By Courtney Potter
D23 Expo Japan treated fans to some amazing sights and sounds, and Star Wars Launch Bay gets a new hero… Read more, along with other news from around Disney, in this week’s news briefs!
Relive D23 Expo Japan 2018!
D23.com had “yellow shoes on the ground” in Tokyo for the third annual D23 Expo Japan, and we have several fantastic articles covering every exciting detail! Check out our full three-day recap here—and for a rundown on all of the Expo’s amazing Disney Parks and Resorts announcements, click here.
Save the Date!
Be sure to mark these upcoming Disney events on your calendar:
| D23 and Walt Disney Archives February 20, 2018 D23 Member Night at Disney’s The Lion King in Orlando March 8, 2018 Be a Warrior During a Complimentary Advance Screening of A Wrinkle in Time March 24, 2018 Celebrate the Opening Weekend of Frozen on Broadway in New York City Parks January 12–February 19, 2018 Epcot International Festival of the Arts January 26–February 18, 2018 Lunar New Year Festival at Disney California Adventure February 28–May 28, 2018 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival March 2–April 12, 2018 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival April 13, 2018 Pixar Fest begins at the Disneyland Resort April 26, 2018 Disney•Pixar Toy Story Land opens at Shanghai Disneyland May 27, 2018 Star Wars: Galactic Nights Returns to Disney’s Hollywood Studios June 23, 2018 Pixar Pier opens at Disney California Adventure Summer 2018 Toy Story Land opens at Disney’s Hollywood Studios 2019 Star Wars-Themed Lands Opening at Disneyland and Walt Disney World |
Studios February 16, 2018 Marvel Studios’ Black Panther opens in U.S. theaters March 9, 2018 Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time opens in U.S. theaters May 4, 2018 Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War opens in U.S. theaters May 25, 2018 Solo: A Star Wars Story opens in U.S. theaters June 15, 2018 Incredibles 2 opens in U.S. theaters July 6, 2018 Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp opens in U.S. theaters opens in U.S. theaters August 3, 2018 Disney’s Christopher Robin opens in U.S. theaters November 2, 2018 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms opens in U.S. theaters December 19, 2018 Mary Poppins Returns opens in U.S. theaters Television March 4, 2018 The Oscars air live on ABC (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) March 11, 2018 American Idol premieres on ABC (8–10 p.m. ET) |
Rey to Make Debut at Star Wars Launch Bay Inside Disneyland Park
Folks from all over Disney are ridiculously hard at work on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, coming to Disneyland Park in 2019… but until then, Star Wars Launch Bay in Tomorrowland can offer fans a fix of “a galaxy far, far away.” And here’s some great news for guests: Starting in May, a new face will join the interactive Launch Bay experience with the arrival of the Resistance’s newest hero, Rey!
For the uninitiated: Rey is a scavenger—and a survivor—toughened by life on the harsh desert planet Jakku. Despite dismissing herself as “no one,” she learns that her life is being shaped by the mysterious power of the Force. Central to the stories of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rey has become an inspiration to a whole new generation of Star Wars fans.
Joining Chewbacca, Rey will visit with guests at the Light Side character experience throughout the summer, with Darth Vader and Kylo Ren encountering guests at the Dark Side area. So brush up on your Jedi skills and get those cameras (or mobile devices) ready…
Frozen on Broadway: Behind the Scenes at the Sitzprobe
If you read D23.com with any regularity, you know how truly excited we are for the debut of Disney Theatrical’s brand-new Broadway musical Frozen! So color us tickled to see this very cool behind-the-scenes video from the musical’s sitzprobe during its pre-Broadway run in Denver, Colorado. What’s a sitzprobe, you may ask? It’s the first time the cast of a musical gets to sing through the show with their live orchestra… and it’s definitely one of the most amazing days during a musical’s production process.
Based on the 2013 film written by a trio of Oscar® winners, Frozen on Broadway will feature music and lyrics by the creators of the film score—Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Up Here, Winnie the Pooh, In Transit) and EGOT (Emmy®, Grammy®, Oscar, and Tony®)-winner Robert Lopez (Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon, Up Here)—and a book by Jennifer Lee (Zootopia, Wreck-It Ralph), the film’s screenwriter and director (with Chris Buck). Directed by Michael Grandage, choreographed by Rob Ashford, and starring Broadway vets Caissie Levy as Elsa and Patti Murin as Anna, Frozen begins previews at the St. James Theatre on February 22!
Black Panther Soundtrack Debuts Online This Friday
Awesome news, Black Panther fans—the score to the extremely anticipated film will hit digital shelves on Friday, February 16!
Composed by Grammy®-nominated composer and songwriter Ludwig Göransson, the score album will be released by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records. Black Panther marks Göransson’s third collaboration with director Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station). The Swedish-born composer wrote the original songs for Creed and has also produced albums for music stars including Childish Gambino, Haim, and Chance the Rapper.
The score was recorded in London with a whopping 132-piece western classical orchestra, as well as African percussionists and a 40-person choir. “After reading Ryan’s first draft of the script, I quickly realized that the only way I could properly score Black Panther was to travel to Africa to record, research, and learn from as many musicians I could find,” Göransson recently said. “I was introduced to Senegal’s most incredible musicians and storytellers, and from there it all started to come together.”
You can already pre-order the Black Panther score on iTunes, and you can listen to the full soundtrack on Spotify right now!
Incredible Marvel Cinematic Universe “Class Photo”
All your favorite Marvel Super Heroes—as well as a host of Marvel filmmakers and the man himself, Stan Lee—joined together for an amazing “class photo” to help celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. See the photo, read up about how they made it happen, and take a gander at some behind-the-scenes footage here at D23.com.
