D23 Studio Showcase with Disney and Pixar Recap: New films, new sequels, and news on Strange World, Peter Pan & Wendy, and more
Read a recap of everything announced at Friday's D23 Expo Studio Showcase panel with Disney and Pixar
Updated on
Popverse is back at the Anaheim Convention Center, and this time, we're here for the much anticipated D23 Expo. We're really excited to bring fun coverage from the Expo to you all weekend long, and today we're starting big with one of the biggest panels of the weekend-- the first D23 Studio Showcase.
This panel will hopefully be chock-full of announcements about new Disney and Pixar movies and television projects and when they will be released. Hopefully, we'll get some sneak peeks of some closer upcoming projects too. We're bringing all of this information to you live from the main stage, so keep an eye on this page to follow our moment-to-moment coverage or come back after the panel is done to read through everything that happened at the D23 Disney and Pixar Showcase this year.
In some ways, D23 Expo is a three-day live version of Disney's streaming service Disney+. TV shows, movies, and specials from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, National Geographic, and more are on the streaming service.
Feel like you're missing out on this year's D23? Follow along with Popverse's boots-on-the-ground coverage of this year's Disney Expo.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
We are here at the D23 stage waiting for the panel to start (the disembodied voice just announced that the festivities will begin in ten minutes).
The disembodied voice is back-- we're starting in just a few more minutes.
The presentation starts off with a special video compilation of many favorite DIsney projects including Aladdin, Remember the Titans, Enchanted and more.
Cynthia Erivo has come out to sing When You Wish Upon a STar.
Fun fact: your humble liveblogger saw Cynthia Erivo in The COlor Purple on Broadway (and cherises that experience quite a bit)
Chairman Alan Bergman has stepped on stage, thanking Erivo for her performance and reminding the audience that Erivo plays the Blue Fairy in the new live action movie Pinocchio.
We are being shown the new 100 years of Walt Disney Studios logo, featuring a magically changing castle and lifeworks, alongside the trademark star.
We are being promised exclusive looks at upcoming animated and live action projects coming from Disney and Pixar
Bergman calls out the long history of live action Disney films including Tron, The Rocketeer, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Tron.
Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, has just walked on stage.
Hocus Pocus 2 has been name dropped (and the theater lights have turned purple, green, and orange).
They're showing a video featuring our three original witches (Who couldn't make it today).
Through movie magic, video Bette Midler knocks the lights out of the entire hall. And turns them back on again. Looks like we're also going to watch the new trailer of Hocus Pocus 2
We see the three young girls light a candle and bring our favorite witches back from the past. The film will be streaming September 20. (There may even be a zombie surprise)
The cast of Disenchanted is here today to chat about the movie.
Amy Adams and Maya Rudolph are decked out in Disney gear. Adams is waving a bubble wand. "Walking through the park with Amy Adams is a very surreal experience," Rudolph says.
Adams hands Idina Menzel a spinning Frozen wand to lots of laughter.
Adams shares that in this new movie, Giselle is "in a slightly different position as a mother of an infant and a teenager"
Dempsey shares that his character's challenge is the long commute to the office, now that he's in the suburbs.
Maya Rudolph will be playing the villain, "It was really fun," she says about the experience.
First trailer is being shown for Disenchanted. The trailer begins with the famous Giselle's "ahhhh" singing. We're seeing Giselle settle into the complications of suburban life. It looks like the movie will be featuring a wish that goes wrong. We're seeing a lot of cool costumes in the fairystale style, not just worn by Giselle and the Prince.
The cast of Peter Pan and Wendy has joined us, with Jude Law as Captain Hook as well as Alexander Molony, Ever Anderson, and Alyssa Wapanatâhk.
We're getting a first look at Peter Pan & Wendy. We see Wendy in Neverland, with what looks like Pixie dust on her hands. She meets the Lost Boys, and then we see the Darlings flying (We also see a pirate ship)
Now for the Haunted Mansion movie, that will be in theaters only. It follows a family as they try to get rid of "supernatural squatters." Director Justin Simien joins us on stage to talk about his time working at Disneyland, which he says was his best summer job. "There's something about that ride that was just there in that script," Simien says about why he liked this project. "I got to make sure all those little details, all those little easter eggs are in there."
We're getting a first look at Haunted Mansion.
We see Owen Wilson, Rosario Dawson, Lakeith Stanfield and more. We see Winona Rider making a cameo, Dan Levi, Hassan Minaj, and Danny Devito.
One of those Haunted Mansion pods have come onto the stage. It turns to reveal Jamie Lee Curtis-- the queen of scary movies.
Barry Jenkins is here to talk about MUFASA: the Lion King.
"It's the story about how Mufasa rose to royalty," Jenkins says, sharing that Mufasa was actually an orphaned cub.
Jenkins saw himself in the script and these ideas of how greatness happens, and thought it would be a great story to tell.
We're getting a sneak peek of Mufasa, and we see a baby lion cub Mufasa face a flood and survive. And we see a bit of Timon and Pumba narrate the story of Mufasa.
We're also getting to see a bit of Snow White. "Snow White is our very first princess," Bailey says before showing a teaser clip of Snow White. Now, he is being joined by Gal Gadot and Rachel Zegler.
Now it's time for The Little Mermaid.
Rob Marshall talks about the excitement of The Little Mermaid originally coming out and how it felt exciting to see a new musical movie again.
There will be four new songs in The Little Mermaid from Alan Menken and Lin Manuel Miranda.
"The dream for a director is that someone comes in and claims the role," Marshall says about Halle Bailey
The film is currently in the middle of post-production, but we're getting a viewing of an entire sequence of Part of Your World!!
Halle Bailey has come out on stage after the video of her performance of Part of Your World
"That sequence was the most beautiful experience of my life" Bailey says about the three days it took to film Part of Your World.
We're also going to get to watch a teaser trailer, which will be released publicly, sorry for those who wanted to watch all of Part of Your World. The teaser shows a point of view perspective of a mermaid swimming through the sea, and we see a glimpse of Ariel. It has a pretty majestic feel. The movie will be released May 2023.
Now the conversation has shifted to Pixar. Pete Docter CCO of Pixar has come on stage.
Docter saws that the last few yeras has gotten Pixar thinking about the future "Why are we here? What is our purpose." His answer is telling stories. "We believe in the power of animation," he says.
Time to talk about Elemental. We've got director Pete Sohn and producer Denise Ream talking about where Elemental came from. Sohn shares family pictures of his parents and his dad's corner shop in the Bronx. "Many people and their families have left their homes to come to a new land."
Ream shares that the story is about those who take the risk of finding a new place, this one focused on the big city. We see some clips from the film, including some work in progress stuff-- and we hear about the world of Elemntal where "the things that make you different are literally the stuff you're made out of"
The two leading actors of Elemental have walked out, with water falling from the sky on one side, and literal fire coming out of the stage on the other side.
We see a fully produced clip from Elemental, which looks to be the most impressive clip so far out of this presentation.
We see a short clip from Win or Lose, a new Pixar show.
Carrie Hobson and Michael Yates have come out to talk about their new show which follows a mdidle school softball team called the Pickles. Each episode takes place on the same week, but from a different character's perspective. Each episode will have its own unique visual style.
The final episode showcases the championship game, weaving all of the stories together.
Will Forte will be playing Coach Dan in Win or Lose.
Forte has filmed a short video to introduce a clip from the show.
We're seeing a sneak peek at the very different styles that we'll be seeing in the show from the points of view of the different characters. The clip is very loudly applauded by the audience.
Looks like we're getting an upcoming Pixar alien movie.
New announcement of Elio, a new PIxar film where a young boy makes first contact with aliens. He is then beamed up to space to a sparking space city.
Elio, who doesn't fit in on Earth, suddenly becomes the ambassador of Earth to this entire new alien society.
America Ferrera will be playing Elio's mom in the film.
We're also joined by the boy who voices Elio, who is "So grateful to be in a Pixar movie and play Elio."
Elio will be played by Yonas Kibreab.
Actor Yonas Kibreab announces that Elio will come out Spring 2024.
Amy Poehler is here!
Poehler reminds Pete that there's another announcement.
Amy Poehler announced that Pixar will be making Inside Out 2, and Riley will be a teenager in this movie.
There will be new emotions in the film, and the movie will come out Summer of 2024.
Now, we're moving to Walt Disney Animation Studios' presentation.
Coming in November from Disney+ will be Zootopia+, and we're getting a sneak peek. Yes, the sloths will be back. There will be six all new stories.
It looks like each episode will be parodying a genre, from musicals to reality tv.
The members of Kugali are here to chat about their collaboration with Disney (The first ever collab between Disney and an outside studio).
Iwaju is a love letter to Lagos, Nigeria.
Tola and Kole are the protagonists!
Rob Hall (Big Hero Six) and Qui Nguyen (Raya and the Last Dragon) have come onto the stage to talk more about Strange World
We're getting to see the newest Strange World trailer
This movie is about the son of an explorer who went missing who gets called on an adventure to follow in his father's footsteps.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Denis Quaid, Lucy Liu, and Jaboukie Young-White have come out on stage to talk more about the movie.
Quaid says, "I love being part of the Disney family."
Lucy Liu voices President Callisto Mal.
Lucy Liu says that she loves the idea of looking out for each other, especially right now.
Apparently, yes, it is THAT Jaboukie!?
Strange Worlds definitely has some Journey to the Center of the Eart vibes.
Liu announces a sneak peek of a clip from the movie.
In this scene, the team has crashed in the strange world, and the characters have all been separated. They need to find each other before something bad happens.
In this clip, we see three generations of Clades running away from tentacle creatures coming to eat them.
Looks like we're getting an original movie announcement
We're getting a film clip that may be announcing that film
We see Tiana, Rapunzel, and Gepetto, wishing upon stars.
We're seeing clips from decades of Disney movies along the song "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes," including Encanto, Treasure Planet, Big Hero 6, and Moana.
"How did the wishing star upon so many of our beloved characters wished come to be?"
The 2023 Disney film will be called Wish
This film will be focusing on a kingdom of wishes.
There will be a watercolor style and 3D animation to show the magic of the kingdom of Rosas.
The story centers around a moment when one human connects with the magic of the stars. The heroine will be named Asha, who is seventeen and a leader in the making.
Asha sees a darkness in her kingdom, and makes a wish to the stars, wishing for guidance. Her wish calls down an actual star from the sky, named Star.
Star is made from possibility and hope! (and is also a beacon of chaos)
We see a short test of Asha interacting with Star in this watercolor/3D style (it looks good!)
Alan Tudyk has come out on stage!
Tudyk is introducing all his animated characters and doing the voices too!
He will be playing a goat named Valentino ("he wears pajamas")
Wish will be a musical, and the songs will be written by Julia Michaels.
Supposedly Wish will take the concept of Easter Eggs to "a whole new level."
We're going to hear the very first song that Julia Michaels sent in for Wish. This is the song through which Asha makes her wish.
Ariana DeBose (who will be playing Asha) is here to perform this song.
“So I make this wish to want something more for us than this,” she sings.
Little star confetti are falling out of the sky!
And that's all folks! Thanks for following along
