FOLLOWING the difficult news of layoffs and losses, Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger announced several major announcements for fans during the company's earnings call for the year-end 2022 quarter on Wednesday.
For fans of animated films, Iger revealed that two new sequels to massive franchises – ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Frozen’ – were in the works. A sequel to the animated film ‘Zootopia’ has also been announced.
The ‘Toy Story’ franchise has four theatrical chapters and one spin-off: ‘Lightyear’ in 2022. Even though the latter film underperformed, ‘Toy Story 3’ and ‘Toy Story 4’ both grossed more than US$1 billion (about RM4.32 billion) at the global box office.
Meanwhile, the first ‘Frozen’ film was a smash hit when it debuted in 2013, and the sequel ‘Frozen II’ made more than US$1.4 billion at the worldwide box office in 2019.
Aside from the films, the franchise has spawned a Disney on Ice show, a Broadway musical, as well as many short films, television specials, and books.
Iger also announced that Pandora will be coming to the West Coast in the form of an ‘Avatar’ Experience at Disneyland in Anaheim.
Currently, ‘Pandora – The World of Avatar’ is a section of Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando dedicated to James Cameron's creations, with two rides: ‘Avatar Flight of Passage’ and ‘Na'vi River Journey’.
On February 5, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, the second ‘Avatar’ film, surpassed ‘Titanic’ to become the third most successful international film in history. Cameron intends to release three more ‘Avatar’ films in the coming years. – The Vibes, February 9, 2023
