Walt Disney Pictures banner

Walt Disney Studios has been producing some awesome films as of late. On top of the mega-hit ‘Frozen’, animated films like ‘Zootopia’, ‘Big Hero 6’, and ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ have been huge crowd pleasers. Then there are the Pixar offerings like ‘Inside Out’ and ‘Brave’. And of course, we don’t need to go into the successes that are the ‘Star Wars’ and Marvel brands for the company. But Disney’s live action division has been working overtime lately as well. And despite the criticisms they’ve encountered by rehashing some old classics, it doesn’t look like they’re stopping any time soon. 

Following the big box offices draws that came from ‘Alice In Wonderland’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Maleficent’, and ‘The Jungle Book’, Disney is more confident than ever in their reimaginings of their popular animated properties and their release schedule now reflects that. Earlier this week, Deadline revealed that the House of Mouse has set a number of release dates for their upcoming live action projects (not including Lucasfilm or Marvel Studios productions). Here’s what the schedule looks like now:

  • July 28, 2017: Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action), previously dated December 22, 2017
  • April 4, 2018: Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action)
  • August 3, 2018: Untitled Disney Live Action
  • November 2, 2018: Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action)
  • December 25, 2018: Untitled Disney Live Action
  • March 29, 2019: Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action)
  • November 8, 2019: Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action)
  • December 20, 2019: Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (Live Action)

Though they didn’t make any mention about what would fill those slots for sure, the company did tease which projects were currently in development. A number of these have been previously rumored, but now we have confirmation that they’re actually happening:

  • ‘Cruella’ with Emma Stone set for the title role and Kelly Marcel writing
  • ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ with Ava DuVernay attached to direct and Jennifer Lee writing
  • ‘Jungle Cruise’ starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Requa and Glenn Ficarra writing
  • ‘Dumbo’ from director Tim Burton and writer Ehren Kruger
  • ‘Mary Poppins’ sequel with director Rob Marshall, starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda
  • ‘Maleficent 2’ with Angelia Jolie set to return in the title role and Linda Woolverton writing
  • ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’ from director Lasse Hallstrom and writer Ashleigh Powell
  • ‘The Jungle Book 2’ with both director Jon Favreau and writer Justin Marks returning
  • ‘Tinker Bell’ featuring Reese Witherspoon as the star and Victoria Strouse writing

First, I think that it’s pretty easy to guess when that Nutcracker movie will be coming out. The smart money would be on Christmas Day 2018. Second, it’s surprising to see which projects Disney has chosen to tackle first. It’s obvious why the Mary Poppins movie featuring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda is among these (#YayHamlet), but ‘Cruella’ and ‘Tinkerbell’ don’t seem as in demand as the other movies we’ve heard about. With rumors stating that films based on ‘Peter Pan’, ‘Aladdin’, and ‘Mulan’ in the pipeline, I would think that they would get first priority. Either way, Disney is going all in on their live action films and they don’t seem to be going away any time soon, so I’m sure that we’ll get around to everything eventually. 

What do you think about Walt Disney Pictures’ slate of live action films? Are you excited for any of the movies that they officially announced this week? And which ones do you think will fill these release dates? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments below.

Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences and puns far too much. Also, he’s anticipating that Mr. Toad will be the next beloved animated character to make the jump to live action. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.