Disney Dates Zootopia 2, Frozen 3 and Toy Story 5

Hot on the heels of the surprise announcement of Moana 2 comes more reveals from Disney’s latest earnings call. Boss Bob Iger shared with investors details of upcoming offerings from the House Of Mouse. Coming off the back of the studio’s worst performance in many a year in 2023, investors were probably looking for relatively safe bets- if there can be said to be such a thing in Hollywood.

Perhaps the closest we have to a sure thing is a sequel to a billion-dollar movie (although even that’s no guarantee, just ask The Marvels or Aquaman). Disney has several such films in the pipeline, and now we have been given release dates.

Zootopia’s sequel has been a long time coming. Especially when you consider it is arguably among the most sequel-friendly of Disney’s films. We now know we will finally be making a return to the bustling metropolis of Zootopia (Zootropolis in the UK) sometime in 2025. This will see it arriving just under a decade since the release of the original film.

Iger revealed the existence of both Frozen III and Frozen IV some time ago. The fact they were revealed together maybe suggests that a larger overarching plot may connect the two. During the call, it was revealed that Frozen III will hit cinemas in 2026. Frozen IV remains undated for now.

The final major sequel Toy Story 5 has also been dated for 2026. Although many are concerned this may be a sequel too far, the same was felt about Toy Story 4 which was generally well received and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

As ever with release schedules, all dates are subject to change.

In other news, Iger revealed that Disney has invested $1.5 Billion in Epic Games, developer and publisher of Fortnite among other games. The deal will see characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucas Film and Avatar come to Fortnite but they are also "creating a huge Disney Universe". Disney elaborates "in addition to being a world-class games experience and interoperating with ‘Fortnite,’ the new persistent universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Avatar’ and more. Players, gamers and fans will be able to create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love."

The multi-year project will be powered by Epic's Unreal Engine.

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