By: Rita Livshits
Graphics Editor
On Aug. 14-16, D23: The Official Disney Fan Club held its biennial convention at the Anaheim Convention Center and the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Throughout the course of the three days, attendees interacted with their favorite celebrities and learned about upcoming releases. The event brought together people from all ages and fandoms to discover what the near-future of Disney will look like.
Disney started off the convention by evoking nostalgia in fans with the announcement of a live-action remake of the 2010 animated movie Tangled, starring Teagan Croft as Rapunzel and Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider. This classic retelling includes new characters such as Hawthorne, played by Diego Luna, and will reach theaters on Mar. 31, 2028. Alongside Tangled, the live-action Lilo & Stitch 2 will appear in theaters starting on May 26, 2028.
Different animation studios will release sequels to beloved movies in the upcoming years.
Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel took the audience through a duet of the song Frozen Heart as the voices of Anna and Elsa to announce that Frozen 3 will debut on Nov. 24, 2027, just in time for the winter season. In line with the icy theme, Ice Age: Boiling Point will come out on Feb. 5, 2027 featuring returning characters like Sid and Manny facing new adventures. Pixar Animation gave the audience a sneak peek at fan favorite protagonist Miguel from Coco, returning to the big screen in Nov. 2026 with Coco 2, and the Incredibles Family coming to save the day with Incredibles 3 on Jun. 16, 2028.
Much of the commotion at the event came from Marvel Studios announcing new projects including a series called VisionQuest, starring Paul Bettany as Vision and James Spader as Ultron. This series will wrap up the WandaVision trilogy and is set to come out on Disney+ on Oct. 14. Marvel Studios then announced the making of a new X-Men film featuring new faces such as Inde Navarrette as Rogue and Kit Connor as Scott Summers. While the upcoming film doesn’t have an official name yet, fans have saved the date of May 5, 2028 to see the new team of superheroes rise.
Fans were then taken into a different galaxy by Lucasfilm, who announced that Star Wars: Starfighter will be brought to theaters on May 28, 2027, starring Ryan Gosling.
Additionally, Disney revealed a plethora of animated movies set to release soon. Pixar showed a snippet of their new movie: Ghost Market, which explores the concept of blending life and death and will make an opening in theaters in March of 2028. Pixar also gave fans a preview of a project they will premiere on Mar. 5, 2027, called Gatto, a movie about a street cat’s life in Venice.
After another successful year, the D23 convention has left fans excited for new movies and TV shows and hopeful for Disney’s future.
Sources: The Walt Disney Company