Disney Announces Ambitious New Animated Film WISH Starring Ariana DeBose and Alan Tudyk
With Disney celebrating its 100-year anniversary, the animation studio wanted to do something special for the occasion and create an animated movie that pays tribute to the legacy of Disney. During Walt Disney Animation’s presentation at D23 Expo, they announced that new project, and it’s titled Wish.
This is an ambitious film project and a tall order because the creative team is looking to tell a story about the star that Disney characters have wished upon over the years. Yes, it’s the same star mentioned in the classic Disney song, "When You Wish Upon a Star." It’s like an origin story for the star.
The story takes place in a place called Rosas, a fairytale kingdom of wishes, and it focuses on the power of wishes. The animation style of the film blends classic watercolor-style designs with Disney animation-style characters and blends it all with CGI. They shared some footage, and it definitely looks different from any other Disney animated film that has been made.
The early footage we saw from the film was impressive and it looks like it will be a beautifully animated film. I just hope they can pull off a great story for this big Disney movie concept.
The movie stars West Side Story star Ariana DeBose as 17-year-old Asha, who has a sidekick named Star. The story sees Asha make a wish after realizing there's darkness in the kingdom. That’s when the character star comes into her life and this star can’t speak.
The movie is being directed by Chris Buck (Frozen) and Fawn Veerashunthorn (Raya) from a script written by Jennifer Lee (Frozen). The movie also stars Alan Tudyk, who voices a goat character named Valentino.
The film will also be a musical, with songs being written by Julia Michaels, who is known for her single “Issues” and penning the Billboard No. 1 hits “Sorry” and “Lose You to Love Me.” DeBose came out on stage at the end of the presentation to sing one of the songs from the film titled, “More For Us.” You can actually listen to some of that below.
Wish arrives in theaters on November 2023. Wish will be the 62nd Walt Disney Animation Studio feature film.