Animated cinema and a tribute to Chadwick Boseman shine at the D23 Expo

Anaheim (USA), Sep 9 (EFE).- The “D23 Expo: The Ultimate Fan Event” convention returned a year later than expected due to the covid-19 pandemic and did so with a great reception by the public, who packed the Anaheim Convention Center, a city near Los Angeles, showing their enthusiasm.

“We are going to enjoy our biggest D23 Expo of all time,” said the executive director of The Walt Disney Company, Bob Chapek, emphatically during the inauguration of this macro-event in which up to 65,000 fans of franchises as acclaimed as Pixar, Star Wars or Marvel.

The first day of the D23 Expo began with the ‘Disney Legends Ceremony’ tribute event, which served as the kick-off for this convention that runs until Sunday, for which the ‘no tickets’ sign was hung and on the that huge queues of fans could already be seen to get hold of exclusive ‘merchandising’.

The ‘Disney Legends’ awards are awards that The Walt Disney Company has awarded every year since 1987, when tribute was paid to the American performer Fred MacMurray (“The Absent Minded Professor”).

Actor Josh Gad and his companions Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, all belonging to the cast of “Frozen”, were among the characters recognized in this edition along with Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey, figures from the famous series “Grey’s Anatomy”- , as well as Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson, for “Black-ish.”

Although the most emotional moment of the delivery, and also of the morning session, was the tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, who died two years ago, and whose award was collected by his brother Derrick.

“I wish you were here to receive it. The loss of him has been an immense pain for my whole family, ”she said when collecting the award.

By noon, the attendees, who paid a ticket whose price ranges between 100 and 500 dollars, had already made their purchases and were thirsty for news; they wanted to be the first to know about future Disney productions and tell about it on their social networks.

Said and done, in the afternoon session a barrage of new details, especially related to Disney animated films, caused the enjoyment of the audience that followed the sessions live completely excited.

“MUFASA: THE LION KING” AND ARIANA DEBOSE FOCUSED THE EYES

Walt Disney Studios revealed that the prequel to its popular film “The Lion King” (2019) will be titled “Mufasa: The Lion King” and showed fans of the franchise some exclusive images of this new film, which will feature the actor British Aaron Pierre and with the American Kevin Harrison Jr. to voice Mufasa.

In addition, Jeremy Irons (“House of Gucci”) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years A Slave”) will voice the evil Scar, in his different life stages.

In the advance of the film, Rafiki (John Kani) could also be seen narrating to new cubs the story of Mufasa until he conquered Pride Rock and explaining to them that this was a lion that was born “without a drop of nobility in his blood”, but that his legacy changed their lives.

The novelties in the Disney animation section followed one another and, for a moment, all the spotlights were focused on the Hispanic actress Ariana DeBose who, as announced today, will star in the movie “Wish”.

In this production, the figure from the musical “West Side Story” takes on the role of Asha, a 17-year-old heroine capable of turning dreams into reality thanks to her special ability to attract cosmic energy.

However, this role was relegated to the background due to the long list of new projects that DeBose has in hand and her fans were stunned when they saw her step on the stage of the D23 Expo and sing live “More of Us”, one of songs from the original soundtrack of “Wish”.

Likewise, this Friday it was also discovered that the animated film “Strange World”, directed by Don Hall (producer of “Tarzan”) and written by Qui Nguyen (“Raya and the Last Dragon”), will be released next Action Day thanks.

On the other hand, the first day of the D23 Expo also leaves the news that the young actress Halle Bailey, one of the musical phenomena of recent years, will play the mermaid Ariel in the non-animated adaptation of the classic “The Little Mermaid”. .

JAMIE LEE CURTIS JOINS THE ‘HAUNTED MANSION’ REMAKE

Finally, fans of scary films with a funny tone are in luck because Jamie Lee Curtis, one of the actresses always linked to the horror genre, joins the cast of the ‘Haunted Mansion’ remake with stars like Owen Wilson , Winona Ryder, Jared Leto or Danny DeVito, among many others.

In this sense, the final trailer for “Hocus Pocus 2” was also released, the sequel to the film released in 1993 that narrated the adventures of the Sanderson sisters in Salem, and whose story returns to theaters on September 30 under the direction by Anne Fletcher (“The Proposal”).

William Azabal

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Animated cinema and a tribute to Chadwick Boseman shine at the D23 Expo