At D23 Expo, Disney puts its box office hopes on animated sequels and Baby Yoda

LOS ANGELES – If there’s one thing Disney knows how to do, it’s put on show.

The various arms of Walt Disney Studios – including Disney Animation, Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios – shared the giant spotlight at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Friday for a three-hour presentation to promote each of its upcoming films and television series. One of the marquee events of this year’s D23 Expo, the Disney Entertainment Showcase wowed its audience with trailers, first-look footage, concept art, musical performances, pyrotechnics and even an interactive magic trick.

Walt Disney Co.’s chief executive Bob Iger, noting it was his first D23 Expo in five years, received a rock star welcome as he took the stage to get the evening started.

“I was going to say good evening and thank you for that warm welcome, but that was more than a warm welcome,” said Iger to the Disney faithful who greeted him with enthusiastic cheers and a standing ovation.

Among the filmmakers and actors tapped to tease their future projects were “Avatar’s” James Cameron, “Moana 2’s” Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson, “Andor’s” Diego Luna, “Ironheart’s” Ryan Coogler, “Freaky Friday” duo Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan and “Tron’s” Jeff Bridges.

Here are the biggest takeaways from Disney’s studios showcase.

Disney continues to dip into its vault

Sequels, threequels and spinoffs seems to be the name of Disney’s current game.

The show kicked off with Cravalho performing “We’re Back,” a song from the upcoming “Moana 2,” which reunites the film’s eponymous hero with the demigod Maui for a new adventure. Disney Animation’s portion of the presentation also included Ginnifer Goodwin teasing “Zootopia 2” and the studio’s chief creative officer Jennifer Lee sharing news about “Frozen III” (and “IV”).

Pixar’s Pete Docter announced the studio is working on “Incredibles 3” with Brad Bird. Also on the way from the studio is “Toy Story 5,” directed by Andrew Stanton, and “Dream Production,” an “Inside Out” spinoff series headed to Disney+.

In the pipeline on the live-action (and live-action-like) side are “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and “Tron: Ares” – both the third films in their respective series – as well as “Freakier Friday,” a sequel to the 2003 cult favorite. Not to mention the live-action adaptations of “Snow White” and “Lilo & Stitch.”

With the recent success of “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine” ($1.56 billion and $925 million, respectively), leaning into sequels and franchises would seem like a safe bet. But they perhaps shouldn’t forget that not all of their recent sequels and reboots have been as successful.

Star Wars builds hype for its movies

“Star Wars” has found success on TV with such shows as “The Mandalorian” and “Andor,” but the galaxy far, far away is ready to get back into movies.

Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni made an appearance to tease their upcoming “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” currently in production, which will see Baby Yoda make his big-screen debut. The first-look footage included glimpses of Zeb (another character that first appeared in “Star Wars Rebels”), snow troopers, AT-AT walkers and a group of Anzellans (the species of tiny mechanic Babu Frik).

While “Mando & Grogu” was the only film to take the stage at D23 Expo, a number of other “Star Wars” films have been announced to be in development in recent years, including an untitled film starring Daisy Ridley and another untitled film directed by Filoni.

The last “Star Wars” film to hit theaters was 2019’s “Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker,” a whole pandemic and presidency ago. Are Baby Yoda and his TV cohorts the new hope for another era of “Star Wars” films? This is the way.

Marvel Studios hasn’t forgotten television

Marvel’s Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con in July was all about its movies. At D23 Expo, it was all about its TV shows.

The long-awaited “Ironheart” was back in the spotlight with Coogler and the show’s cast members including Dominique Thorne and Anthony Ramos. Expected to hit Disney+ in 2025, the series will follow Riri Williams as she resorts to desperate measures to finish making her own high-tech supersuit.

Kathryn Hahn and her “Agatha All Along” castmates Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, Joe Locke, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn and Debra Jo Rupp took the stage to perform “The Ballad of the Witches Road.” The series – apparently a musical – will debut on Disney+ on Sept. 18.

The “Daredevil: Born Again” cast was also on hand to tease their upcoming show, set to launch in March. The most recent new Marvel series to be released was “Echo,” which hit Disney+ in January (under the studios new Marvel Spotlight banner), and it also featured familiar faces from “Daredevil.” But it seems like after a long absence, Marvel Studios is ready to return to a more regular cadence on TV.

Original films footprint is small, but still there

Disney’s showcase leaned heavily on familiar film series and franchises, but there were a couple original films that got some attention.

Pixar showed footage from its upcoming film “Elio,” about an imaginative kid who gets caught up in intergalactic escapades, and also announced “Hoppers,” about a young animal lover who chooses to transfer their consciousness into a robotic beaver. (The studio also has its first upcoming original series, “Win or Lose,” to premiere Dec. 6.)

Disney Animation’s Lee also mentioned the studio is working on a new original film but provided no additional details.

D23 Expo is a fan event, so it makes sense to lean into familiar characters and worlds to build up excitement. (And Disney did build its empire on adaptations of existing fairy tales.) But you can’t build new franchises without new ideas and giving them room to grow.