A new release schedule has made significant changes to Disney’s plans for the animated features that were being produced by Fox Animation at the time of its acquisition. Last May, Disney had signalled that it intended to release all of the Fox animated pics in a timely manner, but the new schedule puts those original plans in question.
Here are the changes:
- A feature adaptation of the Fox tv series Bob’s Burgers has been taken off the studio’s release schedule. Disney had previously set its release for July 17, 2020.
UPDATE: Someone on Twitter asked Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard about the status of the film. His response: “Fear not.” In other words, the film is still coming—just not in a theater on July 17, 2020.
UPDATE #2: The Walt Disney Company is now claiming that they made an error in their release schedule and that the Bob’s Burgers never changed its release date. How does a mega-corporation like Disney forget that they’re releasing a film? In any case, a Disney representative told CNET that the film’s absence from the schedule was inaccurate. The studio sent out a corrected schedule today (see below) that now includes Bob’s Burgers for July 17, 2020.
- Ron’s Gone Wrong, the debut feature the U.K.’s Locksmith Animation, has been pushed from November 6, 2020, to February 26, 2021. It will be the only Locksmith film that Disney releases, as the deal between Locksmith and Fox Animation fell apart following Disney’s takeover. Locksmith recently signed a new multi-film deal with Warner Bros. Pictures.
- Nimona, the Blue Sky Studios feature based on Noelle Stevenson’s comic and directed by Patrick Osborne (Disney’s Feast), has been delayed over 10 months, from March 5, 2021, to January 14, 2022. Prior to Disney’s takeover, Fox had announced a Nimona release date of February 14, 2020. It is the last Blue Sky film that had been officially announced as moving into production. The future of the studio under Disney’s ownership remains unclear at this time, though next month, Disney will release Blue Sky’s latest pic, Spies in Disguise.
Though there is fresh uncertainty with its lineup of Fox animated releases, Disney’s own animation plans are very clear. Over the next four years, the company intends to release 10 animated features from Disney Animation and Pixar. Four of those films will be produced by Disney and six by Pixar. Over the previous four-year period (2016-2019), the two studios had combined for eight animated features.
