Disney has been in the headlines already in 2024 with the copyright for their first Mickey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie, falling into the public domain. The studio powerhouse had a pretty flat 2023 as just about every big release from them underperformed at the box office. They are hoping to shake that off and hit 2024 running. What can we expect from the House Of Mouse this year? Let’s take a look at the Disney 2024 release schedule.
It has been 18 years since we’ve had a theatrical film in the Omen series. Well, they are trying again with this prequel that will set the stage for Damien’s arrival. With the buzz that The Exorcist: Believer was getting when it was announced that it was on the way had to get executives wondering what religious horror IP they had sitting in the vault. Since Disney had acquired Fox Studios, it dusted the series off and pushed it into production. After how The Exorcist sequel underperformed, they probably wished they hadn’t.
We’re going back to the Planet Of The Apes this summer. The previous three entries in the series were enjoyed by critics and fans alike. Some miss the fun masks of the original series, which is understandable. This film will push the series further into the future, where apes remain the dominant species. Will fans turn out for a new set of characters even if it’s still the setting we have seen before? More than likely. The series has built goodwill with fans, and the creative teams have told some great stories so far.
This Pixar sequel will travel to one of the scariest places ever seen. The emotions of a teenager. Those of us who made it to the other side of adolescence shiver at the thought of reliving those years over again. The first film was a big hit, and exploring new emerging emotions would be fun to watch. This will probably be a pretty big hit for the studio, but will it be in the theater or on Disney+ after it hits streaming? Many people wait until streaming now, which could be a scenario that happens here.
This is the only theatrical film Marvel is putting out in 2024 (unless something slides up into later summer here soon), and fans will probably appreciate the breather. It’s probably a good idea since the excitement of Deadpool finally coming to the MCU will bring people out in droves. With the plot seeming to be around the destruction of the Fox Marvel brand, this could pull a Spider-Man: No Way Home and be a crossover fans have wanted to see for a while. Fox had control of The X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Daredevil. With this film, it seems like we’ll get a taste of all of them before Deadpool hops off for greener pastures. This might be the most anticipated movie on Disney’s 2024 release schedule.
After this many films featuring the xenomorph, has the luster worn off? When Ridley Scott returned to the franchise with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, fans were less than impressed. They are setting this film between Alien and Aliens somewhere else in the galaxy. Maybe that will add enough freshness to make fans want to check it out again. Director Fede Alvarez has shown with his films Evil Dead 2013 and Don’t Breathe that he can craft a suspenseful story. Maybe this franchise will benefit from adding some of the horror back into it.
John Wick has been ruling the assassin genre for a bit now, and it seems like some studios are catching up with them. The Beekeeper and Argylle are coming out this year, delving into the world of spies and assassins. This film is an adaptation of a book that was previously done in 1981. It would seem this might be another subgenre that runs into the ground before it’s all said and done. Luckily, this one has a frequent comeback, so a new film of this ilk is always coming out. The cast seems fun, with Rami Malek and Laurence Fishburn leading the charge.
Disney has never been afraid of remaking its own content if that means fans will drop some dollars on it. The big trend now is doing live-action remakes of their animated catalog. This sequel to The Lion King lives outside the live-action part since it’s all CGI but falls into what Disney has been trying to accomplish over the last decade. With The Little Mermaid underperforming last year, it’s only a matter of time before they pull back on these types of remakes and find something else to do. It would be nice if it were something original, as you’ll notice every title on this list across three of the studio’s brands are sequels, remakes, or a prequel.
Are you looking forward to anything on Disney’s 2024 release schedule? Let us know in the comments.