With the Disney corporation unleashing its own streaming service on the world later this year and absorbing other studios faster than Galactus (a character that they also have the rights to) consumes planets, their slate of upcoming movies is getting longer and longer.
From their ongoing slew of live-action remakes of their old animated classics to franchise reboots scraping the bottom of the franchise barrel to seemingly random adaptations of old fantasy novels that they hope will launch the next big franchise, there are a ton of movies coming soon from the Mouse House that fans are either iffy about or have no idea are even getting made.
So, here are 10 Upcoming Disney Movies Nobody Asked For (And 10 You Didn’t Even Know Were Coming).
20 Nobody Asked For: Jungle Cruise
Continuing to shamelessly mine all of its theme park attractions for movie ideas, Disney is releasing Jungle Cruise this summer. It’ll star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Emily Blunt, as well as straight actor Jack Whitehall controversially playing a “camp” character. This will likely not be the next Casablanca.
19 Didn’t Even Know About: Shrunk
Shrunk is the snappy new title given to Disney’s upcoming reboot of the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids franchise. The cult kids movies star Rick Moranis as Wayne Szalinski, an inventor whose shrinking machine accidentally shrinks his kids. Josh Gad is in talks to star in the reboot as Nick, Wayne’s son, who will – you guessed it! – shrink his own kids.
18 Nobody Asked For: Nottingham & Hood
Nottingham & Hood has been described as the launchpad for a live-action Robin Hood franchise in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean. But didn’t Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx just try and fail to do that last year? Plus, Nottingham & Hood is a terrible title. It’s like they couldn’t decide whether to call it Nottingham or Hood and went with both.
17 Didn’t Even Know About: Three Men And A Baby Remake
A remake of Three Men and a Baby, the Leonard Nimoy-directed hit comedy starring Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson as a trio of men who raise Selleck’s illegitimate child, is in development. Little is known about the project at this point, but it will release as a Disney+ exclusive.
16 Nobody Asked For: The Haunted Mansion Reboot
The previous attempt at bringing The Haunted Mansion to the screen led to a movie that was so terrible that even Eddie Murphy wasn’t given the freedom to make it at least worth the ticket price. So, one has to wonder why in God’s name Disney is giving it another go.
15 Didn’t Even Know About: Magic Kingdom
Why take just a slice when you can have the whole pie? Instead of adapting a roller-coaster for the screen as they usually do, the good people at Disney are making a movie out of the whole park. Magic Kingdom has been described as “Night at the Museum at Disneyland,” with all the Disney characters coming to life at night.
14 Nobody Asked For: The Night Stalker
Disney is currently developing a film adaptation of the supernatural crime drama Kolchak: The Night Stalker, which will star and be produced by Johnny Depp. Kolchak was a big influence on The X-Files, but it’s no longer relevant – and Depp’s star power has rapidly dropped in the last couple of years due to his ex-wife’s allegations of domestic abuse.
13 Didn’t Even Know About: Splash Remake
Disney is reportedly working on a remake of the mermaid rom-com Splash. The twist with this remake is the gender swap: the everyman schlub, played by Tom Hanks in the original, will be a woman played by Jillian Bell in the remake, while the mermaid, played by Daryl Hannah in the original, will be a merman played by Channing Tatum in the remake.
12 Nobody Asked For: Mulan
Like this summer’s Aladdin, Disney’s forthcoming live-action remake of Mulan will offer great opportunities to a lot of minority actors. But also like Aladdin, it will likely butcher the translation of a beloved animated classic’s unique visual style into live-action. There’s every chance that Disney will surprise us with a great movie, but it’s unlikely.
11 Didn’t Even Know About: Miss Marple
Agatha Christie’s detective character Miss Marple is best known by film fans for Angela Lansbury’s portrayal of her. But Disney is actually working on a new movie version of Christie’s classic mystery stories. The role hasn’t been cast yet, nor has a director been hired, so it’s pretty early in the development process.
10 Nobody Asked For: National Treasure 3
It’s been 12 years since the release of National Treasure: Book of Secrets. It’s no more beloved now than it was then, but thanks to that movie’s $457 million worldwide box office haul, Disney is still committed to making a third movie. A script is being written as we speak.
9 Didn’t Even Know About: Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil
Five years after Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent, a Sleeping Beauty prequel expanding on the main villain, became a surprise smash hit despite mixed reviews, is getting a sequel subtitled Mistress of Evil. Many viewers have forgotten about Maleficent by now, so we’ll see if Mistress of Evil turns out to be as successful as the original.
8 Nobody Asked For: Artemis Fowl
Next summer, Disney will be releasing a big-screen adaptation of the first two books in Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series of young-adult fantasy novels. Kenneth Branagh is directing the film, which hopes to be the first installment of the next big YA franchise. Whether or not it will remains to be seen.
7 Didn’t Even Know About: The One And Only Ivan
The upcoming family comedy The One and Only Ivan will tell the story of a gorilla named Ivan and an elephant named Stella, as they plot to escape from captivity. The star-studded cast will include Bryan Cranston, Sam Rockwell, Angelina Jolie, and Danny DeVito, and the script is being written by School of Rock’s Mike White.
6 Nobody Asked For: Father Of The Bride
With the dozens of franchise reboots we’ve been treated to recently, the studios are clearly scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point, because Disney is working on a reboot of the Steve Martin comedy Father of the Bride. The movie was a modest hit in 1991, but it’s hardly a classic.
5 Didn’t Even Know About: Oz The Great And Powerful Sequel
Remember Sam Raimi’s big-budget prequel to The Wizard of Oz starring James Franco? It was a modest box office success back in 2013, so Disney started work on a sequel. Six years later, they’re still working on it, with a vague plan to set it in the 20-year period between the first one and Dorothy’s arrival in Oz.
4 Nobody Asked For: The Parent Trap Remake
Everyone loves The Parent Trap. A family comedy in which Lindsay Lohan plays two twins who are trying to get their parents back together? What’s not to love? It’s one of those beloved movies that should be left alone, like Citizen Kane. Unfortunately, Disney is developing a remake exclusively for their streaming service.
3 Didn’t Even Know About: Cruella
On December 23, 2020, Disney is set to release Cruella, a movie about Cruella de Vil starring Emma Stone as the title character. It hopes to give the 101 Dalmatians villain the Maleficent treatment. Maleficent received mixed reviews and an equally mixed response from audiences, so hopes aren’t sky-high for this one.
2 Nobody Asked For: Lady And The Tramp
As if we didn’t have enough live-action translations of classic animated Disney movies on the way, they’re remaking Lady and the Tramp with Tessa Thompson and Justin Theroux voicing the title characters. Unsurprisingly, the photorealistic CGI characters look a little unnerving. It will be released exclusively to Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+.
1 Didn’t Even Know About: The Nightmare Before Christmas Reboot
Disney is working on a reboot of the spooky holiday classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s unclear if Tim Burton or Henry Selick will be involved, or what the project will be. Disney isn’t sure whether to develop a stop-motion sequel or a live-action remake. Frankly, either would be a terrible idea.