In the scramble for film release real estate, all the studios make an effort to plant flags in a vast number of future dates, with superheroes, Star Wars films and other franchises slugging it out for coveted slots. Disney – responsible for a healthy chunk of two of those categories thanks to Marvel and Lucasfilm – has now announced a pack of new dates and confirmed some previously rumored movies, including the Jungle Book sequel, a Maleficent follow-up and Emma Stone as Cruella De Vil.
Most of the confirmations had already been floated as possibilities, though the Mouse House has now gone ahead and put out details. While Jungle Book director Jon Favreau told us recently that he'd only had discussions, Disney's announcement includes his return alongside writer Justin Marks. Cruella, with Stone as the famously fur-happy character has Kelly Marcel on scribe duties. Then there's Jungle Cruise, which Dwayne Johnson has talked up in the past and is working on with writers John Requa and Glenn Ficarra and Tim Burton's in-development Dumbo, which has Ehren Kruger writing.
Ava DuVernay has her take on A Wrinkle In Time featuring a script by Jennifer Lee, Maleficent 2 should see the return of Angelina Jolie and boasts Linda Woolverton scripting, Rob Marshall's Mary Poppins sequel, set years after the original and starring Emily Blunt as the titular nanny and Hamilton composer/star Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lasse Hallstrom has The Nutcracker And The Four Realms in the works and finally we have Reese Witherspoon's yet-to-be-titled Tinker Bell fantasy film, which has Victoria Strouse providing the screenplay.
So... yes, a lot of live-action adaptations of the company's cartoon back catalogue (not shocking given the success it has enjoyed so far) and the hopeful sign of more female creators involved in the coming slate. Plus another movie based on a theme park ride (again, something that Disney has done well from).
As for the release dates, which were reported without films named for them, they include fairy tales on July 28 next year, April 6 2018 and December 20, 2019 (what no Star Wars in that slot?) and live-action films for August 3 2018 and Christmas Day the same year.