It’s been a miserable year in general, particularly for film, which has seen many films being delayed and delayed again, so Disney is here to bring us some hope to and things to look forward to in 2021 and beyond. There’s honestly so much to talk about, I was going to do this as a part of of another post I’m working on at the moment because I didn’t expect this many announcements so let’s get going.

STAR

Some news that went under the radar because it was announced almost immediately out the gate, and doesn’t affect America so not quite as much hype, but for other parts of the world, it certainly is exciting. Star will be apart of Disney+ that will house their content that isn’t family friendly. This mostly including a lot of the content that Disney acquired when they bought 20th Century Fox. This includes big titles such as Alien, Kingsman, Family Guy, Planet of the Apes as well as the more adult X-Men films like Logan and Deadpool!

FX – ALIEN SERIES

Alien is one of my favourite Sci Fi films, it’s also one of my favourite horror films. Regardless of what you think of the recent Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. I will watch any Alien thing put out, I wish it was an Alien movie on the big screen, but I’ll take a series especially one from the creators of Fargo and when FX have a great track record of high rated shows, and Ridley Scott is returning to produce the show.

STAR WARS – AHSOKA

The first announcement from Lucasfilm was a big one, confirming that the rumoured Ahsoka series is happening. After a hugely popular first live-action of the fan favourite character in The Mandalorian. Rosario Dawson will return, and Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni will helm the series. I Imagine it will also see an appearance of the teased Grand Admiral Thrawn, which ties in Ezra and Sabine from Rebels.

STAR WARS – RANGERS OF THE NEW REPUBLIC

Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are busy people as they are working on another series. No particular word on any characters or actors attached to this or storyline. My mind instantly to a potential return of clone, Rex or the recently featured X-Wing pilots in The Mandalorian played by Dave Filoni and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee.

STAR WARS – ANDOR

Not too much to report on the spin-off from Rogue One, apart from confirming some casting including Stellen Skarsgard, Adria Arjona and Genieve O’Reilly returning as Mon Mothma. They also released some behind the scenes footage and concept art, which you can find on YouTube.

STAR WARS – OBI-WAN KENOBI

Some of the biggest news of the night came from a short part talking about the spin-off featuring Ewan McGregor and now a confirmed return for Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Hayden Christensen! A return for Christensen has been on the cards and looked likely since his appearance at Star Wars Celebration a couple of years ago.

STAR WARS – THE REST OF THE NEWS

• The Clone Wars spin-off, The Bad Batch has it’s first trailer.
• Star Wars: Visions is a series of short anime films featuring different parts of Star Wars.
• A Lando series is in the works, no word yet on if it will feature Billy Dee Williams or Donald Glover, perhaps leaning more likely towards Glover, who we last saw as Lando in Solo: A Star Wars Story, so it’s possible that it could continue the Crimson Dawn and Darth Maul story that was left.
• We’ve known about Leslye Headland having a series for a while but it was confirmed to be set in the final days of the High Republic (hundred’s of years before the events of The Phantom Menace) and will see the rise of Sith. The series will be called The Acolyte.
• There will also be an animated R2D2 and C3PO spin-off called A Droid Story which will be animated.
• Taika Waititi, director of Jojo Rabbit and Thor: Ragnarok, is currently writing a Star Wars film, perhaps likely to be the the scheduled 2025 release date.

STAR WARS – ROGUE SQUADRON

The final bit of news, and perhaps the biggest news of the night, is that director of Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984 and Monster, Patty Jenkins will be directing a Rogue Squadron movie which will release in December 2023 and will be the next Star Wars film. Patty posted a nice video on her twitter (here) where she says what the project means to her and how she has been wanting to make a fighter pilot film for years and had been waiting for the right story.

LUCASFILM – NON STAR WARS ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Warwick Davis is returning for a Willow series, which begin shooting in 2021, with John Chu (Crazy Rich Asians and In The Heights) directing the pilot.
• James Mangold (Logan and Ford vs Ferrari) is confirmed to be directing Indiana Jones 5, with Harrison Ford returning and a 2022 release date.

DISNEY+ ORIGINALS

• We got first looks at The Mighty Ducks series, now titled The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.
• Turner & Hooch series starring Josh Peck confirmed to be filming.
• Big Shot starring John Stamos, about a basketball coach who has to teach a team of high school girls, was a surprisingly good trailer.
• A Beauty and the Beast prequel series, starring Josh Gad and Luke Evans returning as their roles of Le Fou and Gaston is in the works.
• Swiss Family Robinson is being adapted into a series.
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians confirmed.
• Hocus Pocus 2 confirmed.
• Three Men and a Baby remake starring Zac Efron in the works.
• Cheaper by the Dozen also getting a modern remake starring Gabrielle Union
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid is getting an animated adaptation.
• The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild with Simon Pegg returning to voice Buck.
• A Night at the Museum animated sequel also in the works with Shawn Levy back as producer.

DISNEY MOVIES

• Jungle Cruise confirmed for June 2021.
• Lion King prequel from Moonlight director, Barry Jenkins.
• The Little Mermaid cast is confirmed, with old and new songs.
• Chip and Dale, returning and going into live action/CGI hybrid Rescue Rangers, starring Andy Samberg and John Mulaney.
• Enchanted is getting a sequel with Amy Adams returning.
• Sister Act 3 also confirmed.
• Along with little sizzles and teases of Peter and Wendy, Pinocchio from Robert Zemeckis starring Tom Hanks. Both will go straight to Disney+.

DISNEY ANIMATION

• Raya and the Last Dragon to release in cinemas and premier access (like Mulan) in March 2021.
• A Baymax series from Don Hall, who directed Big Hero 6, where Baymax will look after a different person each episode.
• Zootopia+ from original directors, with episodes following Fru Fru, Tiger Dancers and Flash from the film.
• Tiana, a spin-off series of The Princess and the Frog.
• A Moana series is also in the works.
• Iwaju is a series from Kugali, set in the future in Nigeria, looking at themes of class.
• Disney Animation Studios 60th film will be a musical from Lin-Manuel Miranda, set in Colombia and called Enchato.

PIXAR

• Pixar Popcorn a series of short films following Pixar characters, including Dug from Up!
• Cars will have a series following Lightning McQueen and Mater travel across America.
• Luca will be PIXAR’s next film, set in Italy, the film will be released in June 2021.
• Turning Red a coming of age film, following a girl who turns into a giant Red Panda when she gets excited in early 2022.
• A Buzz Lightyear origin film, with Captain America himself, Chris Evans, voicing Buzz in Lightyear, due to release in late 2022.

MARVEL – WANDAVISION

Another trailer for WandaVision was released, this was no surprise as on social media they had been working their ways through the decades with teasing posters. No huge surprises in this trailer, but we do get to see Kat Dennings, Randall Park and Teyonnah Parris for the first time. The first episode is just over a month away! Kevin Feige also confirmed Elizabeth Olsen is currently filming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which will tie into Spider-Man 3.

MARVEL – THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER

A first full trailer for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier dropped showing the great dynamic between Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in their roles of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. The trailer shows of the high budget that these series have and looks incredible, and like the most cinematic TV show so far.

MARVEL – LOKI

A first trailer for Loki was released. The series is described as a crime thriller, and was previously compared to a Doctor Who type show. The show picks up after Loki disappears after taking the tesseract during Avengers: Endgame. The show will drop on Disney+ in May.

MARVEL – WHAT IF…?

A full trailer for the animated show, What If…? which shows different realities and what could have been. The trailer shows Peggy Carter becoming Captain Britain, Zombies, Black Panther being abducted and taken to Yondu and much more. The show also features the live action cast voicing the animated versions meaning that the late Chadwick Boseman will voice T’Challa as he recorded his lines before his passing.

MARVEL – MORE NEWS

• A featurette of footage and images were shown of the casting and some BTS of Ms Marvel and Iman Vellani being cast in the role.
• Ms Marvel will also appear in Captain Marvel 2 alongside Brie Larson and Teyonah Parris.
• We basically already knew this one as set photos have been released, but Hailee Steinfeld is confirmed as Kate Bishop in the Hawkeye series.
• Tatiana Maslany confirmed to play She-Hulk, with Mark Ruffalo and Tim Roth reprising their roles from the MCU. Feige also heavily teased Daredevil in the MCU talking about lawyers and other cameos for characters that might need a lawyer.
• Christian Bale is confirmed to play, Gorr, the villain of Thor: Love and Thunder.
• The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special will shoot during production of Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
• Black Panther 2 is going ahead but won’t recast the role of T’Challa, which probably means that Shuri is likely to take on the mantle of Black Panther.
• Armor Wars will be a series starring Don Cheadle as War Machine. I’m hoping for a return to the MCU for Justin Hammer who we last saw in Iron Man 2.
• Ironheart will be a series starring Dominque Thorne, of a girl who makes her own Iron Man armour. Which seems to be pointing towards a Young Avengers movie/series, with all the casting.
• Secret Invasion starring a returning Samuel L Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn. The comic storyline is a big one so will be interesting to see how this impacts the MCU.
• Ant-Man 3 has a title, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and will feature Kang the Conqueror and have recast Cassie Lang, which will be played by Kathryn Newton.

MARVEL – FANTASTIC 4

The final bit of news was hotly anticipated but we didn’t get too much information of the first superhero family, but we do now have confirmation that the Fantastic 4 will enter the MCU and it will be helmed by Jon Watts, who has directed Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far from Home and the upcoming Spider-Man 3.

That was it for the big news of the night. Some big surprises and a lot of highly anticipated projects coming sooner than we would have thought. What are you most looking forward to out of the announced projects?

Keep an eye out for another post coming soon discussing the HBO Max deal and the affect I think it will have on cinemas, where I will also touch on this Disney Investor Day as well.

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