The Walt Disney Company, which is celebrating their 99th Anniversary next month, has produced dozens of franchises and celebrities who help to keep the media empire growing. With this momentous anniversary coming up, there are lots of announcements for the company to share, since--in addition to new content--Disney seems to have an insatiable appetite for spin-offs, sequels, and prequels. To make all these announcements, Disney hosts a biannual event called “The D23 Expo” which is used to hype up future projects.
At the event, more than 30 programs and movies were announced of varying classification. The following are new original projects being produced by some of Disney’s biggest entertainment sub companies with their release dates:
Disney Studios
“Strange World” (2022), “Wish” (2023), “American Born Chinese” (2023), “The Hip Hop Nutcracker” (2022), and “Iwájú” (2023)
Pixar
“Elemental” (2023), “Elio” (2024), and “Win or Lose” Season 1 (2023)
Marvel
“Werewolf By Night” Season 1 (2022) and “Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” (2023)
The prime highlight of the above-mentioned series and movies is undoubtedly “American Born Chinese,” the series that is adapting Gene Luen Yang’s award-winning graphic novel. Co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan will portray characters in the story following Jin (or Ben) Wang who tries to manage high school life as a Chinese American dealing with Chinese culture, mythology, and stereotypes.
As I mentioned before, Disney loves making sequels and prequels that help to generate a significant percentage of their annual revenue. Disney has produced predominantly rebooted, live action remake, prequel, or sequel content in the past 5 years. Some appreciate seeing their favorite classic tales being brought back to life, while others wish Disney would become more creative and not trouble films that are perfectly fine left in the past. Regardless of the level of approval they get from fans, Disney consistently makes hundreds of millions to billions annually on sequel content alone, so it’s wise to expect more. The hottest new additions to some of Disney’s beloved franchises include:
Disney Studios
“Hocus Pocus 2” (2022), “Zootopia+” (2022), “The Santa Clauses” (2022), “The Muppets Mayhem” (2023), “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (2023), “Lion King II: Simba’s Pride” (2023), “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” Season Four (2022), “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (2024), “Haunted Mansion” (2023), “The Little Mermaid” (2023), “Peter Pan and Wendy” (2023), “Snow White” (2024), and “Disenchanted” (2022)
Pixar
“Inside Out 2” (2024)
Lucasfilm
“Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi” (2022), “Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures” (2023), “Willow” (2022), “The Mandalorian” Season Three (2022), and “Indiana Jones 5” (2023)
Marvel
“Secret Invasion” (2023) “Ironheart” (2023), “Daredevil: Born Again” (2024), and “Captain America: New World Order” (2024)
One of the future sequels that has been generating the most hype since D23 ended is “Lion King II: Simba’s Pride,” which functions as both a sequel and a live action reboot to the original Lion King franchise. The first live action Lion King (2019) brought plenty of hype with a star-studded cast bringing the classic story back to life. Although the movie scored terribly with critics, fans were delighted by the performance, resulting in Disney earning $1.65 billion in the box office- more than half a million more than the original. It only makes sense for Disney to capitalize on the profitable franchise further by re-making the 1998 sequel of the same title.
Disney has remained consistent in pushing out a brand of diverse entertainment for all age groups and genres. For as many different minority groups they help employ and highlight, however, the diversity agenda has made some people uncomfortable. Fan reactions span from disappointment over an important character detail being removed or changed, to outrage over the recent initiative of replacing male or white characters with forced and underdeveloped or improperly written minority ones. Another criticism from fans and critics is the desire for more original content. Unfortunately, remakes and sequels provide a much more secure source of income than taking a risk on a completely new project. Business continues to boom for Disney, and it doesn't look like much will change anytime soon.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.