Highlights from D23

Disney’s once-every-couple-years convention D23 just wrapped up out in Anaheim and if you’ve been paying attention a few interesting tidbits came out of the event. D23, for those of you who don’t know, was originally conceptualized as a sort of Disney fan club get together where Disney fans could seen sneak peeks and clips for upcoming films, get insight into upcoming park attractions, and generally get a first hand look at what was coming up next for Disney. It’s not a regularly scheduled convention and it generally comes every two years or so.

And with Disney collecting so many iconic properties and bringing them under the roof of the House of Mouse it’s become pretty heavily watched in hopes that we might get a little bit of insider information related not just to Disney’s original properties but Marvel and Star Wars, too. Unfortunately, not much came to light in that regard but that doesn’t mean the entire show was a bust. We did find out some pretty cool stuff like…

Tom Hiddleston Will Play A Young Captain James Hook.

In the next Pixie Hollow film – a series of prequel films and related media that follows Tinkerbell and her pixie friends before Peter Pan comes to Neverland – the dashing Hiddleston will be playing a younger version of Captain Hook called James. He’ll be joining Christina Hendricks as a newcomer to the series. Hendricks will be playing the titular ‘Pirate Fairy’ in the story who feels unappreciated and rushes off to join the pirates around skull island. The film – like the rest of the series  – will be released on DVD without any sort of theatrical release and, honestly, I am looking forward to hearing Tom singing all the ridiculous songs he’s bound to be asked to sing.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/KzWka42mP3k?t=1m30s]

If you can’t wait for the Pirate Fairy to come out, though, here’s Tom singing the Bear Neccessities!

The Good Dinosaur Details Revealed.

Some new information about the upcoming film the Good Dinosaur which has been mentioned here and there has been released. The basic premise for the world where this film takes place centers around a hypothetical where the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs never actually hit Earth and their evolution continued without hindrance. Still the dominate set of species on the planet, our own ancestors sort of seem to live on the fringes in primitive, prehistoric communities. The story will follow a young dinosaur named Arlo and his budding relationship with an early Human toddler named Spot. The full plot is still unknown but the cast includes Neil Patrick Harris and Bill Hader so, you know, I’m sold.

Captain America Has Finished Filming.

The film is entering the editing phase. From what I can tell, though, that’s all the news that came out of D23. Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, and Anthony Mackie were on hand but I think the footage shown was just the same that was previously shown at Comic Con.  The only live-action Marvel film that had anything new to show clip-wise was Thor, apparently, which showed more of Natalie Portman chillin’ in Asgard. Everything else was apparently SDCC footage and other previously released footage.

Big Hero 6 Artwork Released.

Marvel’s first animated film with Disney – rather, Disney’s first animated film based on a Marvel property – saw some new concept art released. All I’ve seen is this one image, though io9 also has some of the artwork that was released earlier available, too. Disney was very quick to explain that though Big Hero 6 is based on a Marvel comic it is not a part of the cinematic world and it is a very loose adaptation. This is pretty evidence in the creation of the fictional San Fransokyo among other things but that doesn’t make it look any less adorable.

We’re Still Waiting to Find Out What ‘Weird’ Thing is Coming Up Next From Disney and Marvel.

So, before D23 Disney told convention goers to ‘ask for something weird’ in this cryptic teaser. Apparently, though, we’re still waiting. People who went out and asked for their weird received yet another cryptic message in the form of a poster. The AR device code led to a video that said something along the lines of ‘Wait until September!’ So we still don’t know what’s coming up next from these two but apparently we’ll find out next month? Maybe? Who knows. Most people are betting that it’s some sort of new attraction at one of the Disney parks since the video also mentioned that it was something new coming from Disney’s park imagineers.

It almost looks like it could be a haunted house sort of thing revolving around Dr. Strange or something set for this Halloween season but I guess we’ll find out in September.

Zootopia Announced.

So, this one is interesting. In a tale somewhat reminiscent of the Wind in the Willows, the Secret of Nimh, or An American Tail and their anthromorphic animal characters, Zootopia imagines a world where humankind never existed and animals developed into their own sentient, industrious mixed society. It’s almost coming off as a buddy cop sort of film as the movie will follow a sly fox and a by-the-books police officer rabbit who are forced together under what I’m sure will prove to be quirky, hilarious circumstances. It doesn’t necessarily sound like Disney’s usual shtick but it could work.

Inside Out Cast Revealed.

Okay, so, this one looks adorable. A top notch group of actors is coming together to play the emotions of a teenage girl uprooted from her happy little life in Minnesota and thrown into the big city life as her family moves to San Francisco. Anger will be played by Lewis Black, Disgust by Mindy Kaling, Sadness by Phyliss Smith, Fear by Bill Hader, and Joy will be played by Amy Poehler. Having moved around a lot as a kid I’m interested to see just how these emotions handle the big changes and how well Pixar pulls this one off in general. Out of all their films mentioned at D23 I’m looking forward to this one the most. Mostly because of Bill Hader and Amy Poehler.

Disney Casts Johnny Depp in Into the Woods.

Because of course he is. I’m not really holding out a whole lot of hope for this one since Sophia Grace was apparently cast as Little Red Riding Hood but hey. They might surprise me. I mean, Chris Pine is in it and Daniel Huttlestone (who played Gavroche in Les Miserables) could win me over. Maybe.

Angelina Jolie Terrorizes Children as Maleficent.

The upcoming Maleficent – which features the villain as the main character and seeks to explain just where her motivations came from – actually looks pretty freakin’ awesome. Angelina Jolie appeared at D23 to help promote the film and shared some fun stories from the set including how her own daughter was the only child on set who wasn’t terrified of her. This is a different angle all together for Disney and it’s an interesting choice for them to try and make the villain sympathetic. It actually sort of hearkens back to some of the stuff they have tried to do with Once Upon A Time and our generation’s need for more three dimensional characters. Of all the upcoming films (other than the Marvel ones, obviously, and Star Wars) this is the one I’m probably most excited about.

There is No New Updates on Star Wars.

Other than teasing some new park attraction under the heading ‘Orange Harvest’ we got nothing new on Star Wars. Disney had apparently said they weren’t going to announce anything new well before the event but people were still disappointed when they stuck to that. I guess they were hoping for some sort of surprise. But all Disney did was confirm that there would be standalone films and Episode VII will still be released in 2015. They also confirmed that there are no plans for any animated Star Wars films at present. Which is kind of sad. I would have loved to see some animated Star Wars films!

If you’re interested in the Orange Harvest stuff, though, which looked adorable if completely and totally revealing of anything, you can see a walk through here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oEhUoduzXg]

D23 also saw the release of clips featuring Disney’s upcoming film Frozen, the Muppets Most Wanted, and several animated shorts – one of which is based on Monsters University and another of which continues the adventure of the Toys from Toy Story after the third film – among other things. They also teased Tomorrowland which is loosely based off the Disney park ride (much like Pirates of the Caribbean was) and the biopic Saving Mr. Banks in which Tom Hanks plays the man behind the Mouse himself – Walt Disney. Kenneth Branagh released a very short teaser for his upcoming Cinderella adaptation which features Helena Bonham Carters as the Fairy Godmother (which sounds like a horrible casting choice to me but okay). And Disney announced the upcoming summer 2014 sequel to this year’s Planes which follows the movie’s lead character Dusty as he pursues a career in fire rescue as well as the cast for the Finding Nemo sequel Finding Dory.

Since D23 isn’t exactly on par with Comic Con for announcements, I’m sure  we’ll be hearing a lot more from Disney periodically as they feel like releasing it.