D23 is the official Disney fan club convention held every other year, named after the year 1923 when the Disney company was founded. The event kicked off at Disneyland Aug. 8, then continued for three days at the Anaheim Convention Center with over 230 panels and presentations. Aug. 9’s focus is Disney entertainment, Aug. 10’s focus is Disney Experiences (parks, resorts, etc.) and Aug. 11 hosts a Disney Legends Ceremony. Here, an attendee can buy official merchandise, attend seminars by animators and Imagineers, see the displays of tech and park layouts, see historical props from popular Disney movies and learn of the new films Disney plans to release. These showcase announcements for new movies come from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and more. Though there are many exciting things to see at D23, the highlight of this year was all the new movies Disney plans to release.
Starting off, Disney first brought up the recently made “Moana 2” trailer. I love “Moana” and luckily, the trailer for this first sequel looks exciting and interesting. I hope it lives up to the first movie, which I believe it will. With “Zootopia 2” however, the trailer had a similar plot to the first film, where instead of predators being portrayed as the villain, it is reptiles. “Zootopia 2” sounds like its plot is not fully developed or strong enough to stand as its own story in correlation to the franchise itself. Having your main villain be a snake named Gary doesn’t sound serious or well thought out at all. Seriously, Gary the snake does not sound intimidating at all; imagine someone saying something like, “Run for your lives, it’s Gary the snake!” Disney also announced “Frozen 3,” which I think is risky. “Frozen” and “Frozen 2” are fantastic movies that have forever changed Disney. The characters, the songs and the plot of this franchise are so rich and creative. Disney is risking a lot making “Frozen 3.” They are continuing to mess with one of their most sucessful franchises. It could either be just as amazing as the movies before it, or it could be a major flop that destroys the franchise and leaves a bad mark on Anna and Elsa.
Then Disney’s sequels transitioned to live action sequels like “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” which is scheduled to come out December 2025. The CGI and concept art looks amazing and heavily detailed. I love how fresh and new it looks, even though it is the same franchise. Following live action movies from Disney came their live action remakes with “Lilo & Stitch” and “Snow White.” Stitch looks pretty cute but I’m not hyped about this movie since it will just feature the same story. The trailer for “Snow White” looked so poorly done; Snow White’s dress looked like a costume at Spirit Halloween with barely any effort to make the character appear more “magical.” Finally, Disney is making another live action sequel to their live action remake of “The Lion King.” I don’t understand why they would turn to “The Lion King” franchise for a cash grab; no one has talked about it in years.
Disney at last began to introduce new movie ideas they had, but they were random and unlike their usual style. First came “Monster Jam” starring Dwayne Johnson and having to do with monster trucks. Though this is a little strange for Disney, it is at least something new. The “Tron” movie they are planning to release looks alright too, but it is not completely new, for Disney has a “Tron” themed ride in their parks.
Then it was Pixar’s turn to announce their upcoming films. One of the biggest reveals was introducing “Toy Story 5.” With their fourth movie being released 5 years ago, it feels weird to release one in 2026. But, after seeing the direction of this movie, the plot became interesting. The main concept art scene revealed at D23 showed the conflict between toys and kids with tablets. Seeing this was very funny and creative, and I’m interested to go see how this movie turns out. As long as Bonnie doesn’t say something like “skibidi toilet,” I can see myself enjoying and laughing at these iPad kids. Pixar also announced that they will also be making “Incredibles 3” with Disney. Though I also don’t see a reason to make a third, I hope that it is just as creative as the first two. Not only that, they are also making a short called “Dream Productions” having to do with dreams in Riley’s mind from the franchise “Inside Out.”
Luckily, Disney and Pixar have three new productions. The first is an animated baseball series titled “Win or Lose.” The animation style is definitely different, but it’s a nice new approach to have “bubbly” cartoony characters. The second movie is an alien, galactic themed movie titled “Elio” which seems like another basic alien abduction movie. Finally, a new movie, “Hoppers,” was introduced and planned to be released in 2026. Out of all three of these new stories, this film has the weirdest plot; it is about a girl who transfers her mind into a robotic beaver to enter the animal kingdom. It is either that or sequels I guess.
Disney also introduced new Marvel movies, too. “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Fantastic Four,” “Daredevil: Born Again,” “Iron Heart” and a series of “Agatha All Along.” I am glad these movies are turning into their own stories and ideas, but they still reflect off of Marvel’s old movies in the past. There were also two new Star Wars series titled “Skeleton Crew” and “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” Though I do not know much about “Star Wars,” they seem much more immersive in their own world rather than copying their old ideas like Disney channel’s “Freaky Friday” to the new sequel “Freakier Friday.” Star Wars’s new productions seem more of a continuation of their story, like the second “Percy Jackson” series on Disney+.
With so many movies coming out from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, it feels like there is so much these companies have to offer to us. Unfortunately, most of these trailers are just the same story retold in a slightly different way. Though “Toy Story 5,” “Moana 2” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash” seem like great movies to watch, the rest feel like Disney had nothing else to offer. If Disney keeps relying on their old movies’ sucess to make money, they will eventually start to lose more fans and lose their famous reputation they’ve held for years.
