For every year that passes, the gravitational pull generated by The Walt Disney Company becomes that much more inescapable. Once simply a film studio associated with hand-drawn animated features and creepy amusement parks, Disney has steadily transformed itself into an entertainment juggernaut that has swallowed up other studios such as Fox like they were mere road apples on the path to conquest. Disney now owns so many other properties, in fact, that simply keeping up with all the films they’re releasing throughout 2023 is a surprisingly difficult endeavor—first you need to know all the subsidiary companies Disney owns, and all the venues they have to release films, including the Disney+ streaming platform and Hulu.
Luckily, we’ve assembled the impressive, full tally in a single place. What follows is every single film that Disney and its subdivisions have on the docket for 2023. They run a wide gamut of different styles and genres, and will be released in a wide variety of ways; some in theaters and some via streaming platforms. The one thing they share in common is that all are currently scheduled to be released before 2023 draws to a close.
Here’s a brief capsule on each, presented in roughly chronological release order.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: QuantumaniaRelease date: Feb. 17, 2023
The first MCU feature film of 2023 is bringing us back down to the teenyverse that is the Quantum Realm, while also having major implications for the next era of Avengers films—if a few years from now we’ll be watching an Avengers film with Kang the Conqueror in the title, then it stands to reason that all of his appearances leading up to that movie will likely be pivotal, and he looks to be a major player here, returning after his introduction in the first season of Loki. Jonathan Majors again plays the timeless Kang, alongside all the Ant-Man regulars—Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer, etc. One swap: Scott’s daughter Cassie is played by the third different actress for this series, now being portrayed by Freaky’s Kathryn Newton.
The plot of Quantumania, meanwhile, seems to hinge around the decades that Janet van Dyne spent lost in the Quantum Realm, and a secret about that place she never revealed to Hank Pym and co.—the fact that it has its own civilization, for one. It remains to be seen how the Quantum Realm will be able to interact with the wider MCU, but it will no doubt be established here. As the official synopsis puts it:
Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne, along with Hope’s parents Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne and Lang’s daughter Cassie, go on a new adventure exploring the Quantum Realm that pushes their limits and pits them against Kang the Conqueror.
Quantumania looks to kick off Phase 5 with a bang on Feb. 17, 2023.
Chang Can DunkRelease date: March 10, 2023
A paint-by-numbers family sports film, with only the Asian-American protagonist to make it stand out in any real way, Chang Can Dunk absolutely sounds like archetypal Disney Channel fodder, something one might catch as part of a marathon with all of the Air Bud sequels. The film is written and directed by Chinese-American director Jingyi Shao, and filmed in the fall of 2021, with eyes toward what will likely be a mid-2023 release. Synopsis is as follows, but it’s safe to say that this should seem very familiar.
16-year-old Asian-American, Chang, is an unpopular high schooler who loves basketball, but is always underestimated. Though his peers treat him as though he is insignificant, he becomes obsessed with learning how to slam dunk hoops with the ball. In doing so, Chang is determined to best the high school’s all-star named Matt, all while hopefully winning the adoration of his romantic interest, Kristy.
Peter Pan & WendyRelease date: April 28, 2023
Another entry in Disney’s quest to remake every one of their classic animated properties as a live-action film seems to be a fairly straightforward take on Peter Pan, albeit directed by an unlikely source in the form of Green Knight helmer David Lowery. Don’t expect this version to be swirling in portents of doom, however—Lowery also directed 2016’s Pete’s Dragon, and it’s safe to say that this is the tone he’ll likely be recreating here.
The film, with a title that is clearly being careful to emphasize not only one but two lead characters, stars Alexander Molony as Peter Pan and Ever Anderson as Wendy Darling. They’re joined by Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell, Jude Law as Captain Hook (that should be fun), and an excellent casting decision in the form of Jim Gaffigan as Mr. Smee.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3Release date: May 5, 2023
Presumably the last hurrah for director James Gunn in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the drawn-out drama over his Twitter dust-up, firing and subsequent rehiring before he was hired as an architect of the competing DCEU, it seems safe to say the director will be ready to go out in style. The recently released Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special on Disney+ begins laying the groundwork here—Peter finds out that Mantis is his half-sister, and we get a look at how the Guardians have been retrofitting and renovating Knowhere to make it into a sort of celestial alien commune. As the official synopsis puts it:
After purchasing Knowhere from the Collector, the Guardians of the Galaxy attempt to make it a safe haven for alien refugees. But after a brutal attack, Peter Quill must lead the Guardians on a dangerous mission to protect one of their members that could lead to the team dissolving.
The recently released first trailer, meanwhile, suggests that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is really Rocket’s movie, as it seems to promise we’ll finally be getting more of a firm backstory and plot built around everyone’s favorite gun-obsessed, genetically modified racoon. This could be the last go-round for many of these characters before others rise to prominence in Phase 5, so you should likely be ready for some teary-eyed goodbyes this time around. That, and another great soundtrack.
The Little MermaidRelease date: May 26, 2023
The latest animated Disney classic to get the big-budget live action treatment is The Little Mermaid, starring an ascendant Halle Bailey in the iconic role of Ariel. Directed by Rob Marshall from a screenplay by David Magee and Jane Goldman, this new version of The Little Mermaid can also boast Lin-Manuel Miranda as a producer and songwriter, with new songs added to the guaranteed retreads of all the classics. Alan Menken returns as composer.
In terms of vocal cast, this is a real who’s who, with some choices that really seem excellent—Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, Awkwafina as Scuttle and Javier Bardem as King Triton seem especially fun. Melissa McCarthy, meanwhile, holds down the antagonist angle as Ursula, while the film also stars Jonah Hauer-King, Art Malik, Noma Dumezweni, Jacob Tremblay and others. Expect to see the marketing machine for this one roar to life very soon.
ElementalRelease date: June 16, 2023
The animators at Pixar at back in the saddle with Elemental, a charming-looking little metaphor of a film, which takes place in a city entirely populated by residents assembled from the four classical elements: Fire, Water, Wind and Earth. The story involves a fire elemental named Ember (Leah Lewis) who strikes up an unlikely relationship with a water elemental named Wade (Mamoudou Athie). Are these friends, or doomed lovers? The materials we’ve seen so far, such as the teaser below, don’t exactly make it clear, but the film certainly looks cute and engaging enough, even with a design aesthetic that feels quite indebted to Inside Out in particular.
Elemental is directed by Peter Sohn of The Good Dinosaur, who also voiced Emile in Ratatouille, from a script by Brenda Hsueh. Reportedly, the film draws upon Sohn’s own youth, growing up as the child of immigrants in New York City in the 1970s. As the official synopsis puts it: “In a city where fire, water, land and air residents live together, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy are about to discover something elemental: how much they actually have in common.”
Indiana Jones and the Dial of DestinyRelease date: June 30, 2023
What to even say about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at this point? We all thought Jones was over the hill already in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and that was somehow almost 15 years ago at this point. Suffice to say, Harrison Ford will probably be dragging himself to make it to the finish line on this one, so one can only hope that the fifth installment in the Indiana Jones series somehow manages to play to the actor’s strengths rather than just CGI’ing him into increasingly more absurd scenarios. The presence of director James Mangold is reassuring, given his tackling of thematically similar material in Logan, though it will be strange to see an Indiana Jones film not personally directed by Steven Spielberg—George Lucas and Spielberg are present as executive producers instead.
In terms of plot, the action has now advanced to the end of the 1960s and centers around the U.S./Soviet space race, with the following official synopsis:
In 1969, American archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones lives against the backdrop of the Space Race. Jones is uneasy over the fact that the U.S. government has recruited former Nazis to help beat the Soviet Union in the competition to make it to space. His goddaughter, Helena, accompanies him on his journey. Meanwhile, Jürgen Voller, a NASA member and ex-Nazi involved with the moon-landing program, wishes to make the world into a better place as he sees fit.
Ford at least has a fun supporting cast around him this time, with John Rys-Davies reprising the role of Sallah for the first time since Last Crusade, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge joining as Indy’s goddaughter Helena. Other performers of note include both Mads Mikkelsen and Boyd Holbrook as antagonists, along with Antonio Banderas, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Thomas Kretschmann and Toby Jones. You can see the film’s first big trailer below.
