Toy Story Land Announced for Disney Hollywood Studios
Disney announced today its Hollywood Studios park in Florida will see an all new, 11-acre addition based on the Toy Story franchise.
Toy Story Land will include two new attractions, as well as an expansion to an existing attraction.
According to Disney, visitors "will think they've been shrunk to the size of Woody and Buzz as they are surrounded by oversized toys." The oversized toys such as "building blocks, plastic buckets and shovels, and game board pieces" will make up the attractions.
Among the attractions coming to Toy Story Land is a "family-friendly roller coaster" that lets guests ride on the back of Slinky Dog. There's also an alien saucer attraction that uses the claw-machine aliens from Toy Story to "take guests around for a spin in their very own flying saucers." And yes, The Claw itself hangs above you!
Disney Adding Force Awakens to Star Tours and Much More
Hot off the news of a huge Star Wars Land theme park expansion to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, Disney announced at the D23 Expo some other expansions to the Star Wars presence currently in place.
Star Tours, the motion simulator already in several Disney parks, will be expanded with a new update at Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando later this year - one that will include both a new destination and characters taken from the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie.
Also announced for the Anaheim and Orlando based parks is a new "Season of the Force" concept that will run each year for a certain amount of time, which sounds like an expansion of the Star Wars Weekends concept Disney World already has in place. Part of Season of Force will be the changing of the famous Space Mountain ride to temporarily become Hyperspace Mountain.
The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar Announced
Today at D23, Disney announced that it's reviving The Lion King in the form of a brand new television series. It's titled The Lion Guard and will premiere early next year on the Disney Channel.
Ahead of its debut, however, Disney will be airing a special primetime movie this November dubbed The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar. The story will center around Simba's second-born cub Kion, who takes on the leadership duties of preserving the Pride Lands as head of the Lion Guard.
For an early look at The Lion Guard, check out the announcement trailer below.
Both James Earl Jones and Ernie Sabella are returning to reprise their roles as Mufasa and Pumbaa, respectively. In addition, Rob Lowe will voice Simba, with Gabrielle Union playing Nala and Max Charles starring as Kion.
New Star Wars: The Force Awakens Poster Revealed
At its D23 Expo today, Disney revealed a new poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Artist Drew Struzan, who famously created the most iconic posters for the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies (among others), has returned for the art, which prominently features Episode VII's Finn, Rey, Kylo Ren, and Han Solo. It also confirms that Finn will indeed be a Jedi (or at least wield a lightsaber) in the film.
Star Wars Theme Park Announced
Today at D23 Expo, Bob Iger, Disney's CEO, revealed that Star Wars Land theme parks will be coming to Disneyland and Disney World.
At over 14 acres each, it's Disney’s largest single themed land expansion ever. Disney's aim is in, “transporting guests to a never-before-seen planet, a remote trading port and one of the last stops before wild space where Star Wars characters and their stories come to life.”
Every store and restaurant will be run by characters and locals, and Disney has already began casting people to work there and play them.
Star Wars: Rogue One Cast Photo Revealed
Disney has revealed our first look at the cast of Star Wars: Rogue One. The photo includes cast members Felicity Jones, Riz Ahmed, Diego Luna, Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen.
Disney also revealed our most extensive cast list yet in addition to the previously-confirmed Felicity Jones, which includes:
Jurassic World Director Takes on Star Wars: Episode 9
Star Wars: Episode IX will be directed by Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow. Recently it was confirmed JJ Abrams -- who's heading up The Force Awakens -- would not direct Episode 9. It was also confirmed that Trevorrow would not direct Jurassic World 2.
Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement, “Colin is someone I’ve been interested in working with ever since I saw Safety Not Guaranteed. The power of that film paired with the enormous success of Jurassic World speaks volumes about his abilities both as a storyteller and skilled filmmaker. We are thrilled to have such an incredible talent as Colin join our family and step into the Star Wars universe.”
Orlando Bloom Confirmed for Pirates of the Caribbean 5
During Disney's D23 Expo, it was confirmed that Orlando Bloom will be reprising his roll as Will Turner in 2017's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
One of the main heroes of the original trilogy, Bloom was absent from 2011's On Stranger Ties. Back in 2014, we reported that the actor was in talks to return to the series, and that Pirates 5 may act as a "soft reboot."
Beautiful New Poster for The Jungle Book Revealed
A new poster for Jon Favreau's version of The Jungle Book was revealed by Disney today at the D23 Expo. It shows Ben Kingsley's Bagheera staring down a curios Mowgli, played by Neel Sethi. Take a look below. The Jungle Book premiers April 2016.
Disney revealed some new footage as well, showing Bill Murray singing Bear Necessities under his breath, and the big reveal of Christopher Walken as King Louie, Kingsley as Baegheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan and Scarlet Johannson as Kaa.
Doctor Strange Costume Concept, Origin Revealed at D23
At today's D23 Expo, during Disney's live action movies panel, Marvel Studios president revealed new details about their Phase 3 movies, beginning with Doctor Strange. The movie doesn't start filming until November, but is in pre-production now.
Feige introduced Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor tapped to play Strange, who delivered a pre-recorded video message. Cumberbatch is in London doing Hamlet onstage, so could not attend the event. In the video message, he said Strange would be about "Girls, cars, astral projection. The usual fare," and mentioned what an awesome challenge it is to play the role.