Disney held its D23 Expo this past weekend. For the uninitiated, it is their biennial fan event in Anaheim showcasing exclusive sneak peeks at what’s happening in the entertainment brands under Disney, including star-studded presentations for their animation and live-action series and films, parks and resorts, and more.
There’s still one more day to go, but their major presentations for the animation and live-action films, which I’m most excited about, have already happened, so let’s get to it.
Avengers: Infinity War trailer debut!
It’s not uploaded on the internet yet, and I don’t think it will be until after next week’s San Diego Comic-Con at least, but it sounds so exciting! đ Apparently Thanos won’t be battling the Avengers alone. I can’t wait to see the first footage! Infinity War just wrapped filming, and they’re moving on to the fourth Avengers movie now.
Mark Ruffalo confirms there will be no standalone Hulk movie
Which I’ve known for a very long time, because the rights for a standalone Hulk movie belong to Universal Pictures. Unlike what Sony Pictures did with Spider-Man, Universal is not likely to come to a sharing agreement with Disney, because I imagine they probably want more than what Disney is willing to give them. The only reason why Sony agreed to share Spider-Man is because their previous attempt at rebooting the character with Andrew Garfield was a disappointment, and they needed help to reinvigorate their film slate, which has been doing pretty badly the past few years, and of which Spider-Man plays a very important part. Marvel was more willing to come to the table too because they’ve always wanted Spider-Man to be back in their fold.
Whereas Marvel can already use Hulk in their ensemble movies or movies with other characters in the main title like the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok, so if Universal refuses to grant them sharing rights to a standalone Hulk movie, it isn’t such a great loss to them. Plus, on Universal’s side, their film slate is very healthy with strong franchises such as Jurassic World and Despicable Me, so they don’t really need a standalone Hulk movie.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi behind-the-scenes footage
Looks epic and sounds like it’ll be a refreshing change in direction from the previous film! The Force Awakens followed the structure of A New Hope very closely, which was great for the first new Star Wars movie in 30 years that is supposed to remind people of the original films and therefore win them over to a continuation of the world’s most beloved franchise, since the prequels did such an awful job at that. But its next installment should preferably be different, if not fans will start complaining that it’s all the same. Director Rian Johnson directed the mind-bending Looper — and several well-reviewed episodes of Breaking Bad, which I didn’t watch — so I think we can expect good things.
A Wrinkle in Time trailer debut
This is another movie that I’m excited about. Firstly, because Chris Pine, whom I love, stars in it (though he looks like the kind of scientist that is so engrossed in his work he forgets to do things like eat and shave). But secondly, the book has always intrigued me. There was an excerpt in one of my English textbooks in primary school, and I’ve always wanted to know what happened after the end of that passage, which ended on a cliffhanger. But when I borrowed the book years later and read through the whole thing, I couldn’t find the passage at all. It’s very mysterious.
And it’s been ages since I read it, but from what I do remember of the actual book, it went in strange directions that I didn’t really understand at the time. I’ll have to reread it again.
(Also, there are a ton more racist people/trolls in the world than I thought. People are actually disliking the trailer because they say the movie is being politically correct by making the main character black. Huh??? Why must she be white???)
The Incredibles 2 footage and plot revealed!
When I first heard they were making a sequel to The Incredibles, I had mixed feelings, because it feels like Pixar has been running out of original ideas and have resorted to mining their past successes to make money. (I still haven’t watched Finding Dory. It has a fairly good score on Rotten Tomatoes, but Finding Nemoâs was way higher, so I’m not ready to revisit that world yet and be let down, no matter how slightly.) But the plot sounds great! It’ll be hilarious to see Mr Incredible/Bob, who still hasn’t gotten used to a civilian life, stay home and take care of Jack Jack — the best part of the first movie — while Elastigirl is off dealing with whatever it is she’ll have to deal with.
Aladdinâs cast is confirmed!
Naomi Scott, whom we last saw in Power Rangers as the Pink Ranger, will be Princess Jasmine, and a newcomer called Mena Massoud will play Aladdin. Will Smith will be Genie, which was reported some time ago. Earlier this week, there were reports that Disney was having trouble finding an Aladdin, but I’m glad that’s over now. I am looking forward to this. And The Lion King live-action movie too, directed by Jon Favreau, who did the very well-received, almost equally animal-centric live-action Jungle Book movie (which I didn’t watch because I’ve never been as fond of The Jungle Book. But I love The Lion King.)
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms will be released November 2018
I’m quite excited for this film too! I’ve always wanted to watch the Nutcracker ballet, but never got the chance. The movie won’t be a screen adaptation of the ballet, but there will be some dancing at least, as they have cast Misty Copeland, the first African-American female principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre, and Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin in it.
The Wreck-It-Ralph sequel sounds amazing!
I loved the trailer for Wreck-It-Ralph, and while the movie wasn’t bad, it didn’t live up to its promise for me. I thought it was a little too kiddish, and Vanellope sounded annoying after a while. They also spent too much time in Sugar Rush. I would rather they spent more time showing them as 8-bit characters in the arcade games.
But the sequel sounds awesome! The great thing about Disney owning everybody’s favourite IPs is that they can do gigantic crossovers and put all the different franchises in a single film, like they apparently are doing here. And why haven’t I heard of OhMy.Disney.com until this second?!
One more thing…
Star Wars Land will open in Walt Disney World in 2019, and there’ll be a Star Wars-themed resort. I can’t wait to visit in 2021! đ
