Inside Disney’s Con

A glimpse of the final Star Wars film, a preview of a Marvel-themed amusement park attraction and a slew of announcements about upcoming films and TV series were the highlights at this year’s D23 Expo. The convention, held at Anaheim Convention Center Aug. 23-25 marked the sixth time Walt Disney Co. had staged the event, which is held every two years. It attracted some 65,000 people. The Burbank-based studio delivered on its promise to break major news regarding its four biggest brands — Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and Disney — showcasing a diverse production slate that included Marvel’s “Eternals,” “Black Panther 2” and “Black Widow” feature films; Pixar’s “Onward”; the animated “Frozen II”; and a live-action “Jungle Cruise” movie, based on the Disneyland attraction, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. First and foremost, Disney Chief Creative Officer Alan Horn and filmmaker J.J. Abrams introduced the trailer and poster art for Abrams’ upcoming “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Abrams welcomed to the stage cast members of the three-trilogy closer film, which opens in December. Disney also announced that “Avengers’ Campus” — the Marvel superhero equivalent of the just-opened Disneyland attraction “Star Wars: Galaxy Edge” — will open in Disneyland-adjacent Disney California Adventure Park in summer 2020. For investors, the most anticipated buzz surrounded the Burbank studio’s upcoming streaming service, Disney Plus, to debut Nov. 12. At $6.99 a month, Disney Plus intends to take on streaming giant Netflix Inc. in direct competition with a roster of original programming. The Disney Plus Showcase included a first look at a live-action “Lady and the Tramp”; the Jon Favreau-created Star Wars series “The Mandalorian”; and a “High School Musical” series. The showcase also announced the development of a young Obi-Wan Kenobi series, with Ewan McGregor set to resume his role from the 1999 film “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” as well as a roster of original programs based on Marvel properties such as “She-Hulk” and “Moon Knight.” On D23’s trade floor, lines of fans waited to get into Mickey’s of Glendale (located at Caruso mall Americana at Brand and pitched as a Disney Co. employees-exclusive store) and the Disney Store. In the vein of San Diego Comic-Con International, the expo saw thousands of fans, such as Burbank resident Laura Han — a Sony Imageworks animator who worked on Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” — and Andrea Seale, also from Burbank, donning cosplay. Han came dressed as the eponymous character from Disney’s 1998 animated film “Mulan” (which 2020 live-action version was also touted at D23) while Seale created her costume of Carl Fredricksen from the 2009 Pixar movie “Up.” Tangled recent history D23 came days after news broke that Spider-Man would be leaving Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, overseen by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, following a major rift between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios. Sony, which has the movie rights to Marvel’s flagship character, originated the cinematic Spider-Man franchise with Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man,” starring Tobey Maguire, in 2002. The Culver City studio had worked out an agreement to lend Tom Holland as the web-slinger, beginning with 2016’s Disney/Marvel Studios’ “Captain America: Civil War” and through several more Disney/Marvel epics. That arrangement collapsed last month when Sony refused Marvel’s demand to collect a hefty percentage of Sony’s take on Spidey projects moving forward. At the Anaheim convention, both Feige, on-hand ushering in a new wave of Marvel entertainment, and British actor Holland, promoting his role in the upcoming “Onward,” referenced the Disney-Sony toggle over Spidey. Feige shared that he was grateful to have achieved this arrangement between the two studios co-sharing Spider-Man across five motion pictures. “It was a dream that I never thought would happen,” Feige said from the stage. “It was never meant to last forever. We knew there was a finite amount of time that we’d be able to do this, and we told the story we wanted to tell, and I’ll always be thankful for that.” Disney celebrated its past by devoting three panels to the 50th anniversary of one of Disneyland’s most popular attractions, Haunted Mansion, and showcasing the 20th anniversary of animated feature “Tarzan,” which rumor has it may be up for a live-action remake. The Business Journal reached out to Scott Tracy Griffin, director of special projects at Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., to learn that representatives of the Tarzana-based licensing firm for the creations of late “Tarzan of the Apes” author Edgar Rice Burroughs (led by President James J. Sullos Jr.) would not be participating on the cartoon musical’s panel. “According to our sources, the live-action remake of the animated ‘Tarzan’ is just a rumor,” Griffin said. “We co-own the copyright, so we would need to be involved.”