There are so, so many different parts of Disney and it’s impossible to choose a favorite part. They have amazing theme parks, brilliant and immersive live-action movies, TV shows for every taste, and more. But at the absolute heart of Disney is what started it all in the first place- animation.
Most of us grew up watching Disney animated movies, whether it was classics like Peter Pan and Dumbo or the Disney Renaissance movies from my childhood, like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
“Animation is where Walt Disney began in 1923. None of this would exist without animation.” #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/Shxs5Ofw7N
— Shell Feis (@NotQuiteSusie) July 14, 2017
Disney’s animated movies, which now span 8 decades, defined my childhood- and now they’re defining my children’s childhoods, too. That’s why I was so thrilled to be in the room when the next few Disney Animated Movies were presented, and in some cases, announced! Below, I’ll share what we learned about what’s coming in the next few years.
Untitled DisneyToon Studios Film
First, we learned from John Lasseter, who hosted the panel, that there is a new DisneyToon Studios movie in the works. He said there wasn’t much to share yet but that the studio “has been hard at work to elevate the studio to new heights. Literally, new heights.” He then showed some test footage that they made for the untitled upcoming movie, which showed jets racing. The visuals were stunning and I’m excited to see a lot more! At one quick point, the footage did show a close-up of the jets and they appeared to be the same animation style as the Cars and Planes franchises, so time will tell if it goes that route or not.
This as-of-yet untitled movie will be released in just under two years, on April 12, 2019!
Olaf’s Frozen Adventure
Next it was time to learn about the upcoming Disney Animation Studios short feature, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure! The not-so-short feature will be running in front of Coco this fall. To talk about the movie, the one and only Kristen Bell {voice of Anna} came out and explained the premise of the film. In it, the holidays are approaching and Anna and Elsa realize that they’ve been separated for so long that they don’t have any holiday traditions. Olaf feels bad so he takes Sven and goes on an adventure, learning from locals what their traditions are so that Anna and Elsa might find a way to celebrate together!
Kristen announced a clip showing one of the four new songs that will be in the short but suddenly, the sound stopped working. For a moment, we all felt super awkward- there were 7,000 of us in the room and she was just standing there, waiting for it to work, asking for some help. But then I realized this is Disney and they don’t do things on accident and sure enough, Josh Gad appeared to sing Olaf’s song “That Time of Year” live! {Catch a little bit of it in the overview video above!}
I was thrilled just because it was an amazing and hilarious moment, but I was smiling extra wide because back when we interviewed Josh Gad for Beauty and the Beast he said that it wasn’t hard to get him {and Luke Evans} to perform- that they absolutely loved doing it and would for any reason. Knowing this, I was not only happy for us as an audience but thrilled for him that he’d get to do what he loved in front of some of the absolute biggest Disney fans out there. And, of course, the clip was absolutely hilarious! The song is perfect and had lots of laugh-out-loud moments. The song clip isn’t available yet, but the teaser trailer for the short has a few lines from it and is worth a watch anyway!
Olaf’s Frozen Adventure plays with Coco and premieres on November 22, 2017.
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 Directors Rich Moore & Phil Johnston came out and introduced Sarah Silverman, the voice of Vanellope von Schweetz. Since we found out at the end of the first movie that Vanellope is a Princess, we were treated to a clip from the upcoming sequel that had all of the Princesses in it! It was one big Princess party and it was chock-full of jokes, parodies, and references- they were coming so fast that you weren’t even done laughing at one before there were three more!
After the clip ended, John Lasseter announced that they had the actual voice actors for the princesses come to record their parts- and then introduced Jodi Benson, voice of Ariel! That was exciting enough, but then she introduced Paige O’Hara, voice of Belle, who introduced Linda Larkin, voice of Jasmine, who introduced Irene Bedard, voice of Pocahontas, who introduced Anika Noni Rose, voice of Tiana, who introduced Mandy Moore, voice of Rapunzel, who introduced Kelly MacDonald, voice of Merida, who introduced Kristen Bell, voice of Anna, who introduced Auli’i Cravalho, voice of Moana. I was already sobbing two princesses in and completely shaking by the last one! I was trying to live tweet the event and could barely type!
I would also like to point out that I once voiced Vanellope von Schweetz– even though it was technically unofficial, it was recorded in the real Disney Studio, so I’m pretty sure that makes me part Princess, right? At the very least, I am just a few degrees separated from Princesshood.
During the Wreck-It Ralph 2 panel, we also learned a little bit about a new character, Yesss, played by Taraji P. Henson. She is the algorithm for the website “Buzzaholic” and she can change her appearance {my dream when I was a kid. And now.} and is a cool trendsetter. She acts as a guide to help Ralph and Vanellope on their internet journey and I can already tell she’s going to be an incredibly quotable character!
Ralph and Vanellope will also reunite with Fix-It Felix and Sergeant Calhoun in Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 when it comes out on November 21, 2018.
Incredibles 2
Next up, we got a look into the incredible fashion icon that is Edna Mode! They played a clip showing amazing style icons like Zac Posen, Heidi Klum, and Rachel Zoe all talking about how Edna is their absolute favorite fashion icon. It was such a fun piece and everyone was cracking up! Then John Lasseter introduced Director Brad Bird, who introduced Edna- and suddenly, Edna was saying that she wouldn’t come out unless she was paid. Of course, it was all a hilarious joke because Director Brad Bird is also the voice of Edna, so he was already on stage- but those who didn’t know he was Edna were incredibly {ha!} confused, which made it even funnier. You can see the Edna Mode clip below:
Once everyone figured it out, it was time to introduce more amazing voice talent for Incredibles 2! The entire main cast of the upcoming movie {who is all the same cast as the first movie with the exception of Dash, since the original actor is now 12 years older and no longer a young boy} came out on stage! Craig T. Nelson {Bob}, Holly Hunter {Helen}, Sarah Vowell {Violet}, Huck Milner {the new voice of Dash}, and even Samuel L. Jackson {Frozone} appeared on stage to talk about the movie! One of the funniest parts was when Brad Bird asked the cast what advice they had for the newcomer, Huck, and I loved Samuel L. Jackson’s advice- “Don’t read the comments.” Ha!
We got to see a clip where we see Bob at home watching Jack Jack and falling asleep in front of the TV. When a raccoon comes around, Jack Jack thinks it’s a robber- and he goes to get it! Through a hilarious fight sequence, we see that Jack Jack has multiple powers, including the ability to go through glass, laser eyes, the ability to catch on fire, and a few more abilities I’ll keep a secret for now!
Incredibles 2 hits theaters next summer, on June 15, 2018!
Toy Story 4
All of the Disney animated films are awesome, but my heart has a special place for the Toy Story movies. The first one was a major part of my childhood, the second was big when my brother was little, and the third came out right when Shane was 18 months old, and it was his favorite thing for several years. We’ve watched all three movies well over 100 times each and while I’ll probably never get sick of them, I am looking forward to adding a new movie to that list! We didn’t learn all that much about Toy Story 4, but we did get a fun clip of how work is going over at Pixar. From the quick glimpses that we saw, I saw what appeared to be a couple of baby toys, a new character named Lulu, and a hint that an RV trip may be involved!
Toy Story 4 is making us wait way too long but will be released in two summers, on June 21, 2019.
Untitled Dan Scanlon Movie
We were the first to hear of another new movie in the works at Pixar- an original that is currently being referred to as Untitled Dan Scanlon Movie. We heard from Director Dan Scanlon and he told us a story that really touched our hearts. His father died when he was very young and he and his brother don’t remember him. He always wondered what his father was like and that inspired the movie.
It takes place in a suburban fantasy world, where magic used to be commonplace but it was hard to do, so it just kind of died out and got replaced by machinery that made life easier. In this fantasy world, there are no humans- but there are elves, trolls, and fairies. There are also unicorns but they’re everywhere- and they are the RODENTS in that world! They showed concept art of the unicorns eating from the garbage can and I about lost it. I have always loved fantasy characters so I am here for this movie!
While it has a lot of potential for humor, it’s not a Pixar film without tugging at those heartstrings- the movie is about two brothers whose father died when they were too young to remember him, so they go out in search of a way to spend just one day with him. {Cue the lump in my throat.}
No release date has been announced for this film, but it can’t come soon enough.
Frozen 2
Frozen 2 does not have a title yet, and John Lasseter drew a huge laugh from the crowd as he announced that the name would not, in fact, be Thawed. He said people make all kinds of suggestions for the name of the sequel and shared some of the most hilarious, ridiculous names {and joke names}. We didn’t learn all that much about the film but did learn that Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, and Jonathan Groff will be reprising their roles as Anna, Elsa, Olaf, and Kristoff, respectively. We also learned that the filmmakers recently traveled to Norway, Finland, and Iceland, so we do know that whatever happens in the movie they’ll still be really, really cold.
Thawed- I mean, Frozen 2, whatever it may be named- will come out on November 27, 2019.
Coco
Finally, it was time to hear about the next animated movie coming from Disney- Coco! Not much has been released up until now about Coco so we were thrilled to see an extended clip! We also learned more about the film, including the importance of music to the movie. Miguel loves music but his family has banned it. He doesn’t know why, just that they won’t let him play. On Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, they are holding a music contest- but Miguel doesn’t have a guitar to play on. He asks several people to borrow theirs and when they all deny him, he goes into the crypt of a recently deceased famous musician who had Miguel’s grandfather’s guitar above his coffin. As soon as he plays a note, people descend upon the crypt realizing that someone has broken in. But instead of finding Miguel- they walk right through him!
From the clip, I learned that there will be lots of humor {which is great because it kind of helps with that potentially scary “the dead are alive” concept} and that there’s a dog sidekick which I am so excited about because he’s adorable. I also learned that this movie is going to explore traditions, a different culture, and themes about family, and I absolutely can not wait to take my boys to see this movie!
At the end of the presentation, we got to hear Anthony Gonzalez {Miguel} and Benjamin Bratt {Ernesto de la Cruz} performed “Remember Me” from the movie and it was SO good! I didn’t even know the song and it was stuck in my head for hours- but I didn’t mind because that song is getting downloaded as soon as it’s released. Not only did they perform brilliantly, but then a whole bunch of Mariachi players and even dancers came out and celebrated! The whole auditorium turned into a giant fiesta and it made me feel like I was part of the movie- especially when confetti rained down on everyone!
Coco comes out this Thanksgiving, on November 22, 2017.
What animated Disney movie are you the most excited for?
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