Disney unveils Avatar, Indiana Jones, Encanto, and Monsters, Inc. theme park attractions

Also unveils its slate of upcoming films

ANAHEIM, California — Walt Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro laid out an ambitious growth plan for the company’s theme parks on Saturday at the D23 fan convention, announcing plans for four new cruise ships and details about six new themed lands.

Disney, which reclaimed the top of the summer box office with Pixar animation’s Inside Out 2 and Marvel’s raunchy Deadpool & Wolverine, also showcased its coming slate of films.

Forthcoming plans include a new Disney villains land at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, a doubling of the size of the Avengers Campus at the Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California, and details about its partnership with Fortnite creator Epic Games.

“This, for us, is an unprecedented era of growth,” Mr. D’Amaro said.

The two new attractions at its Marvel-themed Avengers Campus at California Adventure will be Avengers: Infinity Defense and the Stark Flight Lab, the company said.

California Adventure will also add a new Avatar experience at the California Adventure, based on the second film in the science fiction franchise, Avatar: The Way of Water, it said.

To commemorate the 70^th anniversary next year of the Disneyland park in Anaheim, a show based on the life of Walt Disney featuring an audio-animatronic figure of the company’s founder will be opened.

Disney also unveiled two attractions for the new Tropical Americas expansion coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida. One follows Indiana Jones on an exploration of a Mayan temple. Another is inspired by the Disney animated film Encanto and follows the character Antonio on the day he received his magical gift. Tropical Americas is set to open in 2027.

Actor Billy Crystal took the stage to announce an area at Disney’s Hollywood Studios dedicated to the Pixar film, Monsters, Inc. The area, known as a land in Disney theme park parlance, will feature a suspended roller coaster designed to simulate zooming through the door vault at the Laugh Factory, just like characters Mike and Sulley in the film.

�ʾ��油��’s Cars film franchise also comes to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, in a re-imagined area of Frontierland, with two new attractions planned. One will take guests on an off-road thrill ride into the wilderness beyond the film’s fictional Radiator Springs setting. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year.

The fan favorite announcement, based on the audience reaction, was Mr. D’Amaro’s statement Disney will create a new area devoted to Disney’s villains at the Magic Kingdom, with two attractions, dining, and shopping.

These announcements reveal how the company will begin $60 billion in capital investments, nearly doubling spending over the next decade to improve attractions at its 12 parks and increase cruise line capacity.

“Everything that we’re going to share with you tonight is in active development,” Mr. D’Amaro said. “This means that plans are drawn. This means that dirt is moving. I just want to be clear with all the fans out there. This isn’t blue sky.”

CRUISE FLEET EXPANDS
Disney also said it will add four cruise ships to its growing fleet, capitalizing on an industry that has been enjoying a rebound from the global shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company currently has five cruise ships in operation, and previously announced four others, including one Tokyo-based vessel and another that will set sail from Singapore in 2025. These new vessels will start operating between 2027 and 2031.

Mr. D’Amaro was joined onstage by the company’s creative leads to discuss Disney’s collaboration with video-game maker Epic Games. The company invested $1.5 billion in Epic earlier this year, giving Disney an equity stake in the creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine.

Disney announced new characters and stories are coming to the online game, including Disney villains as well as characters from the Pixar superhero film, The Incredibles, and the Disney+ series The Mandalorian about a lone bounty hunter from the Star Wars universe.

Disney’s parks have become a reliable profit engine, helping cushion the impact of declines in traditional television and losses in its video streaming business, which last quarter turned a profit.

The experiences unit, which includes parks, cruise ships and consumer products, contributed 60% of the company’s operating profit in the most recent quarter — up from 30% just a decade ago.

MOANA 2, INCREDIBLES 3, AND MUFASA: THE LION KING
Disney showcased its coming slate of films in a three-hour spectacle featuring musical performances and celebrity appearances.

The stars of the forthcoming animated film Moana 2 opened its D23 fan convention on Friday night. Stars Dwayne Johnson and Auli’i Cravahlo took the stage, along with Hawaiian dancers. He told the 12,000 attendees that in reprising his role as Maui, he would once again be singing, “in keys that don’t exist.”

The film reaches theaters on Nov. 27.

“Who else but Disney could pull off a weekend like D23?” said Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger, kicking off the Disney Entertainment Showcase. “Our deep bond with fans, forged over a century of storytelling, is stronger today than ever before.”

Director James Cameron appeared along with Avatar stars Zoe Saldana, and Sam Worthington to show off art from the next sequel, and announce its title, Avatar: Fire and Ash.

�ʾ��油��’s chief creative officer, Pete Docter, announced a new Inside Out series based on main character Riley’s dreams, Dream Productions, that takes place between the first two movies and will premiere in 2025.

Docter also unveiled a new installment of one of �ʾ��油��’s biggest titles The Incredibles, which is centered on a quirky superhero family and is getting a third film that will be directed by Brad Bird.

A rendition of popular musical numbers from such Disney Broadway hits as Frozen and Aladdin accompanied the announcement that a slate of recorded live stage performances would be arriving on Disney+.

“We’re really happy to announce that the hit musical (Frozen), which was filmed on stage, will premiere on Disney+ in 2025,” said Jennifer Lee, Disney Animation’s chief creative officer.

Ms. Lee said the company is also developing a Broadway musical based on the film The Greatest Showman.

D23 shared an early look at the upcoming Disney+ series Skeleton Crew, which is a coming-of-age science fiction Star Wars series created by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford.

Director Jon Favreau offered a glimpse of The Mandalorian and Grogu, a big-screen adaptation of the Disney+ series due out in 2026.

Marvel reprised some of its greatest hits from last month’s San Diego Comic-Con convention. It showcased the Captain America Brave New World and Fantastic Four films, and the forthcoming Disney+ series, Daredevil Born Again and IronHeart.

It also dropped a trailer for its upcoming horror series Agatha All Along, based on the series WandaVision along with a haunting musical performance from the cast of witches in the series. The series includes original songs from the talent behind Frozen and Coco.

Percy Jackson, the series based on Greek mythology that follows its namesake protagonist demi-god, is returning for a second season called Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, adapted from author Rick Riordan’s book.

Walt Disney Studios showed off a teaser trailer for the live-action version of its animated classic, Snow White, accompanied by its stars Rachel Zeigler, who plays Disney’s original princess, and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.

Actor Jeff Bridges appeared at D23 with co-stars Jared Leto and Greta Lee to promote Tron: Ares, the third installment of the futuristic film.

Perhaps the most enthusiastic crowd response was reserved for Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsey Lohan, who are reprising their mother-daughter roles in a sequel to the 2003 film Freaky Friday.

A chorus performed “The Circle of Life” from Lion King, to promote the next installment in the Pride Lands saga, Mufasa: The Lion King. The coming film tells the story of Mufasa’s early life, in a lifelike computer-generated movie directed by Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins and with music from Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The company touted the strength of its movies during an investor call last week, marking a return to form after losing its place as the highest-grossing Hollywood studio in 2023.

“It’s never too late to have that big Hollywood comeback,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “And they’ve certainly had that.”

Inside Out 2 is the of all time, with a global box office tally of $1.6 billion, surpassing the record set by Disney’s Frozen II. A month later, Deadpool & Wolverine had the for an R-rated film and has brought in more than $850 million in global ticket sales.

“There is of course variability in the film business,” wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Kraft in a note to investors. “But if Disney has found its box office magic once again, additional growth may be ahead, as a strong theatrical slate continues.” — Reuters