Disney’s “Finding Dory”, the anticipated sequel to the 2003 animated film “Finding Nemo”, released in theaters across the nation on Friday, June 17th, and has since earned over $9.2 million dollars on its Thursday preview night alone, and $136.2 million over the opening weekend. This accomplishment marks the new movie as the highest debut box office numbers of any animation film in history! Produced hand-in-hand with animation studio Pixar, “Finding Dory”’s gigantic numbers come after Disney’s “Zootopia” film similarly dethroned Frozen for the top opening weekend, earning $75 million on its opening weekend. “Finding Dory” continues the story from “Finding Nemo”, following the adorably goofy fish Dory as she explores the ocean to find her parents and escape a California public aquarium. The film is in theaters now, so make sure to find the time to check out Disney’s newest hit film!
The D23 Expo is a fan-run biannual convention that celebrates Disney cartoons old and new, and draws more than 20,000 fans and visitors during its three-day showing at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Here, fans are able to meet up with Disney stars, watch musicals, buy Disney merchandise, and get ready for the newest information from the multi-national animation and film company. This year’s summer D23, which was open from August 14th to August 16th, was bigger than ever, and showed off exciting teasers and trailers for some previously announced Disney films, as well as announcing some others for the very first time!
John Lasseter, Disney’s top animation executive, took the stage at the start of the event to announce some bombshell announcements to eager fans. First off, Lasseter announced a brand-new, never before seen movie called “Gigantic”, which will be a musical based off other classic “Jack and the Beanstalk” folk tale. “Gigantic” will have songs written by the same team behind “Frozen”’s iconic themes, and is currently scheduled to released in 2018. More information was also made available regarding the upcoming 2016 film “Moana”, which has been revealed to have musical segments as well. The film will follow a teenage Pacific Islander princess and her tattooed demigod companion.
Finally, posters were unveiled for a variety of upcoming projects, some of which were completely unknown before the expo. These include teaser posters for “Toy Story 4″, “The Incredibles 2″, and “Cars 3″, along with posters for “Finding Dory”, the sequel to fan favorite “Finding Nemo”, and “The Good Dinosaur”. Little information was unveiled about these new announcements, and all are labeled as “Coming Soon”, but Disney fans can expect to hear more about these blockbuster sequels in the coming months. On the whole, the event was a spectacular success, leaving fans worldwide thirsty for more information about these upcoming films.
