It wasn’t so long ago that Disney was the unbeatable titan of Hollywood, the studio that bullied the other studios. It’s been a humbling couple of years for the mighty entertainment conglomerate but recent comments from CEO Bob Iger have hinted at a change in direction from the company.
Iger acknowledged that in recent years Disney’s focus on quantity over quality was the wrong approach and changes within the company suggest that Hollywood’s biggest studio may be emphasizing creative freedom and originality again in an effort to win back the pop culture spotlight.
This August, Disney will be holding its bi-annual fan event D23 in Anaheim, which serves both as a sort of fan convention celebrating all things Disney and a platform for the company to make big announcements about new projects on the way. Here’s what we’d like to see from Disney at their D23 announcement later this year.
Pixar
(Pixar)
Once the crown jewel of the company, perhaps no sector of Disney has fallen on harder times since the pandemic era than Pixar. The animation studio that changed animation hasn’t had a bona fide box office hit in America since Toy Story 4 back in 2019, thanks in large part to several of their films being sent straight to Disney+ due to Covid-19 along with Lightyear and Elemental never really making an impact with American audiences.
Earlier this year, Disney announced heavy layoffs were coming to Pixar, adding insult to injury.
So what would make us feel better about the future of Pixar? Well, for one thing it would be nice to see Disney reverse that decision about staff cuts but that may be too much to hope for at this point. Along with Inside Out 2, we know that another Toy Story sequel is already in the works along with an original film called Elio due out in the summer of 2025. While it’s probably a safer bet to crank out more sequels to beloved Pixar properties of the past, original ideas are what Pixar is built on and it would be great to see some new projects announced beyond Elio that focus on that originality that made Pixar the top name in animation.
Walt Disney Animation
(Disney)
Like its sister studio, Walt Disney Animation has fallen on hard times since Covid and has struggled to get audiences back to theaters to see its films and like Pixar, the plan in recent years seems to have shifted toward sequels. Currently, Disney Animation is working on sequels to Moana, Zootopia, and Frozen, but what else could we hope to see from the granddaddy of all animation studios?
Far and away Disney Animation’s biggest success in recent years came in the form of Encanto, a movie that made almost no money in theaters but took over pop culture when audiences discovered it on Disney+. While last year’s Wish wasn’t able to capture that same magic, focusing on the Broadway-style musical approach has a history of reviving Disney Animation during its darkest periods and there’s no reason to think that can’t be their salvation once again. Basically what we’re saying is back up a Brinks truck to Lin Manuel Miranda’s house.
Marvel
Oh boy, what a mess…
Just five years ago, Marvel Studios was so dominant in Hollywood that Martin Scorsese accused them of single-handedly destroying cinema. Now, coming off its first genuine flop, Marvel’s days of guaranteed dominance seem like the distant past. Bob Iger’s comments about prioritizing quantity over quality seemed particularly pointed at Marvel and the CEO has hinted that several previously-announced projects have already been quietly canceled, while release dates for others have been delayed and shuffled around.
What we’d most like to see at D23 when it comes to Marvel is not a long list of new project announcements. Instead, we’d like to see a single, clear direction for where this franchise is headed in the future. Marvel doesn’t need to do more, it needs to do better.
Star Wars
Disney/Lucasfilm
While they’ve certainly seen their struggles in recent years, Lucasfilm may be the one part of the Disney company that appears to be coming out the other side of its identity crisis. After focusing on streaming shows in recent years, Lucasfilm has been touting its plans to return to theaters in the next few years and there’s reason for excitement about some of those projects. From a big screen Mandalorian adventure to the return of Daisy Ridley’s Rey, the most beloved Star Wars characters of recent years will be hitting cinemas soon and that’s ultimately a good thing for fans.
But what’s next? If Star Wars is going to continue being a part of the culture for decades to come, Lucasfilm will need to continue creating new characters and stories within the Star Wars galaxy. Later this year, fans will get their first on-screen look at the High Republic Era, set hundreds of years before the prequel films. Will we also finally start to see stories set after the events of the recent (and controversial) sequel trilogy?
Disney Parks
Universal sent a shot across the bow last year when it unveiled details of its upcoming Orlando theme park Epic Universe, which many believe will lead Universal to finally become a serious threat to Disney when it comes to the theme park game. So what can Disney do to counter them? Hints and rumors in recent years have fans salivating over potential new developments at the Disney theme parks on both costs, and Iger has stoked those flames by promising to spend billions on theme park development in the years to come.
While Disney has been dropping vague hints about what they may be planning, we’d love to see some concrete plans about what they’re working on and when to expect it, especially if we’re planning to drop some serious cash on a family vacation in the next few years.
