On the first day of this year’s D23 Expo for Disney fans, a whole lot of news was announced about upcoming movies from Walt Disney Animation and Pixar. We also got to see a bunch of new stills and artwork for many of these titles. Here’s all you need to see and know, in alphabetical order by title:
Coco
This is Pixar’s long-in-development feature based on Dia de los Muertos, aka Mexico’s Day of the Dead. Coco is the name of a character in the movie, which is directed by Toy Story 3‘s Lee Unkrich, but 12-year-old Miguel is the protagonist. We didn’t get any new images, but you can see the logo in the event pic above beind Unkrich and producer Daria K. Anderson. Here is the current official synopsis, which is inspired by the idea of meeting your deceased family members: “Coco is the celebration of a lifetime, where the discovery of a generations-old mystery leads to a most extraordinary and surprising family reunion.”
Finding Dory
Pixar’s sequel to the modern classic Finding Nemo has Ellen Degeneres returning to voice Dory as she embarks on a trans-Pacific trip to find her family in Monterey, California (her parents are voiced by Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton). Nemo and his dad, Marlin (Albert Brooks), are also back, while new characters include the octopus pictured above. His name is Hank and he’s voiced by Ed O’Neill. There’s also a beluga whale named Bailey voiced by Ty Burrell and a whale shark named Destiny voiced by Kaitlin Olson. Look for this one in theaters next summer, starting June 17, 2016.
Frozen 2
“We’re hard at work” is all we’re told at this point about the highly anticipated sequel, courtesy of Disney Chairman Alan Horn.
Gigantic
The newest of the new is this just-announced movie based on the Jack and the Beanstalk story. Sure, Disney has already had Mickey Mouse climb through this tale once, but that was a short made almost 70 years ago and this is a very exciting (and beautiful looking — see above) feature that will have songs from the Frozen Oscar-winning team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Nathan Greno (Tangled) is directing for a 2018 release. Here’s a plot synopsis:
Gigantic follows adventure-seeker Jack as he discovers a world of giants hidden within the clouds. He hatches a grand plan with Inma, a 60-foot-tall, 11-year-old girl, and agrees to help her find her way home. But he doesn’t account for her super-sized personality—and who knew giants were so down to earth?
The Good Dinosaur
We’ve seen a teaser for this upcoming Pixar feature, but we hadn’t know much about its plot until now. The original sotry sounds like it’s basically a Western focused on dinosaurs, one of whom gets a little human boy as a dog-like pet named Spot. Today we got a look at the antagonists, seen above, a T-rex trio consisting of a dad, voiced by Sam Elliott, and his son and daughter (AJ Buckley and Anna Paquin). Arlo, the main character, an Apatosaurus, is voiced by child actor Raymond Ochoa. This is coming up quick, hitting theater on November 25.
Moana
Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid) direct this South Pacific story from Walt Disney Animation. Here’s the official synopsis for the feature, which arrives on November 23, 2016: “Moana introduces a spirited teenager who sails out on a daring mission to fulfill her ancestors’ unfinished quest. She meets the once-mighty demi-god Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson), and together, they traverse the open ocean on an action-packed voyage.” Here’s a new logo for the movie:
Riley’s First Date
We got our first look at a clip from this short follow-up to Inside Out yesterday. But now here are some extra images from the film, which will be available on the hit Pixar feature’s Blu-ray:
Toy Story 4
This other hot Pixar sequel has been revealed to be a romantic comedy centered on the romance of Woody (Tom Hanks, returning as the voice) and Bo Peep, who is lost and must be found (note: the image above is from a previous installment). It’s apparently a love story inspired by that John Lasseter, who is directing, and his wife. Tim Allen and Don Rickles are also set to reprise their roles for the feature, which was scripted by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack. It’s due in theaters June 16, 2017.
Zootopia
The latest announcement with this anthropomorphic animal feature from Walt Disney Animation is that Shakira has joined the cast as the voice of Gazelle, a pop star in the titular universe. She will also, of course, provide some new tunes for the movie’s soundtrack. She joins Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin as a fox and a bunny who team up in a buddy-cop scenario. Here’s what Shakira’s character looks like:
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