The world’s most popular production company, Disney, announced their slate of planned animated movies today. In all, they have announced 10 new animated pictures that will be released over the next four years. I thought some of them were pretty noteworthy, so I pass them along.

The next major release from Disney is the robot love story, Wall•E, which is set to release on June 28th of this year. I have seen preview after preview of this one and it really doesn’t appeal to me, nevertheless, your kids are gonna love it!

Next will be Bolt, the story of a dog (voiced by John Travolta) who thinks that he might have super powers (super Scientologist powers?). The biggest star in the world, Miley Cyrus is voicing Penny, Bolt’s owner. Bolt will be released in Digital 3D.

On May 29th, 2009 Disney will release Up, the story of a 78 year old adventurer and his eight year old sidekick. Up will also be released in Digital 3D. Sounds interesting… the idea is very unique, if nothing else.

Following Up, will be The Princess and the Frog - a traditionally animated (hand-drawn) fairy tale set in New Orleans which will be released around Christmas of 2009. I remember when they said that Home on the Range was the last of the traditionally animated Disney films — this was undoubtedly a gimmick to help increase its popularity. Glad they’re still at it.

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be rereleased in digital 3D on October 2, 2009 and Feb. 12, 2010, respectively after which, on June 18th, 2010, Toy Story 3 will make its long awaited arrival - also in Digital 3D. These are perhaps the most exciting to me as they mark the continuation of the original computer animated/Pixar technology that marked the biggest change in animated film since color. I am truly fascinated in cinema milestones, and Toy Story is up there with Snow White and even The Jazz Singer, when it comes to innovation.

Following Toy Story 3, will be the retelling of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Rapunzel. She will be letting down her long, golden hair around Christmas 2010. Rapunzel is bound to be a popular. It’s an age-old tale that will be gaining immortality by Disney. It will also be released in Digital 3D.

Newt will be the next up. Newt is due out in the summer of 2011 and will tell the story of the last two blue-footed newts on the planet that aims to show us all that “love is not necessarily a science”. Hmmm…

The Bear and the Bow, due out Christmas 2011, will tell the story a royal family in rugged and mythic land of Scotland. Reese Witherspoon, Billy Connolly, and Emma Thompson will provide voices for this action-adventure that will be in Digital 3D.

Cars 2 will bring back Lightning McQueen and his best pal Mater, as they bid to take on the fastest cars in the world. Cars 2, in (you guessed it) Digital 3D, will be released summer 2012. Of all the Disney movies in the last 10 years (post Toy Story), Cars was definitely my favorite. Here’s hoping for a good sequel!

Christmas of 2012 will bring us King of Elves, which interestingly, is based on a 1953 short story by Philip K. Dick. In addition to King of Elves, Dick wrote Blade Runner, A Scanner Darkly, and Minority Report - should make for an interesting adaptation.

It’s pretty cool of Disney to let us know their plans four years in advance… if not a little overwhelming. It definitely gives us something to constantly be looking forward to, though.

Here are some external links for your perusal:

Read the official press release from PRNewswire.

Check out the Wall•E Trailer at Apple.com.

View the Bolt movie poster from Empire Movies.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 at 6:18 pm and is filed under Yada Yada, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.