Disney Bets Its D23 2026 Night on Sequels

Disney used its D23 2026 night in Anaheim to date a 2027-2029 movie list that leans on sequels, remakes, and a new X-Men team. Frozen 3 is set for November 24, 2027.

Josh D’Amaro, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, told a sold-out Honda Center crowd that Disney claims a connection with more than four billion fans. The rest of the night was a calendar.

Disney Locked 2027 Through 2029 on Sequels

Ginnifer Goodwin and Ke Huy Quan, the voices of Judy Hopps and Gary De’Snake in Zootopia 2, hosted the Disney Entertainment Showcase on August 14. Pete Docter, Pixar’s chief creative officer, Kevin Feige of Marvel Studios, and Dana Walden, Disney’s president and chief creative officer, then spent the evening hanging dates on titles most families already know. Five days later, none of those dates has moved.

THE DATES DISNEY PUT ON THE CLOCK

1. November 20, 2026: Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 3 arrives on Disney+.
2. February 5, 2027: Ice Age: Boiling Point opens in theaters.
3. February 17, 2027: Jon Favreau’s Oswald series premieres on Disney+.
4. March 5, 2027: Pixar’s Gatto opens in theaters.
5. August 6, 2027: The Bluey Movie opens in theaters.
6. September 3, 2027: The new Simpsons film opens in theaters.
7. November 24, 2027: Frozen 3 opens in theaters.
8. March 2028: Pixar’s Ghost Market is dated for theaters.
9. March 31, 2028: The live-action Tangled film opens.
10. May 5, 2028: Marvel’s untitled X-Men film opens.
11. May 26, 2028: Lilo & Stitch 2 opens in theaters.
12. June 16, 2028: Incredibles 3 opens in theaters.
13. November 2029: Coco 2 is dated for theaters.

The load-bearing titles on that list are sequels, a remake, a TV-to-film brand, and Marvel’s first new mutant team. Hexed, Gatto, Ghost Market, and Oswald are the new names, and they have to fit around the rest. Avengers: Doomsday is the first theatrical check, due December 18, 2026, with Anthony and Joe Russo directing and Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. TV Insider said the Honda Center clip showed Thor failing to stop Doom as an army of iron giants rose, and the tag at the end read that 12.18.26 is Doomsday. Replies under the trailer still asked why Downey is back and said they left the MCU after Endgame, which is the audience that film now has to win over.

The $1.87 Billion Behind the Sequel Wager

The wager is not mysterious. Walt Disney Animation and the live-action family desk spent 2025 proving that known titles still print money, and D23 simply booked the next round.

Box Office Mojo’s running total for Zootopia 2 is $1.87 billion worldwide ($1,866,647,950), on a $150 million budget and a $100.3 million domestic opening. Disney’s December 2025 note said the film crossed $1 billion in 17 days and listed five Walt Disney Animation billion-dollar titles since 2013: Frozen, Frozen 2, Moana 2, Zootopia, and Zootopia 2. The company also points to Lilo & Stitch’s $1 billion run as the reason a sequel starts production in Hawaiʻi later this year, under Chris Sanders, who co-wrote and directed the 2002 cartoon and still voices Stitch. Older tallies of the highest-grossing animated films put Frozen 2 at $1.45 billion, Incredibles 2 at $1.24 billion, and Coco at $815 million.

On a 2024 earnings call, Bob Iger said Marvel would move toward two TV series a year and two films, or a maximum of three, Variety reported, after a stretch of four of each. D23 did not restore that old volume. It put one Avengers film on December 18, one Vision series on Disney+ this fall, and one X-Men movie in 2028. The animation side got the denser date sheet, which matches where the 2025 receipts actually came from.

Frozen 3 Release Date, Bluey and Ice Age

Walt Disney Animation closed the Honda Center night with the title that still sells pajamas. Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel performed a new version of Frozen Heart, and Josh Gad sang Ooooh, Samantha, a love song for Olaf’s first crush, both written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. D23’s recap said the new animation hinted at a villainess whose powers rival Elsa’s, and that Frozen 3 in theaters November 24, 2027 is directed by Jennifer Lee and Trent Correy and produced by Christina Chen. Deadline reported Bell also confirmed that Anna will marry Kristoff, with Elsa beside her. The first two Frozen films have taken in about $2.74 billion worldwide when you add Frozen’s $1.29 billion to Frozen 2’s $1.45 billion.

The Bluey Movie is the other family date parents will actually circle. Joe Brumm writes and directs the CG film for Ludo Studio and BBC Studios, with Disney distributing, and it lands August 6, 2027. Disney said the story covers one action-packed day when a surprise changes everything for Bluey, Bingo, Mum, and Dad, and that Melanie Zanetti and David McCormack return as Chilli and Bandit. The Honda Center even played Keepy Uppy with giant red balloons, which is the kind of brand theater you stage when the preschool audience is already sold.

Ice Age: Boiling Point is the 20th Century chip in the same window, February 5, 2027, with Queen Latifah and Denis Leary on stage and a clip that added Jurassic Scrat to the acorn chase. John C. Donkin directs. Dana Walden also dated a new Simpsons film for September 3, 2027, after walking out with Bart. Goodwin and Quan’s other news, per Deadline, is that Zootopia 3 is in early development with both of them back, and that one has no public date yet. The family desk is booked through late 2027 before Pixar’s 2028 sequels even start.

Who Is in Marvel’s New X-Men Cast?

Marvel named Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Scott Summers, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Maya Boyd as Storm, and Adam Driver as Nathaniel Milbury, with Jake Schreier directing an X-Men film for May 5, 2028. Sink had already debuted Jean in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Feige walked the rest of the team onto the Honda Center stage beside her.

THE MUTANT NAMES FEIGE WALKED OUT

• Jean Grey: Sadie Sink, already seen in the role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
• Scott Summers: Kit Connor plays Cyclops in the new team.
• Professor X: Christopher Abbott is Charles Xavier.
• Emma Frost: Samara Weaving takes the sometimes-ally, sometimes-villain role.
• Rogue: Inde Navarrette joins as the power-absorbing mutant.
• Storm: Maya Boyd is Ororo Munroe.
• Mister Sinister: Adam Driver appears as Nathaniel Milbury in a taped Pinewood greeting.

Sink told the crowd, “It is so wonderful to be here and to finally be able to talk about this character after months of speculation.” Schreier previously directed Thunderbolts*. Feige said more X-Men casting is still to come, and a Magneto name circulating on X this week remains unconfirmed. This is the first MCU X-team that is not a reunion of the Fox films, which is why the announcement carried more weight than another Doomsday clip. Deadline had already reported Weaving and Connor; D23 made the rest official, including Driver’s villain.

When Kevin told me to show up for X-Men, I assumed he meant on set. So instead of being there in California, I’m here at Pinewood [Studios] on this very lonely soundstage. Kevin and I have been talking for years about maybe joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And I think we finally found the perfect film at the perfect time. So I’m very excited to be playing Mag…. Nope. Even better. Nathaniel Milbury. So I’ll be right here, waiting for everybody to show up.

Adam Driver, on Marvel’s D23 tape from Pinewood Studios

VisionQuest, the WandaVision follow-up with Paul Bettany, is the nearer Marvel date. Deadline listed an October 14 Disney+ premiere, with James Spader as Ultron. Walker Scobell introduced the Percy Jackson season 3 trailer the same night and told Deadline, “This season is a lot darker than any season we’ve had before,” with a Disney+ date of November 20, 2026. Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds also teased a Doomsday cameo, Deadline reported, without a confirmation from Feige.

Gatto, Ghost Market and Oswald the Rabbit

Pixar did put two original theatrical films on the board, which is the honest reply to the sequel charge. Gatto, from Luca’s Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren, arrives March 5, 2027, with Mark Ruffalo as Nero, a black cat in Venice who owes Laurence Fishburne’s feline boss Rocco. Ghost Market, from Trevor Jimenez and Jesse Andrews, is dated March 2028 and follows a kid named Kyle into ʻOno Market, a plate-lunch shop on Oʻahu’s North Shore that serves lost spirits. Becky Neiman-Cobb produces. Those two titles are the studio’s new chips between Incredibles 3 and Coco 2.

Alan Bergman, chairman of Disney Entertainment Studios, introduced Docter by noting that Pixar already had Hoppers and Toy Story 5 this year, calling Toy Story 5 the biggest film in the franchise that started the studio. Docter then used the rest of his slot on Incredibles 3, Coco 2, Kingdom Hearts IV, Ghost Market, and Gatto. Kingdom Hearts IV, from Square Enix, is aimed at late 2027 and will include a world inspired by Coco, with a separate Kingdom Hearts series coming to Disney+. Deadline said the series “reimagines the iconic adventure with a brand-new story.”

Oswald is the live-action hybrid that tries to mint a new Disney+ show out of a 1920s cartoon rabbit. Favreau writes, co-directs, and created the series, which premieres February 17, 2027. Disney’s plot line is simple: an earthquake frees Oswald, hidden since the 1920s, and a middle-school boy and his friends try to help him through the modern world. The cast includes Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Ryder Allen, Al Madrigal, Kathryn Hahn, and Albert Brooks. Hexed, the other new animated theatrical, is the near-term test. Deadline listed a November 25, 2026, date, with Hailee Steinfeld already attached and Jodie Foster as Queen Celeste and Walton Goggins as Beef Roger, a three-eyed green cat in a pink coat. Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling also showed Star Wars: Starfighter footage, with Gosling as a pilot named Kade, though Disney’s posted recap did not lock a theatrical date. Ahsoka season 2 got a trailer for an early 2027 Disney+ return.

Romy & Michele 2, with Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino, is headed to Hulu in 2027 under director Tim Federle. It is a sequel, and it is not a tentpole. Next to Frozen 3 and X-Men it reads like catalog maintenance, which is still part of the same bet: wring more life from names people already laugh at.

Spring 2028 Now Holds Tangled, X-Men and Lilo 2

The tightest theatrical cluster Disney dated sits in a 12-week run in 2028, when a Rapunzel remake, a mutant reboot, a Stitch sequel, and a Super family sequel land one after another.

Tangled is already shooting in Spain. Michael Gracey directs Teagan Croft as Rapunzel and Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider, with Kathryn Hahn as Mother Gothel, Diego Luna as a new character named Hawthorne, Caitríona Balfe as Queen Arianna, and Elliot Cowan as King Frederic. Hahn introduced the first look from the Honda Center stage. Lilo & Stitch 2 brings Maia Kealoha back and puts Stitch’s pink friend Angel on the poster, with Sanders directing a production that Disney said will start in Hawaiʻi later this year. Deadline had printed May 28; the company’s own recap dates the film May 26, 2028.

Incredibles 3 is the summer cap on that run. Peter Sohn directs, Dana Murray and Brad Bird produce, and Deadline said Brad Bird wrote the script. Docter told the room the story follows Violet and Dash as they try to prove they are ready to be real Supers while their parents are unconvinced. “They’ve been sneaking out at night to protect the city, and it doesn’t go over so well at home. To make matters worse, they are struggling to contain Jack Jack,” he said, adding that a new threat takes a heavy toll on Bob “in a world of Supers that may have outgrown him.” Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Vowell, and Huck Milner return. That plot is the sequel bet in miniature: grow the kids, keep the parents, date it for June.

Coco 2 sits furthest out, in November 2029, with Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina back and Mark Nielsen producing. Concept art shown at D23 puts Miguel in his teens. Benjamin Bratt confirmed he returns as Ernesto de la Cruz and told Deadline, “He’s a little menace who ruined a career and destroyed a legend,” then, “Ernesto de la Cruz is back for revenge.” That is the last dated chip Disney laid down in Anaheim, three years and a season past Frozen 3, on a villain the first film already killed.