This image released by Walt Disney Animation Studios shows a scene from “Moana 2,” expected in theaters November 2024. (Walt Disney Animation Studios via AP)
Disney teased its upcoming movies and television series including “Moana 2” in a rousing showcase featuring sneak peaks, live performances and surprise appearances from actors including Dwayne Johnson, Zoe Saldaña and Jude Law.
Fans at Disney’s D23 convention welcomed CEO Bob Iger with a standing ovation Friday, Aug. 9, at the top of the showcase. “The world needs to be entertained maybe even more so now than ever before and we take that responsibility seriously,” he said before presentations teased new movies in the “Avatar,” “Toy Story” and “Incredibles” franchises.
In the evening’s first surprise, Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson of “Moana” jolted the crowd of over 15,000 at the Honda Center with a performance of a song featuring drummers and dancers in costumes styled after the beloved animated movie.
Both actors are reprising their roles as Moana and Maui, respectively, in “Moana 2,” which is set to hit theaters Nov. 27. Before showing an extended sneak peek of the film, Johnson said that working on the films has been special to him, noting that his daughters, who are 6 and 8 years old, were in the crowd.
Disney subsequently released the film’s first full-length trailer online. The footage introduces characters new (Moana now has a little sister) and familiar, like her pet pig Pua and the Kakamora, a band of dart-blowing coconut-clad pirates.
Johnson also announced that he’d be continuing his long-running work on Disney projects to create a “Monster Jam” live-action movie. The studio did not announce any updates to Johnson’s other Disney project, the live-action “Moana,” that is in development.
Star Wars updates
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni teased the May 2026 Star Wars film “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” which they said only started filming recently. Favreau said he felt compelled to “put something together” for the showcase and showed a brief clip featuring the title characters, as he put it, “on a whole new journey.”
Law spoke about “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew,” announcing it will be coming to Disney+ on Dec. 3.
“I fell in love with ‘Star Wars’ when I was a 10 -year-old boy,” Law said before sharing footage from the show, which has been billed as a coming-of-age tale.
Updates on ‘Avatar,’ ‘Frozen’ and Pixar sequels
Pixar Animation Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter announced the studio is developing a third installment of “The Incredibles” franchise.
Andrew Stanton, who directed the first two “Toy Story” films, has returned to lead “Toy Story 5.”
Stanton said the battle Woody, Buzz and the rest of the crew take on in this film is toys versus tech, noting that kids often opt for gadgets instead of classic toys today. The film is slated for theaters in summer 2026.
Jennifer Lee, the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, shared concept art from “Frozen III” that features Anna, Elsa and Olaf looking onto the horizon with an ominous creature lurking close behind them. The film will arrive in 2027.
Director James Cameron and actors Zoe Saldaña and Sam Worthington reunited on stage to share new information about the third installment of “Avatar.” They announced the official title, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and shared concept art that shows new glimpses of Pandora. Cameron said the film was too early in the production phase to show clips.
“The new film is not what you expect, but it’s definitely what you want,” said Cameron, who will be bestowed “Disney Legends” status in a ceremony to close out D23 on Sunday.
Fans were also treated to an exclusive look at “Zootopia 2,” coming to theaters November 2025. The film’s star, Ginnifer Goodwin, also announced Ke Huy Quan will be joining the cast of “Zootopia 2″ as a snake.
Fresh off Comic-Con, Marvel teases more
Following the blitz of announcements from Marvel at Comic-Con International, Marvel president Kevin Feige came out after a welcome video from “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds, where he thanked the crowd for their support of the box office record-breaking “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Ryan Coogler, the director of the “Black Panther” movies, joined Feige to share information about the upcoming series “Ironheart,” starring Dominique Thorne and Anthony Ramos. The cast introduced a first look at the series that follows Thorne’s character, Riri Williams, who was first introduced in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
Feige also spoke about “Marvel’s first family,” the Fantastic Four. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach said hello to the audience in a short video clip in their costumes from the set in the UK, where filming began late last month. Before showing a brief edit of pre-production clips, Feige said they embraced the retro style of the 1960s for the film’s aesthetic.
Big musical moments
Music will be a key part of “Mufasa: The Lion King,” the upcoming live-action prequel to the 1994 classic. Jenkins also brought out Lin-Manuel Miranda, who created original music for the new movie. Beyond his success with “Hamilton,” Miranda penned songs for “Moana” and “Encanto.”
The duo introduced a clip from the film featuring a new song, “I Always Wanted a Brother,” which depicts the early relationship between Mufasa and Scar.
Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot are starring in the live-action “Snow White” movie, which is scheduled for March 2025. Zegler plays the original Disney princess and “Wonder Woman” Gadot plays the evil queen. The stars shared a sneak peak of highly anticipated adaptation, which will feature new songs from duo Benji Pasek and Justin Paul, known for “La La Land” and “Dear Evan Hansen.”
“Tron: Ares” will have a soundtrack composed by Nine Inch Nails.
Kathyrn Hahn performed a new song from her upcoming Marvel series “Agatha All Along,” another earworm for fans of the 2021 “WandaVision” musical number. Hahn praised the “Agatha All Along” songwriters, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who also penned hits for “Frozen” and “Coco.” The duo also wrote the hit song from “WandaVision” that the series is named after.
‘Freaky Friday’ returns
Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsey Lohan announced the official title for the highly anticipated “Freaky Friday” sequel, “Freakier Friday.”
Curtis, who will be honored as a Disney Legend on Sunday, said she felt like no time had passed since they filmed the original 2003 movie as they shared the first images from the new film.
Pixar talks its new stories, series
Docter also announced an original Pixar film, “Hoppers,” starring Bobby Moynihan and Jon Hamm, and shared exclusive looks at upcoming film “Elio.” The young star of “Elio,” Yonas Kibreab, brought Saldaña back onstage and announced her as a leading character, joining America Ferrera and Jameela Jamil in the cast. The movie will hit theaters June 13, 2025.
Pixar will also have two new series hitting Disney+ in a first for the studio. Following the record-breaking success of “Inside Out 2,” the studio is creating “Dream Productions,” a show set in between “Inside Out” and “Inside Out 2” that will start streaming on Disney+ in 2025. “Win or Lose,” the first Pixar longform series, will hit Disney+ Dec. 6.