Disney Offers a Peek into Upcoming Slate at D23 Entertainment Showcase
With Marvel rolling out the return of the Russo Brothers and Robert Downey Jr. to the MCU at Hall H of Comic Con a few weeks ago, expectations are at a fever pitch for the surprises in store at D23 in Anaheim this weekend. Will guests get a sneak peek at James Cameron’s next installment in the “Avatar” saga? Is footage from “Zootopia 2” or Pixar’s latest original “Elio” ready to seen? With Marvel news remaining relatively lite at Comic Con, will we hear more about some of their larger plans or even get trailers for Disney+ series like “Agatha All Along” and “Daredevil: Born Again?” The possibilities are endless and fans are itching to find out more.
Unlike many legacy companies facing the struggles of industry contraction and dwindling box office returns, Disney continues to come out on top, with two releases this summer that independently and cumulatively helped rescue theaters from uncomfortably low ticket sales. First, in June, the Pixar sequel “Inside Out 2” blew past all expectations, earning $295 million in its global opening weekend, the first film since last summer’s “Barbie” to gross more than $100 million in its debut and the biggest opening for an animated film when accounting for exchange rates. It has since earned $1.5 billion and still remains in theaters, but faces stiff competition from Disney’s other huge summer success, “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Though the film is proudly less kid-friendly than “Inside Out 2,” it still seems to be attracting large swathes of audiences, including families, earning a record-shattering $444 million during its worldwide opening weekend. Its grosses currently stand at $924 million, but are likely to cross $1 billion this weekend or next.
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As if the news couldn’t get any better, this week, Disney happily reported during its quarterly earnings that the company had finally turned a profit with streaming, with revenue jumping 15% this past spring. Disney as a whole also announced an operating income $4.225 billion, 19% above its last accounting, largely a result of “Inside Out 2” box office figures, but revenues from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” a franchise that came to Disney from their acquisition of Fox, also added to the mix.
To kick off the D23 Entertainment Showcase presentation, hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown, Disney unveiled a new sizzle reel featuring footage from every piece of their history and even their future, with brief shots from “Snow White” and “Skeleton Crew,” as well as looks at the upcoming season of “Andor” and “Captain America: Brave New World.” A video of the reel can be seen below.
From “Moana 2,” Auli’i Cravalho was on hand to sing a new song from the sequel called “We’re Back” accompanied by dancers and backup singers. Co-star Dwayne Johnson then joined her on stage to help introduce the film, describing it as revolving around Moana looking for other tribes beyond the waters she’s normally sailed and her relationship with her younger sister. They also presented the latest trailer for the sequel.
Johnson was also on hand to introduce a new project with Disney entitled “Monster Jam,” which will revolve around monster truck drivers.
For the “Avatar” panel, writer/director James Cameron, after describing “Avatar 3” as “not what you expect, but definitely what you want,” was joined on stage by stars of the series, Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. Together they revealed artwork, as well as the title of the film, “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
Pivoting off the success of “Inside Out 2,” Disney and Pixar announced a new spinoff series for Disney+ called “Dream Productions, which will stream in 2025. The animated series will follow the movie studio that makes the dreams in Riley’s mind. View the concept art below.
Pixar creative executive Andrew Stanton was officially announced as the director of “Toy Story 5.” The plot was revealed to be focused around when children become obsessed with electronics. A brief teaser was revealed as well and can be viewed below.
Other Pixar announcements include a first look at its first long-form series on Disney+, “Win or Lose,” set to be released on December 6, as well as well as a trailer for its sci-fi film “Elio,” originally slated for 2024, but now releasing in theaters June 13, 2025. In addition, the film’s original director, Adrian Molina, has been replaced by Domee Shi, a storyboard board artist on multiple Pixar projects and winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for “Bao,” and Madeline Sharafian, a member of the art department on “Coco” and “Turning Red” and director of the short, “Burrow.” Original voice actress America Ferrera was also replaced by Zoe Saldana.
Also announced by Pixar was a new original film called “Hoppers,” starring Jon Hamm, Bobby Moynihan, and Piper Curda, directed by “We Bare Bears” creator Daniel Chong, who also served as a story artist at Pixar, and set to be released Spring 2026, as well as “Incredibles 3,” which is in development with Brad Bird at the helm, but has no set release date.
Switching over to Disney Animation, another sequel was announced with “Frozen 3” already in production with a release date set for 2027 and concept art revealed below. A fourth film in the popular animated film series. In other “Frozen” news, Disney revealed they would releasing a pro-shot of the Broadway musical on Disney+ in 2025. Other Disney Animation projects in the pipeline include “Zootopia 2,” which will feature the voice of Ke Huy Quan as a snake named Gary.
Academy-Award nominee Jude Law was on hand to unveil the first trailer for his Disney+ “Star Wars” series, “Skeleton Crew,” which is said to share DNA with “Stranger Things” in that it will revolve around a group of children who make a mysterious discovery that sends them on a dangerous journey across the galaxy. The series will be released on Disney+ on December 3. In other “Star Wars” news, Diego Luna took the D23 stage to describe the upcoming season of “Andor,” which he says will take place over 4 years, and to reveal a sneak peek. Ben Mendelsohn, who played Orson Krennic in “Rogue One,” will also reprise his role in the upcoming season.
Other Lucasfilm news includes an announcement that their new film, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” will be released in 2026. Creators of the series, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni also presented some initial footage, as well as a logo. Fans were particularly excited to see the return of The Mandalorian’s Razor Crest ship.
For Marvel’s presentation, Ryan Reynolds didn’t show up in person, but he did record an introduction video to set the tone and thank fans for contributing to the success of “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Following this introduction, Anthony Mackie was brought on stage to introduce a clip from “Captain America: Brave New World” that features the Celestials, Adamantium, and talk of rebuilding the Avengers. While “The Fantastic Four” cast wasn’t present for the festivities as they’re currently shooting overseas, they also recorded a video for the crowd, with Joseph Quinn, who plays Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, the only one in costume. Though no updates were made at Comic Con, writer/director Ryan Coogler brought the “Ironheart” team on stage to reveal details on the upcoming series, as well as a new teaser that features Letitia Wright as Shuri advising Dominque Thorne as Riri Williams/Ironheart.
An update on “Daredevil: Born Again” was also given during the Marvel panel at D23, with a release date set for March 2025 and Jon Bernthal confirmed to return as The Punisher. Bernthal appeared on stage for the event alongside cast member Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll, and Elden Henson, all of whom introduced the first teaser trailer for the reboot series. A trailer for “Agatha All Along” was also showcased with an official release date set for September 18.
Teaser trailers were also presented for live action films such as “Snow White,” slated for release March 21, 2025, and “Tron: Ares,” which will be scored by Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) and release on October 10, 2025. The cast of “Tron: Ares,” including star of the original film, Jeff Bridges, as well as Evan Peters, Jared Leto, and Greta Lee, were all present for the event. A brief look at the live action version of “Lilo & Stitch,” which will be released summer 2025, was also shown, as well as a snippet of “Freaky Friday 2,” the title of which was revealed to be “Freakier Friday.”
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