Disney has been scheduling like crazy over the past few weeks, and this is easily the most ambitious additions yet.
First of all, Saving Mr. Banks was moved up a week to release in limited theaters on December 13 of this year (its' wide release of December 20 remains unchanged). Also, Disney moved Brad Bird's Tomorrowland up a week to December 12, 2014, to get a jump on the intense competition for family audiences in Christmas 2014.
Speaking of Christmas 2014, Disney has set musical adaptation Into The Woods for Christmas Day. Based on the Tony-award winning musical, the film has scored major talent, including Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Tracey Ullman. Woods will have an incredible challenge, however, as it will be competing directly against the remake of Annie, which stars recent 9-year old Oscar nominee Quezevhane Wallis, and is produced by Will Smith. Sounds like Disney and Sony are hoping to bank on a similar-sized profit that Universal had with Les Miserables last Christmas. And that's not all, Fox has a third Night at the Museum slated for that day as well (though it wouldn't surprise me if Fox decided to push it to the following summer due to the intense competition). And six days earlier, Universal is spinning off the Minions from Despicable Me in their own movie, not to mention the final Hobbit movie will have released a couple of days before then. Its' definitely going to be a mess, and more than one movie will likely not succeed unless some changes are made soon.
But back to Disney news, they set a couple of major live-action dramas for the late-Summer and early-Fall. Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey are on board to produce book adaptation The Hundred Foot Journey, which is set for August 8, 2014, a week after Disney and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy releases. Also, Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner (The Odd Life of Timothy Green) star in children's book adaptation Alexander and the No Good, Terrible, Horrible Day for October 10, 2014, in what is turning into a crowded Fall for family fare (Laika (ParaNorman, Coraline) and Fox have Halloween-themed animations set for around that same time).
Even though the original has yet to come out, Disney has set a sequel to Planes, Fire and Rescue for July 18, 2014, opening directly against X-Men: Days of Future Past (remember Winnie The Pooh opened against Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part II to bad results?). Finally, Disney has set two untitled Marvel projects for May 2016 and 2017.
And this doesn't include other announced projects such as sports drama Million Dollar Arm and Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella remake (which I would imagine will be set for March 2015). Regardless, with 11 pictures on the board for 2014, Disney is certainly ramping up its' slate.
