DVDizzy.com

The release schedule for the 2020 theatrical output is out. Which films distributed by Disney are you looking forward to the most? I could only have 15 options on the poll so here's the full slate in case an anticipated film of yours wasn't included.

Underwater — January 10
The King's Man — February 14
The Call of the Wild — February 21
Onward — March 06
Mulan — March 27
The New Mutants — April 03
Black Widow — May 01
Artemis Fowl — May 29
Soul — June 19
Free Guy — July 03
Bob's Burgers — July 17
Jungle Cruise — July 24
The One and Only Ivan — August 14
Death on the Nile — October 09
The Eternals — November 06
Ron's Gone Wrong — November 06
Dragon Empire — November 25
West Side Story — December 18
Cruella — December 23

_________________

For me:

1. Mulan
2. Dragon Empire
3. Cruella
4. Onward ~ I like all of the actors involved, and there's something about what's been shown so far (particularly the poster) that makes me believe it could be one of the few good PIXAR films.
5. The New Mutants ~ Anything in the X-Men universe is fun for me + Maisie Williams!
6. Soul
7. Black Widow ~ Sounds like it could be a good superhero film. I don't really know anything about the story/character beyond the synopsis, but it has Scarlet Johansson and Rachel Weisz attached.
8. West Side Story
9. The Eternals ~ Not sure what to think of this... But most superhero films released these days trend between decent and great.
10. Death on the Nile ~ I didn't really think Murder On the Orient Express was that great of a film even though it had an enormous list of great actors involved; Pfeiffer was the star and I loved the lullaby she performed over the end credits so much I bought it. Still, Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer are involved... I'd like to see it once and I do enjoy murder mysteries.
11. Jungle Cruise
12. The One and Only Ivan ~ I've never read the book, so I don't know much of anything about this, but it sounds worth a look.
13. Free Guy ~ Ryan Reynolds. That's all.
14. Artemis Fowl ~ I read this as a child, but I'm not confident it'll be a good movie.
15. The Call of the Wild

I don't know what Ron's Gone Wrong is about at all to judge and I don't care about Bob's Burgers or Underwater. I haven't seen the other films The King's Man is connected to.

_________________

Listening to most often lately:
Utada Hikaru ~ "Don't Think Twice"
Utada Hikaru ~ "Simple and Clean"
Ariana Grande ~ "test drive"

The three animated films and Cruella.

1. Dragon Empire — New WDAS? Yes please!

2. Onward — I'm the rare breed that loves, loves Pixar sequels, but new fantasy Pixar? Yes please!

3. Soul — The plot was *just* announced, and obviously I don't know which 2020 Pixar I'll prefer, but because this seems to be similar to Inside Out and Onward seems more 'brand new',' this is #3.

4. Bob's Burgers — One of my favorite shows of all time, so I'm anticipating this one!

5. Artemis Fowl — I wasn't blown away by the teaser trailer, but I'm the rare breed that has been loving Disney's non-remake/non-sports (fantasy) movies these past few years; especially with the date pushed back, I'm remaining cautiously optimistic for this.

6. Jungle Cruise — The Rock and Emily Blunt, corny jokes from the ride? I'm there.

Also curious about:
The Call of the Wild
Black Widow
The One and Only Ivan

_________________

"Call of the Wild" was my most anticipated film of 2019, before it was pushed to the following year, so it's now one of my most anticipated films of 2020. For those unaware, "Call of the Wild" is directed by Chris Sanders, which is reason enough to get excited. I also read the book last year in anticipation for the movie and it is perfectly suited to his sensibilities.

I'm also excited about "West Side Story" (because anything directed by Steven Spielberg is automatically near the top of my watch list) and the two Pixars. The other Disney-Fox titles sound really neat, too. Should be a good quality year all around.

_________________
"There are two wolves and they are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. Which wolf wins? Whichever one you feed." - Casey Newton, Tomorrowland

So Dragon's Empire is heading for a 2020 release? It's remarkable to think that it's just one year away and there's so little information around it.

It has been the same for quite a long time regarding the next Pixar’s project ‘Onwards’ (the title was even announced only six months ago, we got more lucky with ‘Dragon Empire’ on that point). I think it is Disney’s new strategy to remain very quite about their next animated motion pictures.. until the release becomes imminent.

Here's mine.

01. Mulan
Mulan's my most anticipated film of 2020. I'm eager to see how they'll translate it to live-action. I wasn't thrilled with the changes they've made on paper but I'm reserving judgement until I see how they're executed. I hope the rumor that some of the songs from the original will be imported is true. The extended version of Reflection needs to receive the appreciation it deserves.

02. Raya and the Last Dragon
Anything from WDAS is almost always interesting to me. I like that there's a female lead and it's a period piece. I'm excited to see how Disney will tackle the concept of dragons. While it's a pretty popular subject matter in fantasy, Disney never really tacked it before in length. My concerns have to do with this potentially following the same tired buddy/road trip formula. I'm also skeptical of the possibility that the setting is a fusion of various Asian cultures, something the names of the characters seem to indicate.

03. Cruella
The cast is stellar, it's set in an aesthetically rich era and the director's past work inspires confidence. I'm curious to see what approach they'll take with Cruella's characterization. I'm disappointed the film won't probably connect to the live-action 101 Dalmatians remake but that's not everything.

04. Soul
I enjoyed Inside Out which Soul seems most similar to — based on the released logline and font of the logo — so I'm expecting to like this as well. Docter's films are usually well-crafted and thought-provoking and I wager this won't be any different.

05. The Eternals
I'm not familiar with the comic-book property but the great cast and the mythological themes have me intrigued.

06. Onward
The first look at the film left me underwhelmed but the film's premise has a lot of potential.

07. Bob's Burgers
I'm a fan of the TV show so I'm excited to see what they have cooked up for the series' first theatrical outing. I just hope it's something deserving of the big screen and not simply an overlong episode.

08. Black Widow
I like the cast and the spy thriller angle they're going with but I think the zeitgeist surrounding Black Widow has ebbed. They should have made her solo debut years ago. The fact that Scar Jo's character died in Endgame and the film is reportedly set after the events of Civil War has hampered my enthusiasm. It's nothing a well-made trailer can't fix though.

09. Artemis Fowl
The concept's intriguing, the visuals are impressive and the teaser left me wanting more but the protagonist came off as unlikable. I'm told this is by design but I don't know if I can root for a pompous little brat. The teaser was not well-received by fans of the book series who seem to have hated the tone and character changes which makes me a bit apprehensive about it.

10. West Side Story
The original is a classic and I'm not sure that remaking such a historically and culturally important film is a good idea. The publicity still they recently released was underwhelming. Not fond of the art direction they went with. Someone online called it "Beige: The Musical" and I have to agree. Still, I'll probably check it out to see how it stacks up to the original. The fact the film's touted as being more of an adaptation of the stage musical than a remake of the movie helps alleviate some of my concerns.

11. The King's Man
The previous two installments were a lot of fun and even though the sequel wasn't as good as the original, I'm excited to find out how it all started in this prequel.

12. Death on the Nile
It has a great cast and I thoroughly enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express so count me in for the sequel. Interestingly, this is Kenneth Branagh's second Disney film in 2020.

13. Jungle Cruise
Not a fan of either the IP nor Dwayne Johnson. Maybe I'll come around if the trailer makes it look promising.

14. The Call of the Wild
I don't really care for sled dog films and The Call of the Wild has already had multiple movie adaptations. I'm only mildly interested in this because Chris Sanders is directing. Can he achieve with his live-action debut what Andrew Stanton and Brad Bird couldn't?

15. The One and Only Ivan
I've heard good things about the book but I've never been very interested in animal-led stories. The prospect of uncanny-looking CG animals is a turn off. I'm still willing to give it a chance though.

16. Free Guy
Seems like a cross between Wreck-It Ralph and Pixels. Not particularly fond of Reynolds. I'm skipping this one.

17. Ron's Gone Wrong
Between Big Hero 6 and Next Gen, the premise of kids having robots as friends has become very derivative and tired. I hope after this film Disney dissolves their partnership with Locksmith Animation. They can barely accommodate the output from their own animation studios, it doesn't make sense to continue distributing content of third-party studios as well.

18. The New Mutants
I can't stand horror so this movie is definitely not for me. I think it's a big mistake they're still releasing this theatrically after Dark Phoenix flopped so badly. Not to mention, it's been a highly-publicized troubled production and that's usually not a good sign. People are clearly over Fox's take on the X-Men universe. With Marvel Studios' reboot just around the corner why damage the property even further by releasing this in theaters?

19. The Woman in the Window
It's based on a critically-acclaimed novel and the cast is top-notch but the premise doesn't intrigue me.

20. Underwater
I couldn't care less about this one. Nothing about it appeals to me.

_________________

It's pretty sad but I have little to no interest in most of the Disney films for 2020, probably because all the major films were saved for 2019. Disney really should have spaced out their releases more because after the box office highs they'll experience in 2019, 2020 is gonna be a very pitiful year for them.

West Side Story and Death on the Nile I guess are what I'm most looking forward to which is a pity because they're both Fox projects.

I'm not very interested in either of Pixar's films so far but I'll probably be more hyped for Soul once more is released for it. I was never into Artemis Fowl so not much interest there. The animated Mulan isn't one I care for very much so not very excited about the live-action one either but I do like some of the plot changes so far. The New Mutants will be lucky to get a release at this point and never cared for the Black Widow character so I'm only interested in it for Rachel Weisz. The Eternals sounds promising though, especially with its cast and I sorta liked the mythos of them in the comics.

Jungle Cruise could be fun but not one I'm especially looking forward to right now. Dragon Empire feels pretty generic at the moment and it'll probably just be Moana in Asia or something derivative like that. Whatever interest I had in Cruella has fast faded and I'll probably just watch it for the cast now.

_________________

We’re a dyad in the Force. Two that are one.
"I offered you my hand once. You wanted to take it." - Kylo Ren
"I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." - Rey

The Woman in the Window has been pushed back to 2020 due to poor audience testing.

Amy Adams' 'Woman in the Window' to Move to 2020 as Disney Retools Fox Film
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... lm-1222951

_________________

I think the reason is because Disney knows that Dragon Empire won't get any kind of attention. Take for example Wreak it Ralph. It had it's official announcement at D23 2011, and nobody cared. There was no hype or interest of any kind for months. So why bother

Same thing too for Big Hero 6 at D23 2013, no interest, no one cared.

This seems like a rational explanation indeed..

It's interesting that Pixar doesn't have this issue though. Onward already has a teaser & a poster. The overall response has been "Meh", but at least they announced it regardless of the response. WDAS seems more concerned with the response, then actually promoting they're feature. Through out this decade, we've learned more about WDAS features through leaks than actual announcements from the studio.

I actually think that Pixar is in the same position. Yes we had a teaser and a poster for Onward last month, but let’s not forget that this movie is scheduled for March next year, meaning 3 months after the release of Frozen II in theaters. And what do we know about Pixar’s Soul project (that is supposed to be released in less than a year and 5 whole months before Dragon Empire)? 2 things: a logo and one line of a synopsis, and that’s it!

We've actually known about Onward for 2 years now, as it was officially announced by Pixar at 2017's D23, as the "Suburban Fantasy World" feature. We didn't know the name or any of the characters, but still Pixar announced this feature nearly 3 years before it's release. If Pixar could make an official announcement in 2017 for an original feature releasing in 2020, then WDAS should of announced Dragon Empire, or at least acknowledge they were working on an upcoming feature about Dragons at 2017's D23. Of course they didn't, & Dragon Empire was leaked the following May There was also nothing about Gigantic at 2017's D23. Then that October, WDAS officially announces Gigantic's cancellation.

I have the feeling that, in regards of Pixar, they “had to” present even briefly that a new original project was in the works because of all the backlash regarding Pixar making too many sequels since 2010. Paradoxically, it wasn’t as much the case for Disney throughout the same decade.



I believe they already know back then that the project had its chances of being canceled (because of the difficulties and the delay they were facing with pre-production) and this is the reason why they talk so little about it at 2017’s D23 while they shared so much of Gigantic at 2015’s D23 with concept arts, characters, story...

Disney has updated their release schedule. Cruella has been pushed back to 2021.

Underwater — January 10
Downhill — February 14
The Call of the Wild — February 21
Wendy — February 28
Onward — March 06
Mulan — March 27
The New Mutants — April 03
Antlers — April 17
Black Widow — May 01
The Personal History of David Copperfield — May 08
The Woman in the Window — May 15
Artemis Fowl — May 29
Soul — June 19
Free Guy — July 03
Bob's Burgers — July 17
Jungle Cruise — July 24
The French Dispatch — July 24
Empty Man — August 07
The One and Only Ivan — August 14
The Beatles: Get Back — September 04
The King's Man — September 18
Death on the Nile — October 09
Everybody's Talking About Jamie — October 23
Eternals — November 06
Deep Water — November 13
Raya and the Last Dragon — November 25
West Side Story — December 18
The Last Duel — December 25

_________________

That's okay. Even if it was still being release in 2020, it would've been knocked off my list entirely after the promo images that were released. I have no desire to see it now.

_________________

Listening to most often lately:
Utada Hikaru ~ "Don't Think Twice"
Utada Hikaru ~ "Simple and Clean"
Ariana Grande ~ "test drive"

Another movie Disney will be releasing in theaters in 2020.

Fox Searchlight Nabs Wes Anderson's 'The French Dispatch'
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... ch-1240986

_________________