The live action series will include a remake of Swiss Family Robinson, written and produced by Ron Moore (Battlestar Galactica), and Cheaper by the Dozen. There will also be Disenchanted (a direct to Disney+ sequel to Enchanted), a new season of National Geographic’s Genius on Martin Luther King, Jr, a new adventure documentary series from Darren Aronofsky and Will Smith, the animated Iwájú, Lightspeed (a new Pixar/Buzz Lightyear original film with Chris Evans), Turning Red, and more.
From Lucasfilm, look for more Mandalorian (Season 3 due December 2021) and several new Star Wars series including Rangers of the New Republic and Ashoka (from Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, the storylines of which will thread together and lead to something bigger—some kind of event film either in theaters or on Disney+), plus the 12-episode Andor (due in 2022), an Obi-Wan limited series (with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen reprising their roles), a Lando limited series (by Dear White People creator Justin Simien, possibly with Donald Glover returning but that’s not yet confirmed), the Visions anime anthology, the CG animated The Bad Batch, the A Droid Story animated series, and The Acolyte (from Leslye Headland of Russian Doll fame), along with a Willow series (with Warwick Davis returning), the long-awaited Indiana Jones 5 feature film (shooting next spring with Harrison Ford and due in theaters in 2022, from James Mangold), Children of Blood and Bone (based on the books by Tomi Adeyemi), a new Star Wars feature film from Taika Waititi (TBA), and a new Star Wars: Rogue Squadron feature films from Patty Jenkins (she of Wonder Woman fame, due in theaters on Christmas 2023).
From Marvel, look for the streaming series WandaVision on 1/15, The Falcon and The Winter Solider on 3/19, Loki in May, and What-If? next summer. Those will be followed by She-Hulk (with Mark Ruffalo appearing), Ms. Marvel, Ironheart, Moon Knight, Hawkeye (featuring Jeremy Renner), Armor Wars (featuring Don Cheadle), Secret Invasion (featuring Samuel L. Jackson), and I Am Groot. Black Widow will still debut in theaters on 5/7/2021, followed by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in theaters on 7/9/21, The Eternals on 11/4/21, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on 3/25/2022, and Thor: Love and Thunder on 5/6/2022 from Taika Waititi (with Christian Bale playing the villain Gorr). Look also for a Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (Christmas 2022) from James Gunn to be shot at the same time as Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (due in theaters in 2023). Also on the way: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania from Payton Reed (with the whole cast returning), Captain Marvel 2, and Black Panther II (Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa will NOT be recast or replaced) from Ryan Coogler. And Jon Watts will direct the forthcoming Fantastic Four film.
And that doesn’t even include the Disney animated films on the way to Disney+ and theaters, including Jungle Cruise, the Raya and the Last Dragon animated film (Disney+ Premiere Access and theaters in March), nor the live-action streaming series like The Mighty Ducks, Pinocchio, Peter Pan and Wendy, and Turner and Hooch, a series about Baymax from Big Hero Six, and more based upon Zootopia, Princess and the Frog, and Moana, nor the many Pixar projects in the works, including new streaming series based on Cars (with Lightning McQueen and Mater traveling cross-country), Up’s Dug (Dug Days), an original Pixar animated series called Win or Lose, and more.
Whew!
I have no doubt I missed an announcement or two as well.
Love it or not, for good or otherwise, Disney is an entertainment juggernaut the likes of which the world has never seen. And it’s pretty clear that Disney+ is the centerpiece of it all, yet there’s still plenty of blockbuster film product promised to theaters in 2021 too. I’d bet the stock price goes up tomorrow.
And I’d bet AT&T/Time Warner will be envious of the love the business side of Hollywood is going to shower on Disney after this presentation.
Meanwhile, I’ll just leave you with Patty Jenkins’ tease of the film I’m personally most looking forward to right now (after Dune)...
That’s all for now. Stay tuned...!
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)