All of Disney’s upcoming prequels and sequels were announced at D23

On Friday, Disney CEO Bob Iger attended the expo, walking onto the main stage to thunderous applause from the audience. It was an unusual appearance for Iger, who has not attended the event since 2019, when Disney was showered with praise for box-office hits like “Avengers: Endgame” and “Toy Story 4.”

But times have changed.

For years, Disney has cemented its reputation as an entertainment heavyweight that could deliver hit movies time and time again. “Frozen” grossed $1.3 billion worldwide in 2013, while its sequel topped it at $1.4 billion. Other popular franchises like “Avatar” earned more than $5 billion in two films, and the latest installment of Marvel Studios’ “Avengers” franchise earned $2.7 billion.

Then Iger retired in 2021, and so did Disney’s undisputed reign at the box office.

Although films like “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” topped $845 million worldwide, others like “The Marvels” and “Wish” fell short of expectations. These films earned $206 million and $254 million worldwide, respectively.

Disney began to drift away from the billion-dollar benchmark, prompting executives to refocus their strategy and convince Iger to come out of retirement to lead the company again in 2022.

Iger acknowledged the stark reality in a 2023 earnings call, saying the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt the company’s plan to ramp up its project output.

“And I’ve always felt that quantity can actually be a negative when it comes to quality. And I think that’s exactly what happened. We lost our focus a little bit,” Iger said.

Iger then floated Disney’s life raft: prequels and sequels.

“I feel very optimistic about the slate going forward, which will be a balance of some very strong sequels to some very, very popular titles as well as some good original content,” he said.

Disney has already found success in 2024 by mining its existing stories.

“Inside Out 2” has been a hit this summer, grossing $1.4 billion so far. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the third in the Marvel franchise, is approaching the $1 billion mark less than a month after its July release.

At D23, fans were introduced to a number of new projects based on old Disney IP, including “Moana 2” and a “Lion King” prequel titled “Mufasa.”

Here are all the prequel and sequel movies that Disney has in the pipeline.

Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios

• “Moana 2” — November 27, 2024.
• “Mufasa: The Lion King” — December 20, 2024
• “Tron: Ares” — October 10, 2025
• “Zootopia 2” – November 26, 2025
• “Friday Stranger” – 2025
• “Frozen 3” — 2027

20th Century Fox

• “Avatar: Fire and Ash” – December 19, 2025

Pixar Animation Studios

• “Toy Story 5” – June 19, 2026
• “Incredibles 3” — currently in production

Lucasfilm

• “The Mandalorian and Grogu” — May 22, 2026

Marvel Studios

• “Captain America: Brave New World” – February 14, 2025