Disney's New Movie Is Confusing Everyone

By Daniel S. Levine

Disney unveiled one of the upcoming projects from Walt Disney Animation Studios, and the brief plot description had a few people on Twitter scratching their heads. Wish will star Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose voicing the title character and will be directed by Frozen co-director Chris Buck and Zootopia story artist Fawn Veerashunthorn. The film is expected to hit theaters in November 2023 as the company celebrates its 100th anniversary.

The story of Wish centers on the power of the very concept of wishing. "How did the wishing start?" Wish writer Jennifer Lee, who also leads as Disney Animation's Chief Creative Officer, said as she introduced the project, reports The Hollywood Reporter. DeBose also performed "More of Us," one of the songs Julia Michaels wrote for the film. Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes are producing.

DeBose was cast as Asha, a 17-year-old who knows there is a darkness in her kingdom that no one else understands. She makes a passionate plea to the stars to help her home. Asha's wish is answered by an actual star that falls from the sky to help. Disney will use a mix of watercolor-style animation with CG.

'LOL what?'

Before Wish hits theaters, the next Disney Animation feature is Strange World, which opens on Nov. 22. The film was directed by Don Hall (Moana, Big Hero Six) and written by Qui Nguyen (Raya and the Last Dragon). Jake Gyllenhaal voices Searcher Clade, a farmer from a family of explorers who has to put aside his fears to join his son (Jaboukie Young-White) and his wife (Gabrielle Union) to find a special creature. Lucy Liu and Dennis Quaid also voice important characters. Disney shared new footage from Strange World at the convention, but it was not released online.

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'Origin story for the Disney Cinematic Universe'

Disney Animation also shared a look at Iwájú, a pan-African science fiction series being made with African entertainment company Kugali Media. Olufikayo Ziki Adeola directed the film with Hamid Ibrahim as production designer and Tolu Oloqofoyeko as cultural consultant. It will be released on Disney+ in 2023.

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'Grasping at straws premise'

Scroll on to see the reaction to the Wish announcement.

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'Does everything need an origin story?'

"2D and a more unique story then I will be interested. A Blackhole like movie or something unique like Tron and pushing what is possible then you have my attention," one person wrote.

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'What if stars talked'

"We are no longer scraping the bottom of the barrel. We are now scraping at the splintered remains of what was once a barrel," one person wrote.

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'What if shooting stars have feelings'

"To be clear this is the story of the actual star and not the wish upon a- version of the star from the song," one person wrote, referencing Pixar's struggle to help people understand what Lightyear was about.

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