Plotting out Disney's Future: The Resurgence Era (Part IV)
Originally I considered making this an alt-renaissance post since some of my earlier ideas for this felt like something 90s Disney could've done, but I decided to not complicate this. I like the idea of trilogies, so I kinda wanted to leave my RE posts at 3, but I still had more ideas I wanted to jot down, and while I considered naming this another era, I didn't see it having anything distinctive from the RE to warrant me calling it something else, even if I crafted a narrative of Disney hitting a dark era between RE3 and this. In any case, enjoy the ideas! I'll probably edit this later (probably just the blurbs rather than adding another film, though I did consider KH3), but make sure to check out the other parts on my main page.
Pied Piper--After success with some of their darker films, Disney accepts an idea influenced by the Pied Piper of Hamlin, despite concerns that the fairy tale influenced "Home on the Range." They set it in a gothic atmosphere in line with the work of Robert Eggers and Guillermo del Toro. The story focuses on a town bewitched by a mysterious magician. Many of the inhabitants have dissappeared after hearing his song. For whatever reason, a young woman is immune to his charms, but decides to follow him herself to find where the missing people have gone. Stephen Schwartz is hired to do the music, while the film is directed by Michael Green and Jared Bush writes the script.
2. Othello--Wanting to take another stab at an epic and dramatic love story, Disney decides to adapt Shakespeare's "Othello." Originally planning to be largely reliant on the source material, the setting is soon changed to a more high fantasy land, wanting it to have a quasi-historical, quasi-magical vibe akin to the "Assassin's Creed" and "Prince of Persia" games. Wanting to make an emotional and romantic story similar to their 90s films, Disney reworks the film several times due to story and tone issues. Iago is quickly changed from an ensign to a tyrannical king to make the film feel more magical, and Ron Clements and John Musker are brought on to direct and write the film, with Tim Rice and Alan Menken doing the music.
3. Demon Ender--Inspired by the box office success of the Japanese series "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba" and the Korean-influenced "Kpop Demon Hunters," Disney opts to try their hand at a demon slayer story of their own. While originally not planned to be a musical, the success of KPDH made them reconsider. With the more famous media being of East Asian influence, Disney quickly pivots, changing the idea from a Chinese-influenced story to focus on Southeast Asia once more, noting how their previous takes on Thailand and Indonesia had proven successful. They opt for a female lead this time, partially because the last two SEA films had male leads, and partially to set itself up to be compared to KPDH, even though the similarities were surface level. Directed by Chi Ngo and Gennedy Tartakovsky and written by Megan Nicole Dong, the film follows a young in the Lê Dynasty who sides with a prince in a war against his brother, who has resorted to using demons to take the throne.. Continuing on with the tradition of the previous SEA films, this film is 2D animated, and as a musical, it uses Vietnamese opera as the sonic influence. Đăng Minh makes the score, with Keshi writing the lyrics.
4. Mint--After a long while, Disney greenlights an African-American fantasy film. While originally planned to be an adaptation of "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters," the story changed to be centered around African-American folklore in the Southern United States, specifically being influenced by Virginia Hamilton's book "Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales," and while the art style chosen is 3D, they still work to emulate Leo and Diane Dillon's artwork from the book. While they originally planned to place the story in a contemporary realistic setting, further conversations led Disney to opt for a low fantasy story that blurs the line between modern-age and the 17th-18th centuries, though the topic of racism is quickly overturned as Disney wants the story to have a wider appeal, as well as taking influence from the Harry Potter series and including elements of Native American mythology. They manage to attach Jordan Peele and Kemp Powers as co-directors and co-writers, with SZA and Kid Cudi doing the music, citing the success they had with celebrity-led musicals before.
5. Rivingtor--After failing to translate the Greek story of "Echo" into a Victorian-influenced romance, Disney eventually circles back to the genre after some pushing, though they worry that a period drama focused on romance would lose their audiences, particularly as early drafts take influence from Regency-era stories like "Bridgerton" and Jane Austen novels. As such, they took a page from "Mint" and made the film a low fantasy story, taking influence from various fantasy stories from the mid-19th to mid-20th century. With visual inspired from Pre-Raphaelite artistry, the 2D film is directed by Christine Arnold and written by Bill Kelly/Chris Weitz and music by Sara Bareilles.
6. Muezza--Wanting to revive a Puss in Boots idea for a while now, Disney has difficulty doing so without being compared to the Dreamworks film, and it is repeatedly shot down. However, when someone hears how cats are well-respected in Islamic culture, an idea occurs to them to pitch Disney a version of the tale set in Persia, distinct from the Arabian "Aladdin," and makes the titular character a Turkish angora. Disney hesitantly agrees to this, and creates the Persian story trust for the sake of the film, due to concerns about doing first-person research in Iran for the storytelling. Eventually, Ashkan Rahgozar is hired to direct and co-write the story with Usman Riaz, with David Yazbek doing the music, as Disney quickly decides to make it a 3D musical. The story goes through various incarnations, including having a male human companion for the feline as per the original story, as well as making it about a young man cursed to live as a princess' cat, before settling on a plot about a woman and her cat using their wits to outwit a scheming shapeshifter.
7. Afterlie--Originally conceived as a short influenced by the death of Baldur in Norse mythology, Disney is eventually persuaded to turn it into a film instead, also taking influence from the Orpheus and Eurydice. Disney becomes restrictive when early drafts of the film appear to end up being bittersweet and melancholy, and then Viziepop, having contributed to the story significantly at that point, is removed from the project. When the title "Afterlife" is leaked and earns criticism about Disney having a film centered around death, they tweak the title to "Afterlie" and make the story about going to another dimension rather than characters dealing with death. Malcon Pierce is brought on to write the film, and co-directs the film with Minkyu Lee. In order to curb any potential controversy, the idea against making it a musical is overturned, and the Anderson-Lopez team is brought on to make the music. The film is made 2D since they feel like it's appear less intimidating as a result.
8. Brujos--Continuing on with their success with Latin American fantasy films, Disney eventually decides to greenlit another musical in the region, this time focusing on Chile. The story is influenced by the brujos de chiloe, AKA the warlocks of Chiloe, a Chilean Island. Taking inspiration from the 19th century trial focused on suspected warlocks said to rule the country via a secret society, the story focuses on a young man in a magical world who discovers he has magic, and is inducted into a cult of warlocks, not realizing that they hope to take his power for their own. The film is made in 2D and directed by Fabián Andrade and written by Germán Acuña, with music done by Jorge Rivera-Herrans.
9. Gatekeeper--Given the success of the "Wreck-It-Ralph," franchise and "Destiny's Deceit," Disney greenlights a video game based on arcade-style video games like "Street Fighter" and "Mortal Kombat." At first, Brad Bird is brought on to direct and write the film, but due to games like this having larger rosters and various storylines, Disney briefly considers cancelling the film and moving it to a tv show instead. However, after Bird left the project and was replaced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the project became more streamlined with a smoother production and a singular, more emotional storyline. True to form, the film was made as a 3D film, and focused on a young martial artist who seeks to rescue his kidnapped brother. While not a musical in the traditional sense, Disney decides to gather several musicians to craft a concept album surrounding the film, similar to the "Rainstar" films.
10. Guilty Party--After the success of Klarksred, the "Kingdom Hearts" film, and Netflix's "A Series of Unfortunate Events," Disney greenlights a film influenced by their video game "Guilty Party." Wanting a similar vibe to "Encanto," Disney makes sure to further detail the family members and their backstories and dynamics (particularly Ling-Ling and Kid Riddle), and the whackier comedy is pulled back to feel like something smarter. Nathan Greno is brought on to direct it, with Jared Bush and Jessica Sharzer writing the script. While the idea of being a musical is briefly discussed, it's not taken seriously. As production rolls around, Disney is surprisingly okay with darker elements being leaned on, taking influence from "Scooby-Doo" as well as fixing the issue of Valentine and Olivia Dickens, since her involvement in the whole story is rather concerning.
11. Charlie Bone III--With the previous two film's success and a desire to properly conclude the series, Disney greenlights a third "Charlie Bone" series, largely adapting the final book, but also implementing aspects of the 6th and 7th books. Billy has a significant role in the story due to the plot twist, but Disney objects to the death of Manfred and Ezekial, mostly the latter, so a new gifted character is added to change their endings.
Hope you enjoyed round 4! Lemme know your thoughts and if you have any questions. (Side note: I was gonna make a third installment to Kingdom Hearts, but then I remembered I pretty much had the sequel catch up to where the series is now.)
