I hope you’re ready for more adventures with Woody, Buzz, Elsa, Olaf, Judy, and Nick because Disney CEO Bob Iger has announced that sequels to Toy Story, Frozen, and Zootopia are in the works.
“Today I’m so pleased to announce that we have sequels in the works from our animation studios to some of our most popular franchises, Toy Story, Frozen and Zootopia,” Bob Iger said. “We’ll have more to share about these productions soon, but this is a great example of how we’re leaning into our unrivalled brands and franchises.” The last big-screen installments of Toy Story and Frozen were huge money makers for Disney, with Toy Story 4 earning $1.07 billion and Frozen 2 taking $1.45 billion. Zootopia was also a significant success, grossing $1.02 billion.
Disney’s last few animated movies weren’t exactly successful from a box-office standpoint, so it’s easy to see why they’re diving back into the franchises they know will put audiences in seats. The studio’s last film, Strange World, was one of their first box-office bombs in years. The movie grossed just $73 million worldwide, with projections saying that Disney may have lost close to $147 million on the movie. It’s hard to fault Disney for wanting to return to its proven franchises, but I hope it doesn’t mean that they will stop supporting more original movies.
The last Toy Story movie found Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) on a road trip with Bonnie, who has created Forky (Tony Hale), a spork made with recycled materials who suffers an existential crisis. Woody also reunites with Bo Peep (Annie Potts) and must decide where his loyalties lie. Frozen 2 followed Anna (Kristen Bell), Elsa (Idina Menzel), Olaf (Josh Gad), and Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) as they travel to an enchanted island to unravel the origin of Elsa’s magical powers. Zootopia took place in a city where anthropomorphic mammals coexist as it follows the unlikely partnership between a rabbit police officer, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), and a red fox con artist, Nick (Jason Batman), as they uncover a criminal conspiracy involving the disappearance of predators.
Are you looking forward to sequels to Toy Story, Frozen, and Zootopia?