Disney Reveals Disney/Fox Animation Release Slate

The Walt Disney Company has this week revealed their shiny brand new and updated release schedule for the next few years. This is particularly notable as this is the first update since the company completed the acquisition of 20th Century Fox, and therefore features both Disney company and Fox releases.

In among the expected Marvel, Star Wars and Avatar franchises, there's plenty for animation fans to chew on. What's most interesting here is that there's still so much we don't know. For starters, beyond this year's Toy Story 4 and Frozen 2 and next March's Onward we don't have anything confirmed from Disney Animation or Pixar.

So here's the full list of animation (release dates are for the US, international releases may vary)

2019

Toy Story 4 (June 21)

The Lion King (July 19)

Frozen 2 (November 22)

Spies In Disguise (December 25)

2020

Onward (March 3)

UNTITLED Pixar Animation (June 19)

Bob's Burgers (July 17)

UNTITLED Walt Disney Animation Studios Film (November 25)

2021

Nimona (May 3)

UNTITLED Pixar Animation (June 18)

UNTITLED WDAS Film (November 24)

2022

UNTITLED Pixar Animation (March 18)

UNTITLED Pixar Animation (June 17)

UNTITLED WDAS Film (November 23)

So what do we have here? Four Pixar films and three Walt Disney Animation Studios films in the pipeline that we don't know what they are. There's a pattern of a Pixar film every summer and a WDAS film in time for Thanksgiving, with an extra Pixar in March 2020 and 2022.

2020's first Pixar release is Dan Scanlon's suburban fantasy film Onward (featuring Marvel stars Chris Pratt and Tom Holland) but after that? We don't know. We know that Pete Docter and Bao's Domee Shi are among those developing original ideas. We wouldn't bet against at least one of the untitled films being another sequel though.

Over at WDAS, since Gigantic was cancelled we don't really know what's coming next. A Zootopia sequel seems likely, but the recent departure of Rich Moore for Sony Pictures Animation casts some doubt on that.

The deal has cast some doubt over the future of Fox's animation ventures but for now at least it seems that it's business as usual at Blue Sky Studios- aside from a few date changes. Their next release Spies In Disguise has been delayed from September to Christmas, and fantasy film Nimona (based on the graphic novel by the She-Ra reboot's Noelle Stevenson and directed by Patrick Osborne) is now set for 2021. Fox Animation's Bob's Burgers movie has also got a confirmed release date for summer 2020.

The 'live-action' adaptations also show no sign of slowing down. Following Mulan and Cruella in 2020, there are another nine untitled Live-action Disney films coming out between 2021 and 2023. These are not necessarily all animated adaptations (they could include a reboot of Pirates Of The Carribean for example) but it's a safe bet a few will be. They will probably include The Jungle Book 2, and don't be surprised if this year's CG Lion King gets a sequel too.

You can see the full list here. Dates are, as always subject to change.