For the first time after a controversial 10-year hiatus, Disney is to release one of its films with a full dubbing in Egyptian Arabic, in addition to the standard Arabic that has been the norm in recent years. The chosen movie is the 60th film produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studios, "Encanto," a musical fantasy comedy that has received critical acclaim since it was first released in November.

The film tells the story of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live in a magical house in the mountains of Colombia. Every child of the family has a unique gift — from super strength to the power to heal — except for Maribel. But she is the only one who notices that their home is in danger and who takes action to save it.

“I think Disney started offering Egyptian dubbing to their movies again for two important and connected reasons,” Nasser Al Kuwari, administrator of the popular Disney in Arabic page that first broke the news, told Al-Monitor. Audiences have consistently demanded the return of colloquial speech since the change in 2012, he said, and the Disney Plus streaming service is about to debut in the Middle East. “And although the movie has not been released yet, [there’s a lot of] anticipation and joy,” he noted.

Since the 1970s, Disney’s most famous movies were dubbed into Arabic in the colloquial Egyptian dialect, which is widely understood across the Middle East. The films included songs and cultural phrases which in the eyes of many viewers made it possible to keep a local touch. Stars of Egyptian cinema, such as actors Abdel Waress Assar, Mona Zaki and Amina Rizk, participated as voice actors in some films.