Disney’s D23 Expo kicked off on Friday with a panel featuring all the new movies coming soon from Disney Animation, Pixar, and Disney’s live action movies. Wrapping up the panel, Jennifer Lee, the Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation Studios, introduced the upcoming projects from the studio.
Zootopia+ Series
The first Disney Animation Studios project discussed was Zootopia+, a six-part series due to debut on Disney+ November 9, 2022. The series of shorts will feature multiple characters from the original movie as they go about their lives in Zootopia.
Iwájú
Next, the new series Iwájú. This will be Walt Disney Animation’s first original series and has been made in collaboration with Pan-African comic book entertainment company Kugali Media. Iwájú will follow the characters Tola and Kole in a coming-of-age story set in a futuristic Nigeria.
Filmmakers Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, Hamid Ibrahim, and Tolu Olowofoyeku were welcomed to the D23 Expo stage to discuss the project further. The team were inspired by “the spirit of Lagos”, a city comprised of a island and a mainland that is physically and socio-economically divided. Tola comes from the wealthy island and a well-to-do family while her best friend Kole comes from the mainland and is a self-taught tech expert and a loving son to his family.
Strange World
Releasing November 23, 2022, Strange World is Disney Animations 61st and next theatrical release. An all-new trailer debuted at D23 Expo and has not yet been shared with the public, though a teaser trailer did feature in front of recent Disney movies. Strange World will follow a family of explorers who have to work through their differences so they can save a new world full of dangers and surprises.
The cast, Jake Gyllenhaal (Searcher Clade), Dennis Quaid (Jaeger Clade), Jaboukie Young-White (Ethan Clade) and Lucy Liu (Callisto Mal), also made an appearance and shared a clip from the movie.
Strange World is directed by Don Hall, alongside co-director and screenwriter Qui Nguyen.
Wish
Wrapping up the panel at D23 Expo, Disney Animation revealed their 2023 feature film, Wish. Wish will tell the story of how the iconic “wishing star” of Disney fame came to be- a sweet story to celebrate Disney’s 100th anniversary! The movie will feature new original music by Julia Michaels, as well as a blend of watercolor-style and 3D CGI animation.
Wish‘s protagonist will be a character named Asha, voiced by Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose. She will be joined by Alan Tudyk voicing the goat Valentino, and the newly-formed wishing star, well, Star! Star appears when the 17-year-old Asha makes an appeal to the stars to help her community Rosas, the kingdom of wishes.
The movie will be directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasuthorn with Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes producing.
Attendees at the D23 Expo were treated to a first listen of “More For Us”, one of the film’s original numbers as sung live by Ariana DeBose.
Stay with Temple of Geek all weekend long as we bring you more news and updates from D23 Expo!
