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D23 Expo 2015: Full Recap Of Animation Panel — ‘Toy Story 4,’ ‘Moana,’ ‘Gigantic,’ Finding Dory,’ More

By Danny Cox
Published on: 13:44 PST, Aug 14, 2015

The D23 Expo 2015 began on Friday out in Anaheim, California, and all things Disney are going absolutely insane. A lot of people are anxiously awaiting the “Parks & Resorts” presentation on Saturday, but the Animation Panel took place on Friday night and so much was revealed about Toy Story 4, Finding Dory, Moana, Gigantic, and more.

A panel that was scheduled to be two hours ended up going into three, but no one seemed to mind. There were a lot of special guests such as Ellen DeGeneres, John Lasseter, Ed O’Neill, Ty Burrell, and even The Rock himself — Dwayne Johnson.

Early in the day, there were a number of movie posters on display on the D23 Expo floor, and it was the first that anyone had seen for many films. One was Cars 3, another — which got everyone excited — was for The Incredibles 2, and another was for Toy Story 4.

There was no info revealed about Cars 3 or The Incredibles 2 during the animation panel, but there was some about Toy Story 4. It will not continue the story of the original trilogy, but it will be a love story between Woody and Bo Peep, who our hero has to go find.

Another movie that got a lot of info revealed about it was Finding Dory, which the crowd at the D23 Expo went insane for. A lot of information was revealed for the film, which will hit theaters on June 17, 2016.

  • Dory’s mom Jenny is voiced by Diane Keaton
  • Dory’s dad Charlie is voiced by Eugene Levy
  • Bailey the Beluga whale is voiced by Ty Burrell – He believes he has a massive head injury and doesn’t realize how belugas actually look
  • Albert Brooks is back as the voice of Marlon
  • Hayden Rolence is the new Nemo because the original voice actor is now 21 years old
  • Hank the Octopus is voiced by Ed O’Neill
  • Destiny is a whale shark voiced by Kaitlin Olson – She thinks she is a pure whale
  • In the film, Dory is on a school trip and pulled into an undertow which triggers some sort of flashback of memories from her past. Dory must try to “migrate” and she has a memory about the “jewel of Monterrey” which takes her on the quest to find her parents.
  • Finding Dory takes place six months after the first film.

During the animation panel, Disney also announced a new film called Gigantic which is a Spain-set version of Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack climbs the huge plant and partners with an 11-year-old giant to battle the bad giants.

Tangled co-director Nathan Greco will helm the film while the geniuses behind the music of Frozen (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez) will bring the music to life.

The Rock made a special appearance during the presentation of Disney’s Moana of which he will voice a character named Maui, a demigod. The voice of the title character, Moana, has not yet been revealed.

d23 expo disney moana In the film, there will be a South Pacific setting with a young girl named Moana (meaning “ocean”) who dreams of adventure. Her father does not approve of sea voyaging, but her grandmother encourages it with legendary tales of the demigod Maui. It is set for release on Nov. 23, 2016.

A new Pixar movie was revealed, which will be about Dia de los Muertos, and it will be called Coco.

The D23 Expo 2015 is just beginning and there is so much more info coming this weekend from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and more. Tomorrow is a big day, but Friday evening bringing info on Toy Story 4, Finding Dory, Moana, Gigantic, and more was already a lot to take in.

[Image via Disney]

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