Disney’s annual showcase and fan event D23 Expo is in full swing, featuring updates from the worlds of Marvel, Star Wars, Disney, 20th Century and more. On Friday, Disney and Pixar shared a glimpse of their future plans at the D23 Studio Showcase. See details of some of the projects that were announced below:
Walt Disney Studios
The Little Mermaid
The first teaser for The Little Mermaid live-action remake showed glimpses of Ariel, fish, turtles, and ocean waves. Beyond that, the in-person audience got to see the full sequence for Part of Your World, the most iconic song from the original The Little Mermaid animated film. Prior to today, we’d only seen one image from the set of the movie, which showed Halle Bailey’s Ariel swimming in the ocean. The Little Mermaid also stars Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, Awkwafina as Scuttle, Melissa McCarthy as the evil Ursula, Javier Bardem as King Triton, and more. The film comes to theaters May 26 2023.
Mufasa
Mufasa: The Lion King, which is a prequel to the beloved animated film The Lion King had it’s first footage shown of the movie including the iconic Pride Rock paired with recognisable music from the original. We then see baby Mufasaa getting washed away in a flood. This movie will use the same animation style from the 2019 live-action Lion King remake. The movie is set for 2024.
Hocus Pocus 2
Hocus Pocus 2 is coming to Disney+ later this month on September 30th, and we got a fresh look at the movie ahead of its release. The new trailer shows the return of the original cast of witches, which includes Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. The footage showed an evil magic book opening to bring the witches back after they were banished hundreds of years earlier.
Snow White
Marc Webb will direct the upcoming live-action Snow White movie, with the composer from the 2019 Aladdin remake on board for the score. Rachel Zegler, who is playing Snow White, and Gal Gadot, who is cast as the Evil Queen, both appeared at the D23 showcase. Gadot even showed off the evil laugh she’ll use as the queen, and a very brief teaser was shown.
Disenchanted is the long-awaited sequel to 2007’s Enchanted, and the entire original cast appeared on stage at D23 to talk about the upcoming movie. Amy Adams, Maya Rudolph, Patrick Dempsey, Idina Menzel, Yvette Nicole Brown, and more appeared to reveal the first trailer. The first look at the movie shows Adams’ Giselle and Dempsey’s Robert move into a fixer-upper outside of the city. When Giselle is unhappy with how things are turning out, she wishes for a fairytale life, which of course, goes horribly wrong.
Peter and Wendy
We got our first look at David Lowry’s adaptation of the classic J.M. Barrie novel, and Alexander Molony, Ever Anderson, and Jude Law appeared on stage to talk about the film as well. The first look showcases a glimpse of Neverland, as well as real-world London. The movie is coming to Disney+ in 2023.
Haunted Mansion
Haunted Mansion is the next Disney film based off of a theme park ride, and we got a look at a new clip for the movie during the D23 showcase. The first footage shown largely focused on the mansion itself, with shots of the building, maps of the house, and the discovery of a secret passageway. The characters also find old barrels which leads to a fire starting. The trailer also showed multiple glimpses of Danny DeVito and Owen Wilson. The cast also includes Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis and more.
Wish
To close the show, Disney announced Wish, a new, original film coming next year. The movie is designed to celebrate 100 years of Disney storytelling with original characters and songs inspired by Disney’s legacy. It will explore how the “wishing star” came to be. It will take place in a fairytale kingdom that existed long before any other Disney world, called the Kingdom of Wishes.
Pixar
Inside Out 2
At the event it was announced that hit Pixar animation Inside Out will have a sequel and Amy Poehler appeared on stageto help announce it. The movie will once again take place inside Riley’s head, with all of the emotions from the original returning for the sequel. The movie is very early in production, but it’s coming out in Summer 2024.
Win or Lose
Win Or Lose is a new animated series from Pixar. The show is a baseball-themed animated series focusing on a team called the Pickles in their run up to the championship game. Each episode will focus on a different character, from Frank the Umpire, to the tough-guy pitcher, before finishing with the championship game. Will Forte will voice Coach Dan in the series. An exclusive clip showed Frank trying to ask a woman out for coffee, before being turned down. It’s coming to Disney Plus in 2023.
Elio
Elio is a new sci-fi movie from Pixar about a young boy who becomes Earth’s ambassador for what is essentially the United Nations of Aliens. He then has to prove that the best part of being human is being yourself. The movie is coming in Spring 2024, and it stars America Ferrera as Olga Solis and Yonas Kibreab as Elio.
Elemental
Elemental is a new Pixar film coming in June 2023. At the D23 showcase, we got a look at the first trailer for the movie. This movie is set in a big city and follows Ember, a fiery character, and Wade, a chill water character, as they discover their similarities despite their differences. Leah Lewis will play Ember, while Mamoudou Athie will play Wade. In an exclusive look at the showcase, Pixar showed a scene of the two learning a bit about each other as they walked through Element City.
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