What’s Next for Disney Films?

“Nobody knows anything.”

William Goldman wrote Hollywood classics like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Princess Bride, yet that quote may be his legacy.

With three simple words, Goldman aptly summarized the ridiculousness of the studio system.

The writer was referring to Gigli, a film many expected to be a hit that proved to be a debacle.

Disney and especially Pixar executives have thought about that quote often over the past four challenging years.

In the days leading up to the debut of Inside Out 2, even Pete Docter, the Chief Creative Officer at Pixar, sounded pensive.

Pixar employees knew they’d made a great film, but that same statement applied to Elemental, whose box office was just okay.

Thankfully, Inside Out 2 has proven to be one of Pixar’s most successful films ever.

Now, the question becomes, “What’s next for Disney films?” Let’s take a fresh look at the upcoming schedule.

Deadpool & Wolverine – July 26^th, 2024

We’ll focus on the films coming out from now through next July, as they’re the ones that matter.

After a tough 2023, Disney executives have held their breath regarding their 2024 schedule.

On paper, the Disney lineup appears extraordinarily impressive…but “nobody knows anything.”

Just a few days ago, Pixar might be forced to change its entire business model should Inside Out 2 fail.

The director fretted about Pixar even though early tracking suggested that Inside Out 2 would be a breakout hit.

Of course, movie tracking has proven wildly unreliable since the pandemic, with most films failing to reach their predicted levels.

So, Pixar was sweating right up until the opening weekend numbers arrived. Now, Inside Out 2 is a full-fledged juggernaut.

That’s important to Disney because its next film comes out in a month.

Tracking suggests that Deadpool & Wolverine should open to $200+ million, a stunning total for an R-rated film.

Remarkably, should that estimate hold, Disney would claim the top two opening weekends of the year, with Inside Out 2 having just earned $154 million domestically.

Presuming that Deadpool 3 performs as expected, that would buy Disney plenty of breathing room as it resecures its place as the premiere movie studio.

Alien: Romulus – August 16th, 2024

Despite everything, Disney is still willing to take chances, though. For example, it’s rebooting the Alien franchise.

Here’s the liquid metal hot trailer for Alien: Romulus:

Every single second of that is incredible, and it provides hope that Disney may defy expectations here.

The Alien franchise died in 2017 due to the scathing reception to Alien: Covenant.

Seven years later, Disney owns the franchise now and wants to reinvigorate it.

Disney has invested tons of money in rebooting Alien, with director Fede Alvarez restoring the original horror concept.

Feasibly, Alien: Romulus could benefit from the goodwill generated by Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine.

However, since few consumers associate Disney with the Alien brand, I’m dubious.

This title must live or die on its own, and it’s currently the biggest risk on Disney’s 2024 calendar.

That trailer gives me confidence, though.

Moana 2 – November 27^th, 2024

Here’s the surprise of the list, as we didn’t know this film even existed at the start of the year.

Still, I’m not going out on a limb when I say that this could be the biggest surprise hit of 2024.

Moana debuted in 2016, earning roughly $250 million domestically and $687 million worldwide.

Those are nice numbers, but they hardly reflect the cultural phenomenon of Moana.

In the years that followed, people rewatched Moana again and again.

To the shock of many observers, Nielsen explicitly stated that Moana was the most streamed movie of 2023.

You might expect new titles like The Super Mario Bros. Movie or something like Frozen or Frozen II to claim that throne.

Instead, a generation of kids have begged their parents to let them watch Moana on a loop.

For this reason, you can safely expect Moana 2 to surpass the box office of its predecessor, giving Disney another animated blockbuster.

Mufasa: The Lion King – December 20^th, 2024

Disney will NOT have an animated blockbuster with Mufasa: The Lion King. I’m saying that as a technicality, though.

This film is another live-action visit to the world of The Lion King.

Now, we learn about the origins of Mufasa, who may not have been completely truthful with Simba.

Remember how Mufasa told his son that their family had ruled for generations?

Well, in this trailer, Mufasa comes from humble origins. I trust Disney to have an explanation here, but it’s an intriguing idea.

How did Mufasa come to be the most respected and feared leader of the jungle? We’ll learn the specifics this holiday season.

Disney’s box office hopes rely on The Lion King brand and something called The Twelve Days of Box Office.

From December 20^th through early January, most North Americans enjoy plentiful vacation days.

With all that free time, they often visit movie theaters, thereby inflating the box office of all titles in release.

As the presumed number one film of this timeframe, Mufasa could prove quite successful.

There is some risk here, though. The 2019 remake of The Lion King earned $1.66 billion in box office.

However, only 52 percent of critics liked the movie on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Audience Score of 88 percent suggests that critics may have gotten it wrong, though. We’ll find out in December.

Captain America: Brave New World – February 14^th, 2025

The next five titles are all bigger risks. Thus far, everything we’ve discussed should perform well at the box office.

I’d like to think the same about the Captain America franchise.

After all, I’m in the camp that considers The Winter Soldier the best MCU movie to date.

However, Disney used the Hollywood strikes to reevaluate its upcoming Marvel movies.

Ultimately, the company chose to delay the release of Captain America until 2025.

As a reminder, the fourth film was originally scheduled to come out next month. So, that’s a big warning sign.

Marvel recently performed reshoots and added one of the best living actors, Giancarlo Esposito, to the cast.

Generally speaking, that’s good news, but it’s odd that the character didn’t even exist until recently.

This film was supposed to come out next month! How are they still adding new characters?

Of course, with this much time from now until its Valentine’s Day release date, Brave New World has plenty of time to tie everything together.

Snow White – March 21^st, 2025

Here’s the scariest proposition on the entire list.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the most revered Disney animated movie because it was the first.

Walt Disney proved naysayers wrong by creating a feature-length animated story that stood the test of time.

The American Film Institute has declared it one of the 100 greatest American films, while it is also a part of the Library of Congress.

Disney has taken a chance by choosing to make a live-action adaptation of this story more than 80 years later.

On top of that, the early pictures of the Seven Dwarfs created an outcry about the absurdity of the visual.

Then, the star of the remake, Rachel Zegler, made some perfectly valid comments about how society has changed since 1937.

I don’t know how anyone could say otherwise, given that Snow White came out before World War II.

Still, some took offense, putting the Snow White remake on the hit list of various political provocateurs.

So, Disney delayed the film in the hope that the heat would die down a bit, but this one’s facing an uphill battle.

People love the story, and Zegler was born with the superstar gene. But there are a LOT of haters who want this film to fail.

That same group caused The Little Mermaid remake to underachieve slightly at the box office. It’s a concern.

The Amateur – April 11^th, 2025

This is the remake of a film you don’t know based on a novel you don’t know.

Spymaster novelist Robert Littell wrote a story that everyone liked so much it became a film the same year.

One of the co-stars of that movie was screen legend Christopher Plummer, but despite his presence, the title was a bomb.

However, the idea of the story continues to intrigue to this day.

A CIA loses his wife to a terrorist act. His frustration grows once he realizes that the government will do nothing to bring the criminals to justice.

So, he acts on his own, seeking vengeance for his wife’s death. It’s a spy thriller with plentiful twists and turns.

That’s not why Disney is so excited about it, though. The film stars Rami Malek and Rachel Brosnahan.

That’s a pairing of Mr. Robot and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Brosnahan has won an Emmy and two Golden Globes yet is somehow the less successful of the two.

For his part, Malek won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, and he’s won an Emmy, too.

Outlander’s Caitríona Balfe, Mindhunter’s Holt McCallany, and the iconic Laurence Fishburne also co-star.

I have no idea whether this film will perform well at the box office, but based on the cast, it should be exceptional.

Thunderbolts – May 5^th, 2025

Twice now, Warner Bros. has tried to establish the Suicide Squad as a new superhero team of antiheroes.

Neither film has performed as well as hoped, although the 2016 title earned roughly $750 million at the box office.

Now, Marvel will offer its own spin on the same concept.

The difference is that Marvel has already introduced most of the characters.

Returning MCU people include Bucky Barnes, Ghost, Red Guardian, U.S. Agent, and Yelena Belova.

Harrison Ford will also appear as Thunderbolt Ross, adding star power to the proceedings.

However, the most tantalizing part is that Thunderbolts will introduce a character named Sentry.

This superhero is the most OP character in Marvel, but he has an adversary named Void who follows him everywhere.

So, popular Marvel characters will meet the most powerful being to date and then the scariest foe imaginable.

Marvel has held high hopes for Thunderbolts for 5+ years now. Of course, the same statement was true of Eternals.

As such, I’m highly optimistic, but Disney’s in wait-and-see mode.

Should Captain America and Thunderbolts both succeed after Deadpool 3 dominates, NOBODY will be complaining about the MCU anymore.

Elio – June 13^th, 2025

The current plan calls for Pixar to release three movies every two years. But we’ll only get one in 2025.

Elio was originally supposed to come out this month, but Pixar delayed the project for a year.

Rumors abound that it’s been a challenging production filled with an unusual number of setbacks for a Disney title.

Still, the concept sounds brilliant as an elevator pitch.

Aliens mistake a boy for Earth’s ambassador and expect him to speak for his planet. The trailer is utterly charming:

Since everyone loves Inside Out 2, Pixar has restored faith in the brand.

So, Elio should perform quite well, as long as reviews are solid.

The Fantastic Four – July 25^th, 2025

Marvel’s new plan calls for no more than two Disney+ series and three movies in the same calendar year.

All three 2025 films will arrive by the start of August next year, and there’s cause for optimism with each one.

With The Fantastic Four, Marvel has stacked the deck by casting the Mandalorian, Pedro Pascal, as Reed Richards.

Joining him are Vanessa Kirby from the Fast & Furious franchise, Joseph Quinn from season four of Stranger Things, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach of Hulu’s The Bear.

That’s a strong assemblage of talent for Disney’s first crack at The Fantastic Four, an already-established movie brand.

Presuming that the MCU is back on track by then, The Fantastic Four should be Disney’s third successful Marvel film by next July.

You could argue that’s more than the studio had from 2020-2023!

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