The entertainment giant announced all sorts of new releases and unveiled previews and trailers at its biannual convention.
France Télévisions – Culture Editorial
Published on 08/10/2024 17:51 Updated on 08/10/2024 17:56
Reading time: 4 min
Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, at the Disney Entertainment Showcase at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, California, on August 9, 2024. (ARAYA DOHENY / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA)
Toy Story, Avatar, Frozen 3, Star Wars… Like every two years, Disney announces its new products and unveils excerpts at its global convention called “D23”, which takes place from August 9 to 11 in the suburbs of Los Angeles in California.
Avatar: “New Creatures”
James Cameron, director ofAvatarhimself announced on Friday the release of the new installment of his science fiction franchise Avatar whose title he revealed: Fire and Ash. “The new movie is not what you expect. But it is definitely what you want”promised the Canadian director.
The two previous ones Avatar are among the top three highest-grossing films of all time, with combined revenues of $5.2 billion. Images from the new film, currently in production in New Zealand, show the iconic blue Na’vi characters, indigenous to the fictional planet Pandora, dancing around a campfire, as well as images of giant floating ships and flying beasts.
James Cameron also promised “new cultures, new settings, new creatures and new biomes”. “You will see much more than Pandora, the planet, that you have never seen before”he assured. This new opus will not arrive before the end of 2025. The fourth and fifth parts ofAvatar are already planned for 2029 and 2031.
“Star Wars” the return
Another saga, Disney fans also had a first glimpse of Friday The Mandalorian and Grogu (“The Mandalorian and Grogu” in French) which is scheduled for release in May 2026. A few images revealed show the famous green creature with long ears and his bounty hunter friend on a snowy planet. This will be the first Star Wars Since L’Ascension de Skywalker in 2019.
Disney, which until then produced a new Star Wars every year, has put a spectacular brake on the decline in box office receipts. “We just started filming a few weeks ago”said director Jon Favreau. He then showed some footage, including Snowtrooper AT-AT Walkers.
On the franchise Star Warsbut on the series side this time, actor Jude Law will play a Jedi in Skeleton Crewbroadcast in December on the Disney+ streaming platform.
Also present at the big Disney party in California, Jude Law promised a series “in the spirit of 1980s coming-of-age films like The Goonies et E.T.“.
“Toy Story 5” and “The Incredibles 3” at Pixar
Toy Story 5 is announced for summer 2026. This new episode should feature the war between traditional toys and screens.
Another highly anticipated Pixar, The Incredibles will return in 2027. This third episode will be directed by Brad Bird, who also directed the first two installments. No details on the plot have been revealed.
“Frozen” will return in 2027 and “Lilo and Stitch 3” in 2025
The continuation of the adventures of Lilo and Stitch almost twenty years after the first two parts released in 2002 and 2005, was also announced. A short clip was unveiled in Los Angeles. Shot in live-action, the film will be released on the big screen in 2025.
Disney Animation’s Jennifer Lee revealed that Frozen 3 would be released in 2027. She confirmed that a fourth installment is also in the works. The first two were big money makers for Disney. The first, released in 2013 starring Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, earned $1.28 billion, while the second (2019) earned the entertainment giant $1.45 billion.
“The Lion King” and the trailer for “Vaiana 2”
The trailer of Moana 2which is scheduled for release on November 27, was also unveiled at the convention.
Filmmaker Barry Jenkins welcomed Lin-Manuel Miranda to his first-ever D23, the singer-songwriter is the performer of the song Mufasa: The Lion King. They then released the trailer.
Another trailer unveiled at this convention, that of the “live-action” version of the cult Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, scheduled for release on March 19, 2025.