A new year means a new slew of films from Disney.
2019 is looking to be one of Disney’s biggest years with many high profile films coming to the big and small screens. In the theatres, Disney is looking to release highly anticipated sequels – Mary Poppins Returns (yes! It is a 2019 title in Australia), Frozen 2 and Toy Story 4, live-action adaptations – Dumbo and Aladdin, Marvel Studios offerings – Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, some trilogy-capers – Star Wars 9 and Descendants 3, a streaming service and a CGI remake of The Lion King.
And that’s not it with some more small screen flicks of a live-action Kim Possible and Noelle with Anna Kendrick, and a big screen film directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh with Artemis Fowl.
For this list, we aren’t including Disney+ titles as we don’t know which films will make its debut in 2019 with the streaming service’s late 2019 launch. Noelle looks to be the only 100% lock as it is a Christmas film that’s been in the Disney vault for a few years now, but it isn’t a film that I’m really looking forward too so don’t expect to see it on my list.
With that said, it’s time to see my four my anticipated Disney films to check out this year:
Avengers: Endgame
Not only is it my most anticipated Disney film for 2019, but it’s my most anticipated film for the whole year! Avengers: Endgame is the highly awaiting conclusion to last year’s biggest film Avengers: Infinity War. This follow-up offers more questions than it answers and I for one am super intrigued about the possible dusted characters. Do they all comeback? If so, how? Is it only selected heroes as we know Spider-Man is coming in 2019 as well from Sony? Are we going to lose members from the MCU forever? There’s potentially universe-shattering events about to go down in Endgame as listed as a “series finale of sorts” from Marvel Studios, so for that, it is my number one pick for most anticipated Disney film for this year. Avengers assemble!
Frozen 2
2013 was a year filled with surprises, but no one had expected that Frozen would have been the highest grossing film for that year, nonetheless the highest grossing animated film of all-time. Frozen was a runaway success and we all couldn’t let it go. As it turns out, neither could Disney with all that money Frozen made, with not just the box office performance, but the merchandise was also selling billions of dollars. So naturally after all that success, a sequel was put to order (as well as a short film and a theatrical television special). While we haven’t seen a glimpse from Frozen 2 yet, nor a real plot synopsis, all we know is that there will be more original songs for us to get stuck in our heads with our favourtie princesses Anna and Elsa going on a grand adventure outside of Arendelle’s walls. Plus, Frozen 2 is Disney’s first theatrical princess sequel.
Mary Poppins Returns
For many people living in the United States, Mary Poppins Returns is a 2018 film. However, in Australia the sequel is listed as a 2019 film as it made its debut today (January 1st), so since I live in Australia and this blog focuses on most things Disney in Australia, I’m going to count Mary Poppins Returns here as a 2019 title. With that said, and this may be a controversial opinion, I wasn’t a real fan of the original Mary Poppins movie. That said, I’ve only seen it once for the first time last year to prepare myself for the sequel, and perhaps I had skyrocket expectations as the classic film that many have labelled it, but upon my first viewing the film didn’t real gel with me. The sequel however looks to be a fun time at the pictures with the last trailer completely selling me on this sequel. My only worry is that it looks a little too much like the original with updated visuals. Only time will tell, and very soon for that matter.
Dumbo
Out of all of the live-action adaptations, so far, Dumbo seems to be the most to gain, rather than lose. While The Lion King seems too familiar with its animated counterpart and Aladdin looking familiar, but also may be very different upon its animation predecessor. Dumbo has the most to gain and while they are changing a lot, it still seems to have the heart of the original Dumbo, making me super excited but also super intrigued about its potential possibilities. This may be in the vein as Tim Burton’s other adaptation Alice in Wonderland or could be the year’s biggest surprise.
Inner Disney 