Star Wars fans didn’t get the news they were looking for earlier…. just like those droids! Disney’s live action panel today at D23 started off with Alan Horn being “boo’ed” by disappointed Star Wars fans and then pretty much turned into a long slideshow afterwards. A surprise appearance by Maleficent star Angelina Jolie at the Anaheim event made the crowd happy though. Star Wars was dealt with by the studio boss with a list of old announcements of approximate release dates, JJ Abrams being on board and spinoff films. “I really wish I could tell you more. It will come soon,” Horn told the crowd as boos emulated from around the convention center from disappointed fans.
As for Angelina Jolie, here’s what she had to say on her upcoming evil role: “Since I was a little girl, I was drawn to her. But I was also terrified by her, but she had this elegance and grace,” said Jolie about playing in the upcoming backstory to the Sleeping Beauty character. “When I heard Disney was making the film, my brother encouraged me to take the role.” Maleficent is set to be released on July 2, 2014.
Following Jolie’s appearance, Tomorrowland co-writers Damon Lindeloff and Brad Bird appeared on the panel to indulge in some Disney self-referencing. “So we have nothing to show you. We didn’t bring George Clooney, but we brought you this dusty old box,” Lindeloff said as he noted the film has just started production. The duo rifled through a file box onstage from the Disney archive that they said served as the inspirations for the duo in the futuristic film. Afterwards, Bird, who is also directing Tomorrowland, and Lindeloff showed a supposedly vintage, never-before-seen color animated reel produced by Disney on the future of society, from Egyptian times through modern day cities.
Studio President Kevin Feige first followed the non-Star Wars news with a new clip from next summer’s Thor: The Dark World. Anthony Hopkins, who plays Thor’s father Odin, actor Tom Hiddleston, who plays the villain Loki in the Marvel universe, and Natalie Portman all came out on stage for a few words before Feige then introduced an exclusive clip of Portman’s Jane Foster character’s first day in the Asgard. Marvel also showed a two-minute clip from Captain America: The Winter Soldier and a trailer from the sequel. Star Chris Evans made an appearance along Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes from the first Captain America and now the aforementioned Winter Soldier) and new addition Anthony Mackie, who plays the Falcon in the pic. In addition to the other super hero news, the studio also showed the trailer for Guardians of The Galaxy, which was played last month at Comic-Con.
This section of the event ended in clips for the upcoming Tom Hanks movie, Saving Mr. Banks. In conclusion, Disney released a lot of movie news, but nothing as of yet regarding the movies people were most looking forward to hearing about, Star Wars and Pirates 5. The D23 Expo isn’t over yet, so it’s still possible to hear about some of the news we’ve been waiting for! Fingers crossed!
*Thanks to Yahoo for the exclusive news and quotes.
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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