UPDATED: May 12, 2025
The upcoming slate of Walt Disney Pictures titles will bring a lot of familiarity, with a live-action Lilo & Stitch as well as new, animated, chapters in the Frozen, Toy Story and Zootopia-verses. Searchlight Pictures is also producing The Roses, director Jay Roach and writer Tony McNamara’s reimagining of the Michael Douglas-Kathleen Turner divorce comedy The War of the Roses (Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman star).
But there are also titles like the Pixar Animation Studios animated film Elio and Searchlight Pictures’ Joel Kim Booster wedding-themed comedy Again Again Again.
Below, we’ve gathered details for some of the Disney and Disney-associated films that are expected to hit in the next few years. We’ll add to this list as more information becomes available, especially in regard to the speculation Pixar Animation Studios movies still waiting release dates.
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Below, you’ll find the Disney-produced projects that have locked release dates – for now. Expect some of the dates to shift as announcements are made. We’ll keep this list updated so you’re always on top of what’s coming up. We’ve also noted which of these are 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures releases.
Lilo & Stitch
(2025)
Release Date: May 23, 2025
Director: Dean Fleischer-Camp
Starring: Maia Kealoha, Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Billy Magnussen, Tia Carrere, Hannah Waddingham, Chris Sanders, with Courtney B. Vance, Zach Galifianakis
After languishing in various stages of development, it was announced in 2022 that Marcel the Shell with Shoes On director Dean Fleischer-Camp would helm this live-action take on the animated musical about a Hawaiian orphan and her newfound best friend: an alien who crash-landed on the island. The film will be released with a cast that includes Kealoha as Lilo Pelekai and Lilo & Stitch creator Sanders as the voice of Stitch. Other cast members include Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Kaipot Dudoit, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Tia Carrere and Courtney B. Vance.
Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) (20th Century Studios)
Release Date: June 6, 2025
Director: Dan Trachtenberg, Micho Robert Rutare
Starring: Lindsay LaVanchy, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Rick Gonzalez and Michael Biehn
This animated film, which ties into Trachtenberg’s upcoming live-action <I>Predator: Badlands</i>, will be released on Hulu and Disney+.
Elio
(2025)
(Pixar)
Release Date: June 20, 2025
Director: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldaña, Remy Edgerly, Brad Garrett, Jameela Jamil, Shirley Henderson
This Pixar Animation Studios movie is about an 11-year-old boy who doesn’t fit in at home. By accident, he ends up traveling through space to become some aliens’ ambassador for Earth.
Freakier Friday (2025)
Release Date: August 8, 2025
Director: Nisha Ganatra
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan
The sequel that everyone kept asking for sees Curtis and Lohan reprising their (albeit older and maybe wiser now) roles as mother-daughter body switchers. Lohan’s character now also has her own snarky daughter as well as a soon-to-be stepdaughter. What could possibly happen?
The Roses (2025) (Searchlight Pictures)]
Release Date: August 29, 2025
Director: Jay Roach
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman
Deadline reports that this film, a reimagining of the Michael Douglas-Kathleen Turner marriage comedy The War of the Roses, looks at how little it takes for a “façade of the perfect family” to implode once the husband’s “professional dreams come crashing down.”
TRON: Ares
(2025)
(20th Century Studios)
Release Date: October 10, 2025
Director: Joachim Rønning
Starring: Jared Leto
Per Walt Disney Pictures, the film follows “a highly sophisticated program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings.”
Predator: Badlands (2025) (20th Century Studios)
Release Date: November 7, 2025
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Starring: Elle Fanning
“It’s titled Badlands and it is an absolutely bonkers idea. It is a sci-fi thing, but it’s not what everybody thinks it is. And I mean, it’s awesome. It is so nuts. But in Dan, we trust,” 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell cryptically told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2024 before revealing that Trachtenberg has also filmed another Predator movie that will come out before this one. (That one turned out to be the animated film Predator: Killer of Killers).
Release Date: November 26, 2025
Director: Jared Bush
Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman
Goodwin returns to voice rabbit Judy Hopps and Bateman returns to voice fox Nick Wilde. Ke Huy Quan joins the cast as Gary the snake.
Release Date: December 12, 2025
Director: James L. Brooks
Starring: Emma Mackey
Sex Education alum Mackey stars as a young politico hoping for a work-life balance when she becomes governor of her state. Woody Harrelson, Ayo Edebiri, Kumail Nanjiani, Jack Lowden, Rebecca Hall, Jamie Lee Curtis and Albert Brooks also star.
Avatar: Fire and Ash
(2025)
(20th Century Studios)
Release Date: December 19, 2025
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, CCH Pounder, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis, Oona Chaplin
The third chapter in James Cameron’s epic space-nature adventure continues to follow Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and their family as they navigate Pandora and attempt to elude Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and his military forces.
Swiped (Hulu)
Release Date: TBD 2025
Director: Rachel Lee Goldenberg
Starring: Lily James
James stars as Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd in this biopic directed by Unpregnant’s Goldenberg. Set to air on Hulu in 2025, the cast also includes Ben Schnetzer, Ian Colletti, Mary Neely, Ana Yi Puig, Aidan Laprete, Pedro Correa, Coral Peña and Hunter Sansone.
Send Help (20th Century Studios)
Release Date: January 30, 2026
Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien
When announcing O’Brien’s casting in January 2025, Deadline described the film as “a survival horror thriller about two colleagues who become stranded on a deserted island, the only survivors of a plane crash. On the island, they must overcome past grievances and work together to survive, but ultimately, it’s a battle of wills and wits to make it out alive.”
Hoppers (Pixar Animation Studios)
Release Date: March 6, 2026
Director: Daniel Chong
Starring: Piper Curda, Jon Hamm, Bobby Moynihan
Announced at the August 2024 D23 Expo, the film focuses on a girl who can transfer her mind into a robot beaver with the intention of going undercover in the animal kingdom. She soon befriends a “regal beaver” played by Moynihan. With the other animals, they band to fend off the plans of a greedy mayor voiced by Hamm.
The Mandalorian & Grogu (Lucasfilm)
Release Date: May 22, 2026
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White, Jonny Coyne
Originally conceived as the fourth season of the Disney+ TV show The Mandalorian, writers Favreau and Dave Filoni adapted the story into a film after the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes delayed production schedules.
Toy Story 5 (Pixar Animation Studios)
Release Date: June 19, 2026
Director: Andrew Stanton, McKenna Jean Harris
Starring: TBD
The toys face their scariest foe yet … technology.
Live-Action Moana
Release Date: July 10, 2026
Director: Thomas Kail
Starring: Dwayne Johnson
This is a live-action take on the 2016 blockbuster about a Polynesian princess who (reluctantly) teams with the demigod-with-a-God-complex Maui on a mission to save her people. Johnson is welcomed back to play Maui and Hamilton director Thomas Kail will helm this film. Catherine Laga’aia replaces Auli’i Cravalho in the titular role.
Most of the Ice Age regulars are back to heat up the franchise’s sixth installment.
Star Wars: Starfighter (Lucasfilm)
Release Date: May 28, 2027
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Ryan Gosling
Details are still TBD.
Frozen III
Release Date: November 24, 2027
Director: TBD
Starring: TBD
Disney’s not letting go of the blockbuster franchise about two royal sisters, one blessed with magical powers and one not so much, who must routinely find ways to save their village. Details are still scarce, but Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer Jennifer Lee shared concept art at the August 2024 D23 Expo that she said “captures the seeds of their next epic adventure.”
A fourth Frozen film is also said to be in the works.
Bluey: The Movie
Release Date: TBD 2027
Director: Joe Brumm
Starring: Melanie Zanetti, David McCormack
It was inevitable. The TV show about a family of Australian blue heelers who are loved by both kids and kids at heart is going to Hollywood. A feature-length Bluey film is in the works with creator Brumm directing. It will also feature voice talent from the show such as Melanie Zanetti (who voices Bluey’s mum, Chili) and David McCormack (who voices Bluey’s dad, Bandit).
Avatar 4 (20th Century Studios)
Release Date: December 21, 2029
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana
Details are still TBD.
Coco 2 (Pixar Animation Studios)
Release Date: TBD 2029
Director: Lee Unkrich
Starring: TBD
Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger announced the news in March 2025 during the annual meeting of shareholders, saying then that “while the film is just in the initial stages, we know it will be full of humor, heart and adventure.”
Avatar 5 (20th Century Studios)
Release Date: December 19, 2031
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana
Details are still TBD.
Below are projects that have been announced, are in some state of development – we define “stalled” as a state of development – and whose dates we’re still awaiting.
For more info on upcoming Marvel films without release dates, check our our full list of upcoming Marvel movies.
9 to 5 Remake (20th Century Studios)
Director: TBD
Starring: TBD
What a way to make a livin’. Variety reported in 2024 that Jennifer Aniston’s Echo Films was producing a remake of the 1980 office satire that starred Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton.
29 Dates
Director: Richard Wong
Starring: TBD
This young adult rom-com, which is based on the Melissa de la Cruz novel, will appear on Disney+. While no cast or writer has been announced, we know that this story centers on a 16-year-old Korean exchange student who meets a host of eligible bachelors from around the globe. It has been compared to author Jenny Han’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series.
Again Again Again (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: TBD
Starring: Joel Kim Booster
Deadline reported in 2024 that Fire Island’s Booster wrote this script, which is about a man of honor whose attempts to keep his best friend’s wedding on track go off the rails when his boyfriend shows up and causes drama.
Aladdin Spin-Off
Director: TBD
Starring: Billy Magnussen
The Hollywood Reporter reported in 2019 that Disney had hired Jordan Dunn and Michael Kvamme to write a spin-off of its live-action version of Aladdin that would focus on Magnussen’s smarmy Prince Anders. Magnussen will reprise his role in the film. He told Entertainment Tonight in 2024 that the project was still happening, but was pushed due to delays from the COVID-19 shutdown and SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.
Alvin Ailey Biopic (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Barry Jenkins
Starring: TBD
Deadline reported in 2019 that Moonlight director Jenkins was developing an as-yet-to-be-titled biopic about the famed choreographer.
Live-Action The Aristocats
Director: Questlove
Starring: TBD
Not to be confused with the Paul Provenza comedy documentary The Aristocrats, this film will be a live-action reimagining of the 1970 film about Parisian cats who suddenly learn they have inherited a fortune from their owner. Deadline reported in 2022 that Will Gluck and Keith Bunin were writing the script.
(Photo by Walt Disney Pictures)
Live-Action Bambi
Director: TBD
Starring: TBD
Although long in the works, the film lost director Sarah Polley in 2024. It’s also already seen backfire from conservatives who bristled when one of its screenwriters, Lindsey Anderson Beer, suggested today’s kids haven’t seen the film as much as previous generations because [spoiler] it showed Bambi’s mom’s death and that her take “did give a little bit more of a scope to it.”
The Barrier (20th Century Studios)
Director: Edward Berger
Starring: Austin Butler
It was announced in 2024 that All Quiet on the Western Front’s Berger would direct, and that Butler would star in, this film based on a MacMillan Hedges short story. The plot is being kept under wraps, but Deadline reports that it is described as “Interstellar meets Top Gun.”
Beach Read (20th Century Studios)
Director: Yulin Kuang
Starring: TBD
Based on Emily Henry’s best-selling novel, this rom-com follows two authors who agree to swap aesthetics (she to write the Great American Novel; him to write a book with a perfect happy ending) and end up falling in love.
Bomb (20th Century Studios)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: TBD
Deadline reported in 2023 that there was an explosion of offers for this project, which is based on Kevin McMullin’s short story about a hostage negotiator who gets called into work the night before his wedding.
Buster Keaton Biopic (20th Century Studios)
Director: James Mangold
Starring: TBD
Deadline reported in 2022 that Mangold was developing a film based on Marion Meade’s book, Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase. However, Deadline then reported in 2023 that Warner Bros. TV was making a biographical series with Rami Malek set to star as the silent film star.
The Caves of Steel (20th Century Studios)
Director: John Ridley
Starring: TBD
Deadline reported in January 2025 that the 12 Years a Slave Oscar winner had also co-written the latest adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s 1954 sci-fi novel with Luke Cage’s Cheo Hodari Coker. Set in a future where the last living humans dwell in cave cities, the plot follows a human and a humanoid robot who partner to solve a high-profile murder.
Club 33
Director: TBD
Starring: TBD
Can’t get a reservation at Disneyland’s exclusive restaurant? Buy a movie ticket. The Hollywood Reproter reported in 2024 that Shawn Levy, Dan Levine and Dan Cohen’s 21 Laps Entertainment was developing a story set at the club that was in the vein of whodunnit comedies like Clue (apropos, as frequent 21 Laps collaborator Ryan Reynolds may have lost his chance to star in a remake of that Tim Curry classic).
Cruella 2
Director: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Emma Stone
Soon after the 2021 release of Disney’s villain origin story, Cruella, news broke that a sequel was in early development. Variety reported at the time that director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Tony McNamara were expected to return. A couple months later, Deadline confirmed that Emma Stone had a deal to be in the second film.
Stone told Variety in 2024 that the project is a “work in progress” and that it will come together “hopefully sooner rather than later.”
The Devil in the White City (20th Century Studios)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio
Appropriately, given its title, this is a project stuck in development hell. In 2010, DiCaprio bought the rights to Erik Larson’s book about the overlapping lives of serial killer H. H. Holmes and World’s Fair architect Daniel Burnham in 1890s Chicago. Several adaptations, including a TV series for Hulu starring Keanu Reeves, were workshopped. In January 2025, 20th Century Studios announced its plans to adapt with Scorsese and DiCaprio still involved.
The Dog Stars (20th Century Studios)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Jacob Elordi
Based on a Peter Heller novel, this post-apocalyptic thriller is about the survivors of a flu virus that wiped out most of humanity. Gladiator II star Paul Mescal was supposed to star in this film, but Variety reported in 2025 that he ha to drop out due to a scheduling conflict.
DNA (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Jorma Taccone
Starring: Ben Schwartz, Sam Rockwell
Schwartz also wrote the script for this comedy, which he sold to Searchlight in 2020, reports Deadline.
Enemy Mine (20th Century Studios)
Director: TBD
Starring: TBD
Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas would be giving an update to this 1985 cult sci-fi film, The Hollywood Reporter noted in June 2024. The first film starred Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr. as a human and an alien who crash-land together on a desolate planet. Oh, and also their species hate each other.
Flight of the Navigator
Director: Bryce Dallas Howard
Starring: TBD
Actor-director Howard is remaking the 1986 sci-fi adventure movie for Disney+, switching the lead from a 12-year-old boy who goes missing and reappears eight years later to a female character. A release date is still unknown. Howard told the Los Angeles Times in 2022 that “there’s not a script yet.”
Untitled The Fly Film (20th Century Studios)
Director: Nikyatu Jusu
Starring: TBD
Rising horror power-player Jusu (Nanny; a Night Of The Living Dead sequel) will write and direct this project based on the world created in David Cronenberg’s body horror classic, according to Deadline. A plot and casting are still TBD.
Free Guy 2
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Ryan Reynolds
Star Reynolds Tweeted soon after Free Guy’s summer 2021 premiere that Disney would be interested in doing a second film. What that film would look is still TBD, as returning director Levy told Collider in 2023 that the script was being retooled because it was too similar to box office smash Barbie. He further sunk the idea in a 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter where he said “we’ve worked for two years on ideas and scripts” and that “I’m less certain now … [W]e’re really proud of the movie and we don’t need to make sequels. If we don’t crack a story that feels very worth making, we’d rather just make a different movie.”
Deliver Me from Nowhere (20th Century Studios)
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White
The Bear star will play Bruce Springsteen in this biographical film about the making of the musician’s Nebraska album. Odessa Young and Paul Walter Hauser also star.
Eenie Meanie (20th Century Studios)
Director: Shawn Simmons
Starring: Samara Weaving, Karl Glusman
Written and directed by Simmons, this heist film stars Weaving as (according to Deadline) “a former teenage getaway driver who is dragged back into her unsavory past when a former employer offers her a chance to save the life of her chronically unreliable ex-boyfriend.”
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Remake (20th Century Studios)
Director: Michelle Garza Cervera
Starring: Maika Monroe, Raúl Castillo, Martin Starr, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
A re-imagining of the 1992 psychological thriller about obsession, revenge and parenting.
In the Blink of an Eye (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Kate McKinnon, Rashida Jones, Daveed Diggs
This sci-fi drama that interconnects three stories exploring the history of the world is said to be premiering soon on Hulu.
Incredibles 3 (Pixar Animation Studios)
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter
The third film in the franchise was announced at the August 2024 D23 Expo.
Is This Thing On? (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Bradley Cooper
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett
Deadline reported in 2023 that long-time friends Cooper and Arnett would star in this film. Details are being kept under wraps, but it’s known that Arnett also co-wrote the script with Mark Chappell. Sean Hayes joined the cast in 2024.
Live-Action Hercules
Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: TBD
It was first announced in 2020 with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings writer Dave Callaham handling the script and Avengers filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo producing.
Joe Russo told Variety in 2022 that this film will be “a little bit more experimental in tone, a little bit more experimental in execution.”
Ritchie, who directed 2019’s live-action take on Aladdin, is reportedly still helming this project, although rumors circulated in early 2024 that he’d left the film. As of April 2024, the producers said they were “still waiting on a script.”
Lunik Heist (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Kemp Powers
Starring: Jared Leto, John Mulaney, Lupita Nyong’o
The script, based on an MIT Technology Review, “is inspired by the true story of the American government’s plot to steal a Soviet spacecraft during a 1959 expo in Mexico City,” reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Untitled Majorettes Movie (20th Century Studios)
Director: TBD
Starring: H.E.R.
Deadline reported in 2024 that musician H.E.R. was re-teaming with The Color Purple producers Harpo Films and Scott Sanders Productions on this dance movie about an introvert ballerina who joins a dance squad at a HBCU. Lauren Ashley Smith (A Black Lady Sketch Show) was writing the script.
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice (20th Century Studios)
Director: BenDavid Grabinski
Starring: Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza González, Jimmy Tatro
Grabinski writes and directs this action-fueled buddy comedy.
Monster Jam
Director: TBD
Starring: TBD
A live-action film set in the world of the world of motorsports, Dwayne Johnson announced the project, and his involvement in it, at the August 2024 D23 Expo (although what exactly that involvement is is still TBD).
“I’m a pickup truck man. I love motor sports. I love monster trucks. And I thought we had an opportunity here to create something interactive and fun and live action from the POV of these monsters trucks and their eccentric and crazy drivers,” Johnson said at the D23 announcement.
O’Dessa (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Geremy Jasper
Starring: Sadie Sink
Jasper wrote and directed the rock opera, which stars Stranger Things breakout Sink as a small-town girl hoping to recover a cherished family heirloom. Kelly Macdonald, Mark Boone Junior, Regina Hall, Murray Bartlett and Kelvin Harrison Jr. also star.
Perfect (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Olivia Wilde
Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Mckenna Grace
Wilde is set to direct the biopic about Kerri Strug, the Olympic gold medalist who famously fought a painful injury to bring her team to victory. However, she told Variety in 2022 that she was pushing back the start of production to concentrate on her children.
Prince Charming
Director: Paul King
Starring: TBD
What happened before the meet-cute that resulted in the the happily ever after? Paddington’s King, Simon Barnaby and Jon Croker are co-writing the story that tells Prince Charming’s side of things, reporters Variety.
The Princess Diaries 3
Director: Adele Lim
Starring: Anne Hathaway
In October 2024, Hathaway confirmed via Instagram that she would be going “back to Genovia” and that the “fairy tale continues.”
Ready or Not Sequel (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: TBD
Starring: Samara Weaving
Weaving is back for more wedding night jitters for this follow-up to the 2019 black comedy about a bride who finds that her new husband’s family has some weird marriage traditions.
Rental Family (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Hikari
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Mari Yamamoto, Takehiro Hira, Akira Emoto
According to Variety, the film follows a “down-and-out actor living in Tokyo who is hired as a token American guy for a Japanese rental family company providing professional stand-in services.”
The Return of the Rocketeer (Disney+)
Director: TBD
Starring: David Oyelowo
After some false starts, a live-action remake of the 1991 film The Rocketeer is in the works with David Oyelowo on board as an executive producer and lead. The Wrap reported in 2023 that Sylvie’s Love filmmaker Eugene Ashe would write the script. The film would air on Disney+.
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion Sequel (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Tim Federle
Starring: Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow
Grab the Post-its and your best business woman attire. The Hollywood Reporter announced in 2025 that Sorvino and Kudrow were in final talks to return for a sequel to this pop culture favorite.
Shrunk
Director: Joe Johnston
Starring: Rick Moranis, Josh Gad
A follow-up to the Honey, I Shrunk The Kids franchise familiar to late Gen Xers and older Millennials, the film will focus on Gad’s Nick Szalinski — son of Moranis’ Wayne from the original film series — who continues with his dad’s size-changing experiments. It will air on Disney+, although “when” is still a big TBD.
Gad Tweeted in 2023 that “a lot of u ask me what’s going on with this film. Truth is, we were inches from starting and then COVID hit, inches from starting again & then my schedule exploded with conflicts, inches from starting again & budget got the best of us. If you want it, let your local @disney know.”
(Photo by 20th Century Fox Films)
The Simpsons Movie 2 (20th Century Studios)
Director: TBD
Starring: TBD
Comic Book Guy — and other Simpsons characters who care about details — would like you to know that the long-awaited second Simpsons movie is a standalone film and not a sequel. At least, that was the word from series producer Al Jean when he was asked about it in 2020.
Jean told ComicBook.com in 2024 that “there’s talk and I think something will happen” and that “it’s tough for the entire animation business right now to know what the best path is. I think we want to see how the animated films do this summer.”
Sister Act 3
Director: TBD
Starring: Whoopi Goldberg
Regina Y. Hicks and Karin Gist have been tapped to write the script for the latest installment in the franchise and Goldberg has stated that she is involved. In 2024, the star reiterated her desire for her costar in 1993’s Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Sheryl Lee Ralph, to appear in the movie. It will air on Disney+.
Spooked
Director: Peter Foott
Starring: TBD
News came in 2020 that Irish filmmaker Foott was developing a Disney+ supernatural comedy that The Hollywood Reporter says “involves a Halloween night gone awry as trick or treaters are transformed into whatever costume they are wearing.”
Star Wars: New Jedi Order (Lucasfilm)
Director: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Starring: Daisy Ridley
When breaking news that Ocean’s 12 writer George Nolfi would be writing the script, The Hollywood Reporter noted that the plot take place 15 years after the events seen in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, with Ridley’s character now a mentor to a new crop of Jedis.”
Starlight (20th Century Studios)
Director: Joe Cornish
Starring: TBD
Attack the Block’s Joe Cornish is adapting Mark Millar’s comic. According to Deadline, which broke the news, it “centers on a space hero who saved the universe 35 years ago but when he came back to Earth, no one believed his fantastic stories. He married, had kids and settled into old age, but then his old rocket ship shows up, and he is called back for one fantastic adventure.”
Street Justice (20th Century Studios)
Director: Peter Atencio
Starring: Will Ferrell
Keanu director Atencio is directing this film based on a script from Dave Callaham about “a character who decides to deliver his own brand of justice,” reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Three Men and a Baby
Director: Mo Marable
Starring: Zac Efron
High School Musical alum Efron will, presumably, be one of the three men (and not the baby) in this remake of the 1980s film about a trio of guys out of their element when one of them unexpectedly becomes a father. Marable is directing, according to Deadline. Disney had planned for the film to be released in 2022 on Disney+.
Tender is the Night (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Soo Hugh
Starring: TBD
Variety reported in August 2024 that Pachinko creator Hugh would write and direct this adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel.
Test Drive (20th Century Studios)
Director: TBD
Starring: TBD
Dexter: Resurrection writer Matt Venne sold this original action thriller script in November 2024, according to Deadline.
Tower of Terror
Director: Taika Waititi
Starring: Scarlett Johansson
Another project based on a popular Disney attraction, Black Widow’s Johansson will produce and star in this film according to Collider. Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley will write the script and Waititi is rumored to direct. The project was delayed during Johansson’s lawsuit with Disney over the release of her film, Black Widow and then, again, in 2023, due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. And, as Screenrant points out, her involvement in Jurassic Park 4 will only further push production on this film.
Treasure Island Remake
Director: TBD
Starring: TBD
The Peanut Butter Falcon’s Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz are writing the script. Schwartz told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2024 that “It’s an Australian surfer version of Treasure Island, and if they [Disney] ever make it, it would be so fun. It has the vibes that we do, and there’s found family, brotherhood, drama and outsider energy.”
Whalefall (20th Century Studios)
Director: Brian Duffield
Starring: TBD
Deadline reported in March 2024 that Duffield would direct this adaptation of the popular Daniel Kraus novel. The two are co-writing the script, which Deadline says is “described as The Martian meets 127 Hours. The book is about a scuba diver in search of his deceased father’s remains who gets swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. After giving up on life, the young man is surprised to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.”
Wild Horse Nine (Searchlight Pictures)
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: John Malkovich, Mark Ruffalo and Sam Rockwell
Deadline reported in February 2025 that Malkovich and Ruffalo were joining the project, which already reunited Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri writer-director McDonagh with that film’s best supporting actor Oscar winner, Sam Rockwell.
Working Girl (20th Century Studios)
Director: TBD
Starring: TBD
Let the river run wild with this one. Selena Gomez is said to be aiding in the adaptation of the 1980s Melanie Griffith film Working Girl — a story of a Manhattan receptionist from Staten Island who should never have been underestimated. Diary of a Future President creator Ilana Pena is writing the new screenplay and Gomez is producing. It’s still unclear as to whether the Only Murders in the Building actress will star in the film.
Thumbnail image: Walt Disney Studios
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Those who’ve not had the chance to see groundbreaking ballerina Misty Copeland dance in person will be treated to the next best thing this month, as the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) principal makes her big-screen non-documentary debut in Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Copeland, the first African American dancer to be made a principal in the ABT’s almost 80-year history, plays the “ballerina princess” in the film, and is said to dazzle in one of the movie’s centerpiece moments.
Nutcracker feels like an appropriate introduction to Copeland for movie audiences. The ballerina has been performing in Marius Petipa’s The Nutcracker Ballet, which the film adapts, since she began dancing in her early teens. Her first time performing the ballet, she played the young princess Clara, who is played by McKenzie Foy in the new film; Copeland’s been performing the ballet most of her career, most recently last year in an ABT production choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky. Her incredible rise in the world of ballet is charted in the Fresh documentary, A Ballerina’s Tale.
Ahead of the release of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Copeland shared with Rotten Tomatoes her favorite films set in the world of dance.
I felt like it was the first dance film that accurately captured the essence of the relationships amongst the dancers, composer, director, and choreographer. I’ve seen it in the theater many times during special showings. It never gets old for me.
It’s everything! This film also captures an exciting time in American classical ballet. It’s like it’s frozen in time, this magical period in the late ’70s and early ’80s when ballet dancers were rock stars. I loved it even more later in life because, once I moved to New York, I ended up living with Isabel Brown, whose life the story it’s loosely based on. Her daughter, Leslie, stars in the movie opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Whooo! Where to start? I’ve watched it so many times. Until that movie, which I saw before even my teen years, I hadn’t seen a film that showed such raw passion connected with dance. It was sexy and showed that dance had the ability to translate into so many expressions.
It was like watching a documentary but it wasn’t. There’s a scene with Lar Lubovitch, who I ended up working with as a professional, where he’s choreographing a piece on Neve Campbell. It seemed they just let the cameras roll; it was so real. It was like being in the studio and watching them rehearse. It was a window into the life of a dancer.
I feel like Black Swan was the ultimate drama. In ballet, the stories are not realistic. The stories are larger than life. It was like seeing a ballet come to life on the big screen through the extremes of the characters in the film.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms opens in theaters everywhere Friday November 2.
This week’s Ketchup brings you another ten headlines from the world of film development news (those stories about what movies Hollywood is working on for you next). Included in the mix this time around are stories about such titles as Frankenstein, Pokemon, Wonder Woman, and the eighth movie in the Saw franchise.
This week’s biggest story in film development news is actually a continuation of something that started in April. At that time, the idea of Legendary Entertainment getting close to acquiring the live-action Pokemon rights could have been interpreted as Legendary looking for their next video game adaptation following the (presumed) success of Warcraft. Warcraft had a huge opening in China, and has earned $430 million globally (enough for Warcraft to make in the top 10 for the year, thus far), but it was also a flop critically, and in the USA. However, one week sure can change things. The “augmented reality” game Pokemon Go launched just nine days ago (7/6/16), but within a week, the game had almost as many daily active users as Twitter (!). Nintendo’s stock price subsequently jumped up 25%, (seemingly), instantly increasing the company’s value by an additional $9 billion. So, Hollywood is very much now interested in a live action Pokemon reboot, and Legendary Pictures is looking like they were ahead of the curve, considering that their talks started three months before Pokemon Go even launched. The other two studios that had been vying for the Pokemon rights were Warner Bros and Sony Pictures, but it looks like Legendary is very close to sealing the deal. It’s still unclear what approach the live-action Pokemon remake might take, but loosely, there seem like two main options: Legendary could stick closely to the traditional Pokemon lore, or they could go with a direct adaptation of Pokemon Go, perhaps following people hunting for Pokemon in the real world. If the rumors are true, the screenwriter who might have the job of figuring it out is Max Landis (American Ultra, Victor Frankenstein), whose only Fresh Tomatometer score thus far was for Chronicle.
Most of the attention on future Steven Spielberg movies this year has been on his adaptation of Ready Player One. However, the prolific director is rarely working on just “one movie” at any given time. Right now, another impending project is an adaptation of the bestselling non-fiction book The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David Kertzer, which relays the true story of a Jewish child (born in Italy) who was seized by the Catholic Church in the mid-19th century, then converted to Catholicism and went on to become a priest. The central figure on the church side of the controversy will be Pope Pius IX, who will be played by Mark Rylance, marking his fourth Spielberg film in a row (after Bridge of Spies, The BFG, and Ready Player One). It is as yet unknown what role Oscar Isaac (who is now in talks) will be playing, but since some sources have pointed to him as “the lead,” the obvious answer would be Edgardo Mortara himself. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara is expected to start filming in early 2017 — Ready Player One is scheduled for release on March 30, 2018, so the earliest possible release window for TKoEM is probably late 2018, AKA “awards season.”
We’ve known for a few years now that Universal Pictures wants to build a new “cinematic universe” around reboots of their Universal Monsters. The first of these will be another reboot of The Mummy, set in the present day (to be released next summer, on June 9, 2017); its titular monster will be female this time, played by Kingsman: The Secret Service costar Sofia Boutella, and this week, the Internet was deluged by nearly 100 images of Boutella in “Mummy” costumes from filming on location. The non-Mummy star of that movie will be Tom Cruise, and recent months have brought news of other A-list stars who will costar. Russell Crowe will play a character similar to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Johnny Depp will star in The Invisible Man in early 2018. As noted in this article, Universal Pictures seems to be focusing on casting actors in their 50s. Javier Bardem (Skyfall, No Country for Old Men) isn’t quite 50 yet, but he’s close (his 50th birthday will be on March 1st, 2019), and this week we learned that he is now in talks with Universal Pictures to star in their new monster movies as Frankenstein. Specifically, Bardem is not up for the role Frankenstein himself, but rather the monster that Dr. Victor Frankenstein creates. There have been rumors that Angelina Jolie will star in a Bride of Frankenstein movie, and this news fits right in with that, because Bardem is not expected to debut in a Frankenstein movie, but one of the earlier UMCU (Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe) movies. The Mummy is nearly done filming, so it probably won’t be that film, but the next possibility might be The Invisible Man (TBA 2018). Russell Crowe’s Jekyll/Hyde-like character is also expected to appear in other UCMU movies before receiving his own feature.
One of the many films that Walt Disney Pictures is adapting into live action from their classic animated filmography actually comes from one part of a film, the 1940 classic Fantasia. Specifically, we’re talking about The Nutcracker Suite, which was based on the ballet with music written by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Disney’s movie will be called The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, and it will be based on both Tchaikovsky’s ballet as well as the 1816 fairy tale story by E.T.A. Hoffmann called The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, which the ballet was itself based upon. So, since Disney’s new Nutcracker movie is ultimately based on a ballet, this week’s news probably should have been a complete no-brainer. Ballet dancer Misty Copeland took to her Instagram account this week to post an image of the script by Ashleigh Powell (who will be making her feature film debut with The Nutcracker and the Four Realms), confirming that she will star in the adaptation. Copeland is the first cast member we have heard about, but she won’t be the last, as the various versions of The Nutcracker have a lot of characters, including the Nutcracker himself, the Mouse King (and Queen), the Sugar Plum Fairy, and of course, the large family at the center of the entire story. This magical adventure will be directed by Lasse Hallstrom, whose lengthy filmography includes What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Chocolate, The Cider House Rules, and My Life as a Dog. There is no release date officially set for The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, but given the Christmas theme, there is a very, very strong chance that it is the Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action) currently on their schedule for November 2, 2018.
One of the most ambitious non-superhero movies that Hugh Jackman has been attached to star in for several years now (since 2009) is 20th Century Fox’s The Greatest Showman on Earth. As the title suggests, this film (scheduled for 12/25/17) will be a biographical musical drama about the life of 19th century circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum, who, of course, will be played by Jackman (who’s also producing). In recent weeks, we’ve heard about the casting of both Zac Efron (as Barnum’s “right hand man”), and Michelle Williams (as Barnum’s romantic interest). This week, we learned that Fox is hoping to attract a young audience with the news that former Disney star Zendaya is now in talks to play a trapeze artist in Barnum’s circus. The Greatest Showman on Earth will be the feature film directorial debut of Michael Gracey (who is working on an adaptation of the manga/video game Naruto), working from a script by Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3; cowriter of Star Wars: The Force Awakens). 20th Century Fox has scheduled The Greatest Showman on Earth for December 25th, by which point the world will probably be much more familiar with Zendaya, due to her reportedly major role in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 7, 2017).
One can argue lots of other factors at play here, but the facts are plain: Finding Dory is Pixar’s top box office earner to date, and Finding Nemo was no slouch either, now at #4 out of 17 films. One arguable factor in both films was the voice talent of Ellen DeGeneres, without whom Dory wouldn’t really be the Dory that audiences (and critics) have come to love. Knowing a good thing when they have it, Walt Disney Pictures is striving to continue working with Ellen DeGeneres on (at least) one future project, namely an adaptation of the children’s book Castle Hangnail, by author Ursula Vernon, the creator of the Dragonbreath series. The book will be adapted by Bill Kunstler, who is best known for his work as a writer and producer on TV shows like Mom, The Crazy Ones, The War at Home, and Accidentally on Purpose. Castle Hangnail is about a 12-year-old girl who shows up at the title location hoping to fill a vacancy as a “wicked witch,” and to do so, she must accomplish a series of tasks. Ellen DeGeneres is producing Castle Hangnail, and is likely to star in the film, but which character she would play is unknown.
The story of Jesus Christ is often called “the greatest story ever told” for a reason, and Hollywood seems intent on retelling it again and again; this year alone, we’ve already had two movies about Him — Last Days in the Desert (with Ewan McGregor as Jesus) and Risen (with Cliff Curtis as “Yeshua”, AKA Jesus) — and they keep coming. The next project to tackle the tale will focus on His companion, Mary Magdalene. We’ve known for a while now that Rooney Mara (Carol, The Social Network) will star in the film as the title character, with Joaquin Phoenix taking on the role of Christ. This week, we learned that Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) is now in talks to play St. Peter, one of Christ’s 12 apostles. In many films about Jesus Christ, not all of the apostles receive the same amount of attention in the story, but St. Peter (AKA “The Rock”) is usually one of the most central figures. Director Garth Davis, whose debut film is this year’s Lion, expects to start filming Mary Magdalene this summer for the Weinstein Company, who are expecting to release Mary Magdalene sometime in 2017 (possibly around Easter).
Today’s release of the remake of Ghostbusters has brought into the spotlight the social debate over remakes, and whether some older films should or shouldn’t ever be remade, rebooted, regurgitated, etc. One thing to remember is that Hollywood’s been doing it since the “silent era,” and some of our most beloved movies (like say, The Wizard of Oz, The Thing, Scarface, The Magnificent Seven, and The Ten Commandments) were themselves remakes of earlier films. Some pundits make the argument that the best candidates for remakes are films that were either flawed in some way, or that technology has improved to tell certain stories more effectively, or in some cases, that the original is just so obscure or forgotten that most wouldn’t even recognize a remake of it. Option #3 feels the most relevant to this week’s news, because few moviegoers have likely even heard of the 1971 film The Beguiled, starring Clint Eastwood as a wounded Union soldier during the Civil War. Director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette) apparently has, however, because she has written and will direct a remake of The Beguiled. Colin Farrell is now in talks to star as the soldier, who takes refuge at an all-girls boarding school and “cons his way into several lonely women’s hearts.” Farrell is joining a mostly female cast which already includes Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning. There is no filming start date for The Beguiled yet, but if financing can be found, there’s a good chance it will be Sofia Coppola’s next film (after departing the live action non-Disney remake of The Little Mermaid).
When Warner Bros and DC Comics were looking for a director for next summer’s Wonder Woman (6/2/17), it was clear they were looking for a female director. The job ultimately went to Monster director Patty Jenkins, after Breaking Bad producer/director Michelle MacLaren worked on it for a while, but eventually dropped out. Arguments can be made about whether gender identity plays a role in filmmaking, but WB’s efforts to cast a female director suggests they were at least attempting to match it up. That’s why it’s particularly confusing and/or confounding to learn that the official screenwriter credits are for “a screenplay by Allan Heinberg and Geoff Johns, story by Zack Snyder & Allan Heinberg.” In other words, Wonder Woman was written entirely by men. Of course, Wonder Woman was created by a man, and a rather controversial male writer at that, about whom much as been written. That was, however, also in 1941, and one might assume that 75 years later, things might be different. This would also be a good time to note that we are aware of the super relevant (but probably coincidental) timing of this story, which we’re reporting to you on the day that the reboot of Ghostbusters is being released (and all of the gender politics that come with it, from both sides). We’ll just point you to some other articles about this issue, published by The Verge, The Mary Sue, and Romper. What do you think? Should the first ever live action movie about the original female super hero icon have been written by at least one woman?
People like familiar franchises that provide sequels with familiar expectations; we get that. But some franchises fail to transcend their very niche audiences and be embraced, at least on some level. One such franchise is the “torture porn” extravaganza known as the Saw franchise, which critically peaked at 48 percent with the first movie (still Rotten) and whose most recent installment, Saw: The Final Chapter, failed to reach double digits on the Tomatometer. That said, even if it did seem like the Saw franchise was pretty much over, another factor in play was that Lionsgate needed lots and lots of franchises and ongoing ventures after The Hunger Games (and other YA adaptations) came to an end. With all that in mind, Lionsgate is preparing to produce an 8th Saw movie, which they have scheduled for release next year on October 27, 2017 (just before Halloween, of course), and they’ve hired the creative writer/director team of the Spierig Brothers (Peter and Michael) to do it. The Spierig Brothers bring a certain level of fan anticipation to the Saw franchise, as their two most recent films (Daybreakers and Predestination) both received Fresh Tomatometer scores. So, it’s sort of a tricky thing. On one hand, we have directors who have given us two pretty great genre films recently; on the other, it’s still the Saw franchise we’re talking about here. Verdict: This is the Rotten Idea of the Week.
This week at the movies, we’ve got a captured pilot (Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance), terrified teenagers (Goosebumps, starring Jack Black and Dylan Minnette), a haunted novelist (Crimson Peak, starring Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain), and a team of underdogs (Woodlawn, starring C. Thomas Howell and Sean Astin). What do the critics have to say?
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are about as dependable as any director-star combo in movie history, and with Bridge of Spies, they bring gravitas to a little-known slice of Cold War intrigue. Critics say the film is finely crafted and deeply involving, its old-fashioned-ness belying some inspired stylistic touches. Hanks stars as James Donovan, an American attorney called upon to defend a Soviet agent at a trial, and who subsequently finds himself involved in a clandestine prisoner exchange between the CIA and the KGB. The pundits say Bridge of Spies simmers with low-key tension, and Spielberg captures the uneasy mood of the period with painstaking detail.
What if all the monsters, ghouls, and creepy-crawlies in R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books were real? And what if they got loose and wreaked havoc on a small town? That’s the premise behind Goosebumps, a spooky, family-friendly adventure that critics say is charming enough to overcome some minor flaws. Dylan Minnette stars as Zach, a big city teen who moves in next door to Stine (Jack Black) and his daughter Hannah (Odeya Rush). When Zach inadvertently unleashes the very real creatures that Stine has been keeping captive within the pages of his books, the three of them must act quickly to save their town. The pundits say Goosebumps is mostly a fun, over-the-top ride that should please fans of the source material, even if the cheeky humor is hit-or-miss.
Guillermo del Toro is undoubtedly one of contemporary cinema’s most distinctive visual stylists — and critics say his unparalleled eye goes a long way toward making Crimson Peak watchable, though this old-fashioned ghost story is decidedly short on scares. Set in turn-of-the-century Buffalo, the film stars Mia Wasikowska as Edith Cushing, an aspiring novelist who’s swept off her feet by Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), a mysterious, rakish Englishman who spirits her away to a crumbling estate haunted by both ghosts and grim secrets. The pundits say Crimson Peak is extravagantly crafted and always pleasing to the eye, though its narrative is often far less compelling.
The inspirational sports drama Woodlawn was barely screened for critics prior to its release in theaters this weekend. Based on a true story, it’s a faith-based drama about a high school football team struggling to come together in racially-divided Birmingham in the early 1970s. Guess the Tomatometer!
Season two of Fargo retains all the elements that made the series an award-winning hit, successfully delivering another stellar saga powered by fascinating characters, cheeky cynicism, and just a touch of the absurd.
Jane the Virgin stays true to its over-the-top telenovela roots in season two while layering in more humor and increasingly complex storytelling.
Lively musical numbers and a refreshing, energetic lead performer in Rachel Bloom make Crazy Ex-Girlfriend a charming, eccentric commentary on human relationships.
The Last Kingdom fuses beautiful cinematography and magnificent action sequences to create highly gratifying historical drama.
Six seasons in, The Walking Dead is still finding ways to top itself, despite slow patches that do little to advance the plot.
Red Oaks offers an affectionate nod to 1980s sex comedies that — largely thanks to a talented ensemble cast — finds fresh humor in its familiar premise.
Also Opening This Week In Limited Release
