D23 Highlights: New Details on Moana 2, Avatar 3, Incredibles 3, The Mandalorian and Grogu, Frozen 3, and Mufasa: The Lion King Prequel

Aug 10, 2024 in "D23 - Official Fan Organization"

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D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event

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Posted: Saturday August 10, 2024 1:00pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

At last night's D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Disney Entertainment provided updates on several of its major movie and TV franchises.

Bob Iger at D23 2024

Here's a summary of the key developments.

Moana 2

The event opened with a performance by Auli'i Cravalho, who voices Moana, and Dwayne Johnson, who returns as Maui, to promote Moana 2. The sequel to the 2016 animated film is scheduled for release on November 27, 2024. The original Moana grossed nearly $700 million worldwide and has seen continued popularity on streaming platforms. The trailer for the sequel has already set a record as the most-watched animated trailer in Disney history, with 200 million views in 24 hours.

Frozen 3

Jennifer Lee, Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation, provided an update on Frozen 3, revealing concept art and confirming a release date of 2027. The Frozen franchise has been highly successful, with the first two films earning over $2.7 billion globally. The new installment will continue the story of Anna, Elsa, and Olaf.

Incredibles 3

Pixar's Pete Docter announced that Incredibles 3 is in development, with Brad Bird returning as director. The previous Incredibles films have been both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, grossing nearly $2 billion collectively. This announcement comes as Pixar celebrates recent successes, including Inside Out 2, which set box office records this summer.

Avatar: Fire and Ash

James Cameron, alongside stars Zoë Saldaña and Sam Worthington, provided details about the next film in the Avatar series, titled Avatar: Fire and Ash. The film is scheduled for release on December 19, 2025. The Avatar franchise has seen considerable commercial success, with the first two films among the highest-grossing of all time.

The Mandalorian and Grogu

Director Jon Favreau and Producer Dave Filoni shared new footage from The Mandalorian & Grogu, the first feature film to star characters from the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. The film, set for a 2026 release, marks the return of Star Wars to theaters after a hiatus since 2019.

Daredevil: Born Again

The cast of Daredevil: Born Again presented new footage from the upcoming series, which is scheduled to launch on Disney+ in March 2025. The series will continue the story of Matt Murdock, played by Charlie Cox, and his conflict with Wilson Fisk, played by Vincent D'Onofrio.

TRON: Ares

Details about the next TRON film, titled TRON: Ares, were also revealed. The film, directed by Joachim Rønning and starring Jared Leto, Jeff Bridges, Greta Lee, and Evan Peters, will be released on October 10, 2025. The cast provided insights into their roles and shared early footage with the audience.

Mufasa: The Lion King

The event concluded with an update on Mufasa: The Lion King, a prequel to the 1994 film The Lion King. Directed by Barry Jenkins, the film will explore Mufasa's early life and is set for release on December 20, 2024. Composer Lebo M. and songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is contributing to the film's music, were both on stage at the event.

Discuss on the Forums

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Tony the TiggerAug 21, 2024

From a friend’s post. Here’s what’s up with Shaboozey:

Sir_CliffAug 21, 2024

Yes, I'm puzzled why people are insisting he said all of this would be completed in 5 years when he clearly didn't: it's right there on YouTube for anyone who wants to watch it. Maybe Disney PR later briefed the media that all of this would be finished in 5 years, but I don't get why anyone would cling to that. None of the public statements from the company either through D'Amaro or the DisneyParks blog (to the best of my knowledge) have claimed everything announced at D23 would be completed within the next 5 years. I would trust what they are willing to actually say in front of the cameras or put in writing over what a PR person is quoted as saying given the potential for wires to get crossed along that chain. It would be odd for D'Amaro to say all the projects would only start to come to life if the plan is for them to be finished during that period. Then again, they announced a ride based on the original Lion King with artwork depicting the new Lion King, so who knows how thought through all of this was.

brb1006Aug 21, 2024

Mousesteps just uploaded the full D23 Parks Presentation for those that missed it.

BrianLoAug 21, 2024

There seems to be some poor memory of what the timelines actually looked like last decade. Galaxies Edge: "The lands were announced on August 15, 2015, and construction at both parks began on April 14, 2016. The Disneyland version opened May 31, 2019, and Disney's Hollywood Studios' version opened August 29, 2019." Really, Galaxies Edge is the most viable comp with two major attractions. We're currently a full year ahead of that timeframe. Now, I personally think Villains Land from a marketing roll out perspective is most likely a 2029 project. But 2029 is certainly not "fast" or even unrealistic.

TTA94Aug 21, 2024

Are we expecting anything to be announced or further details discussed at D23 Brazil? Will there even be a presentation?

wutisgoodAug 21, 2024

My assumption was villinans land does will not require reconfiguration of existing areas as a true expansion so they can start work sooner even if the area is more complex. I would think it was possible they would want to open villians land first for extra capacity while they take down frontierland to reconfigure it. In any case especially with with big thunder moutain retrack there has to be some clear phased opening plan. Disney wasn't really direct about what that was. I expect thatsome of this constuction may be accelerated if the Universal 3rd gate does prove sucessfull in taking marketshare away more than disney thought. I could also see timelines accelertaing or slowing base on other unnanouced projects being finalized.

SWGalaxys_EdgeAug 20, 2024

Maybe then add a "speeder chase" as depicted in the trading cards...

J4546Aug 20, 2024

i dont think so....it was gonna be a capacity and maintenance nightmare

SWGalaxys_EdgeAug 20, 2024

Maybe GE will reconsider the 3rd ride and put it into the park.

Andrew25Aug 20, 2024

Yes - but 2025's film slate is worrying... but WDW should benefit from increased travel to Orlando next year. (Even if people skip a WDW park or two, Disney's hotels should benefit).

doctornickAug 20, 2024

So I was just thinking... I know many of us are jittery about how the financial state of the company can impact decisions to cut funding or value engineer projects. And the stock price not doing well has me on edge a bit as to whether the planned parks investment will be cut. But I will say that the recent movie successes (Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, now Aliens) means that that division will be healthier in the shorter term. and with streaming collectively turning a profit last quarter, can we be optimistic that they will let investments in the parks happen rather than siphoning off that profits there to support other branches of the company? The parks alone generate enough net profit to find the $6B/year that they planned.

bwr827Aug 20, 2024

Yup — setting clear expectations for the market. “As we previously shared, we’re on a multi-year path of investing $60B to turbocharge our parks…” (not an actual quote)

doctornickAug 20, 2024

But they are increasing their Capex spend. That's kind of the entire point of the "we'll be spending $60B on the parks division in the next 10 years" announcement.

Nubs70Aug 20, 2024

Why?? Fixed CAPEX expenditures. They seem to only want to spend a fixed amount for construction per month. If you build 2 projects at once, they will take 2x as long to complete.