieved by musicians who have produced film soundtracks – Pharrell Williams (Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2, which included the break out hit “Happy”) and Black Eyed Peas front man Will.I.Am (Rio and Rio 2) – film directors have bought into the idea of allowing successful musical artists to take control of the direction of their films musical content.

“Justin is an amazingly versatile artist and producer whose unprecedented creative talents provide a unique voice and sound for our movie,” said DreamWorks Animation’s co-presidents of feature animation Bonnie Arnold and Mireille Soria. “Trolls is a comedy with fantastic music at its core and we can’t think of a more perfect artist to elevate this soundtrack to incredible heights.”

The film is set for a November, 4 2016 premier and pairs Justin Timberlake with Pitch Perfect star Anna Kendrick as the leads and whose characters are based off two of the iconic Trolls as they “set off on an epic adventure”. It will be the first time that the duo star in the same film.

Reports have indicated that Timberlake will star as the animated character Branch in his return to the big screen, a “hilariously hardcore survivalist who hides his surprising true colors.”

Mostly known for leading 90’s boy band N’Sync and his successful solo work as one of pop’s biggest stars, Timberlake is no stranger to the big screen and has worked up an impressive resume as an actor in the past few years. Some of his past credits include roles in films such as David Fincer’s The Social Network, and The Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis. He is represented by WME, LBI Entertainment, and Wright Entertainment Group.

Directors of the film, Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn, look to revive The Troll phenomenon that was conceived back in the late 1950’s when a Danish fisherman and woodcutter named Thomas Dam, too poor to provide his daughter a Christmas gift, decided to carve her a doll from wood based off the legendary Scandinavian troll. Shortly after the dolls began to surge in Europe, and eventually North America throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s. They’re unique faces and eccentric colored hair sparked a resurgence in the 1990’s and will now carry that same colorful personality to the big screens this coming fall for a new generation of children.

[Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP]