D23 Roundup, Reaction, and Recap

D23 Roundup, Reaction, and Recap

D23, Disney's expo, has come and gone again, and with it, have come some huge announcements and splashes. I'm going to breakdown all the major ones, and give my overall thoughts on each one. I myself was not in attendance, but I have covered the event during the weekend.

Star Wars - or Lack Thereof

We all know Han Solo s a huge mess right now. That's undeniable. But still, we were hoping for something, anything at this year's D23 about it, as well as some Last Jedi reveals and maybe a trailer. Instead, we got nothing on the Han Solo movie, and a behind-the-scenes featurette from The Last Jedi. While it was nice to see the cast of Episode 8 gather onstage, we've seen this before at Star Wars Celebration, and there was absolutely nothing to it; just the cast on stage with Rian Johnson. While disappointing, but understandably so, it would have been nice if Ron Howard had come on stage and said a couple words letting us know that Han Solo is on track.

The Triumphant Return of Jon Favreau

After D23 2015, everyone hailed Jon Favreau as the king of D23, after he showed off the first footage of The Jungle Book After seeing the film in all of its splendor, everyon was amazed at what computer animation could do at such a high level. When it was announced that he would be directing a "live-action" adaptation of the Lion King, people lost their minds. A couple, because they were outraged that anyone was remaking that film, but others excited becuse they had seen what Favreau could do. And then, he showed the opening scene of The Lion King, on Pride Rock, with Rakiki holding up Simba, and the crowd went nuts. It seems that Favreau has done it again with the beloved tale, and we can't wait to see the first trailer, which he confirmed will come around this Christmas. 

Marvel in its Full Glory

Marvel, unlike Star Wars it felt, was at D23, and they were at D23 in a huge way. Disregarding Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther because they knew they'd have time to promote those at Comic-Con, they went straight to infinity war They had, unveiled for the first time, Thanos' Black Order, which all looked incredible.  But they weren't pulling their punches,  as Scarlet Witch would say,. Kevin Feige took to the stage and unveiled the Marvel Studios 10 year anniversary logo, which was essentially the same thing except with a 10 instead of the I and the O. Then, he brought out Thanos himself, Josh Brolin. But then, it gets betters, he brought out all of these people: Sebastian Stan, Dave Bautistaa, Karen Gillian, Pom Klementieff, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Tom Holland, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bethany, Don Cheadle, and Anthony Mackie. All of them, on the satage at once. And then they debuted the first footage from the film, which showed Thanos wrecking the Avengers. And fans said that it looked incredible. 

Toy Story 4? Frozen 2?

Disney took to the stage to announce the continued development of two announced sequels in beloved franchises. Yet the question arose; did we really need these sequels? Frozen 2 is very much understandable as the first Frozen made Disney a ton of money that year and was open-ended enough to warrant a sequel. But still, the story was contained enough without too much setup that people wondered why we were getting another. And then there was Toy Story 4. Lassiter, the director of the first two and one of the heads at Pixar, announced that Josh Cooley, who was going to co-direct with Lasseter, is now going to direct solo on the new feature film. I think, personally, that this is one of the most outrageous and unnecessary sequels that have ever been announced. Toy Story 3 ended on such a perfect note, and regardless of what Lasseter says about "needing to tell a story", this was not warranted at all. Move on Pixar. I would be less doubtful if Lasseter had been only making good movies. But. He made Cars 2, and he defended that film to this day. That puts up warning signs. 

Incredilbes II!

Jumping off of the unnecessary sequels train, this is a sequel that is almost coming too late, if anything. Brad Bird is returning, as well as most of the cast to voice their original roles, including Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, and Samuel L. Jackson. The first bit of footage shown at D23 showed Jack-Jack, the infant of the Parr family, fighting with a Raccoon while Mr. Incredible sleeps at home. Bird also confirmed that Edna Mode would be backed, voiced by himself, while also saying that this film will pick up right where the first one ended.

Wreck-it Ralph 2

I thought this one deserved its own little paragraph because of how much I enjoyed the first one, and because of how much buzz was coming out of D23 regarding the second one. The sequel, titled Wreck-it Ralph: Ralph Breaks the Internet, will see John C. Reilly's character go into the web. From reactions at D23, we know that he's going to go to a Disney website where he meets the Disney princesses, and none other than C3PO himself, This looks like a slam dunk already for Disney, and much like The Incredibles II, it's a shame that this didn't come much earlier. 

Coco and Other Pixar Projects

Pixar still does have one other film coming out this year, and that's Coco. Attendees and press said that the footage looked spectacular and can't wait to see the film. They also said that there was another Pixar project being worked on that is untitled to this point, but will have something to do with planes and space perhaps. Sounds intriguing.

A Wrinkle in Time and Mary Poppins

Finally, to round out the eventful weekend, we have these two films. A Wrinkle In Time debuted its first trailer at D23 and onto the internet, and it looks great. While it didn't quite blow me away as some other Disney trailers, it looked good with Chris Pine, Oprah Winfrey, and more. Mary Poppins Returns was also a presence at the con as they showed off some footage and brought out Emily Blunt, who will be playing the lead role. All great news.