In Disney Worldbuilders, a new feature-length documentary from Academy Award®- and Emmy®-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks streaming August 20 on Disney+, some of Disney’s most influential storytellers reflect on the memories, moments and creative breakthroughs that shaped their work, tracing how those stories come to life at Disney’s theme parks around the globe.
Their conversations reveal a creative practice that moves in every direction — where a story can inspire a place, and a place can then inspire the next story. It’s a way of creating that dates back to Walt himself— a creative tradition that continues to shape every new story Disney tells.
Audiences have always experienced Disney as one connected universe. Disney Worldbuilders pulls back the curtain on the creative minds behind it, with candid conversations featuring Bob Iger, James Cameron, Jon Favreau, Kevin Feige, Jennifer Lee, Pete Docter, Dave Filoni, Jared Bush and Josh D’Amaro. Together they reveal how stories like Avatar, Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pixar, and the worlds of Frozen and Zootopia, become real places you never want to leave.
Disney Worldbuilders captures the architects of these franchises in their own words, on what they’ve built together and where they’re taking it next. Audiences will get a look at upcoming lands at Disney destinations around the world — a window into one of the most ambitious periods of creative expansion in the company’s history, with more still to come.
“I wanted to understand what ignites the imaginations of the storytellers behind some of the world’s most beloved stories,” said Iwerks. “As I sat down with each of them, I discovered a common thread: they often traced their creative journeys back to a single childhood moment—walking through the gates of Disneyland and realizing that impossible dreams could become real. It’s a feeling I know well, and one that has shaped my own journey. My hope is that audiences leave with that same sense of possibility and inspiration.”
Ahead of its debut on Disney+, Disney Worldbuilders will have its world premiere at D23 —the ultimate Disney fan event — on Sunday, August 16, where attendees will be among the first to see the film in its entirety.
For Disney fans, Iwerks is a familiar name. Leslie’s grandfather, Ub Iwerks, was Walt Disney’s original animator and co-creator of Mickey Mouse; her father, Don Iwerks, was a camera technician and inventor at Walt Disney Studios. Both are Academy Award® winners and Disney Legends. Leslie has directed such acclaimed documentaries as The Imagineering Story, The Pixar Story, Industrial Light & Magic: Creating the Impossible, and most recently, Disneyland Handcrafted.
Disney Worldbuilders is produced by Iwerks & Co. for Disney+.
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