It was a good two to three days of big surprises and disappointments over last weekend at D23, which I kept track of online...
The biggest surprise was the guest appearance of Angelina Jolie for Maleficent, Disney's next live-action CGI fantasy, which is set for July 2, 2014. Based on the story info revealed, Maleficent sounds like it could be another great movie, but can it live up to Oz? Guess we'll have to wait and see.
My favorite presentations of the convention were the ones for Frozen (November 27) and Muppets Most Wanted (March 21, 2014), both of which debuted a clip and a trailer, respectively this past week. I am very excited for both titles, though I do miss Alan Menken (who usually scores the Disney fairy tales), Jason Segel and Amy Adams (who were in the first rebooted Muppets movie and were arguably better casting choices than Ricky Gervais and Tina Fey). But I loved Idina Menzel's performance of one of Frozen's songs.
Natalie Portman and Chris Evans' appearances in this convention as well as the info I heard about Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4, 2014) and Thor: The Dark World (November 8) were exciting, and I think its' brilliant to have Tom Hiddleston (Loki) to voice a young Captain Hook in the next Tinker Bell movie. I also got excited about hearing news about Saving Mr. Banks (December 20), Into the Woods (December 25, 2014), Brad Bird's Tomorrowland (December 12, 2014), Big Hero 6 (November 6, 2014), and the Cinderella remake (March 15, 2015).
Pixar's announcements were very interesting, with Bill Hader getting a big break doing voices for both The Good Dinosaur (May 30, 2014) and The Inside Out (June 19, 2015). Those movies have racked up solid voice casts including John Lithgow, Frances McDormand and Neil Patrick Harris for Dinosaur and Mindy Kaling and Amy Poehler for Inside Out. I also got exciting news for the Finding Nemo sequel, Finding Dory, which added Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton, and Eugene Levy to its' voice cast. Rounding out the animation announcements was Disney's 2016 animated title Zootopia, which looks like a cross between Icabod and Mr. Toad and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and a look at the Planes sequel, Fire and Rescue (July 18, 2014).
The only downside, no news regarding the currently in early pre-production stages Star Wars: Episode VII, causing fans to boo at Disney chairman Alan Horn. However, its' a little early to really reveal anything, especially with no solidified release date. I wouldn't be surprised with Disney's crowded-enough 2015 slate that the anticipated flick gets moved to 2016.
