Disney’s Motion Picture Production, unveiled their current live-action slate last weekend at D23 Expo 2019 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, took the D23 audience through the studio’s upcoming releases. This includes next summer’s Jungle Cruise, an adventure film inspired by the classic theme-park attraction. Star Dwayne Johnson, who plays riverboat captain Frank Wolff, entered Hall D23 aboard an original Jungle Cruise boat, introducing a “trailer” that showed off his character — and then co-star Emily Blunt (Dr. Lily Houghton) arrived via classic car to share her own “trailer,” offering a different perspective. Neither one was official, as it turned out. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, Disney’s Jungle Cruise hits theatres on July 24th, 2020.
Bailey welcomed Angelina Jolie back to the stage to present exclusive footage and details about Disney’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, the follow-up to the hit 2014 film. Directed by Joachim Rønning, who co-helmed 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil arrives in theatres on October 17th, 2019.
Bailey next introduced acclaimed filmmaker Niki Caro, director of Mulan, the upcoming live-action re-imagining of the 1998 classic animated film. Caro shared several minutes of footage from the epic adventure inspired by one of China’s fiercest warriors, opening in theatres on March 27th, 2020.
After that, Bailey concluded the segment with details about Cruella, an all-new feature film starring Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. Stone, who plays the iconic Cruella from 101 Dalmatians, sent D23 Expo fans a greeting from the London-based set with help from a dalmatian co-star. Director Craig Gillespie, who helmed I, Tonya and The Finest Hours, brings Cruella to the big screen on May 28th, 2021.
This is far from everything revealed at D23 2019, so check out our other two articles for more highlights from the stage shows.