By Ben Fritz
ANAHEIM, Calif.--Walt Disney Co. on Saturday unveiled extremely
ambitious plans to transport U.S. theme park visitors to a galaxy
far, far away.
At the company's D23 convention for fans Saturday, Chief
Executive Robert Iger unveiled details about the integration of
"Star Wars" into Disney theme parks that fans have been waiting for
since the acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012.
The company won't just build new rides, said Iger, but plans to
construct 14-acre "Star Wars"-themed areas, akin to Tomorrowland or
Fantasyland, at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and at Hollywood
Studios in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
"We're creating a jaw dropping new world that represents our
largest single theme land expansion ever," Iger said.
No launch dates were announced for the "Star Wars" lands, which
will undoubtedly take several years to construct.
But Iger did say each will feature two major attractions: a
mission on the Millennium Falcon and a massive space battle.
In addition, the lands will feature characters, stores and
restaurants inspired by "Star Wars," including the classic cantina
from the original 1977 film.
"Nothing in the land will be out of character or stray from the
mythology," said Iger, adding that there will be droids and
"fantastic roaming beasts."
The announcement came at the end of a presentation of Disney's
live action movie slate for the next two years, with first looks at
footage from a number of films.
The one that seemed to wow the crowd the most was next April's
"The Jungle Book," which features photorealistic animals
interacting with a real boy in a more grounded interpretation of
Rudyard Kipling's stories than the 1967 Disney animated film.
Director Jon Favreau said his goal was to "use today's technology
to take it to a different place than the film that already
exists."
Fans also got to peek at footage from movies including "Pete's
Dragon," "Alice Through the Looking Glass," and "Captain America:
Civil War" in what was essentially Disney's version of
Comic-Con.
There were also photos, artwork, and discussions of movies still
in production or that haven't started shooting, including Marvel's
"Doctor Strange," Star Wars spin-off "Rogue One," a live action
adaptation of the musical "Beauty and the Beast," and 2017's fifth
"Pirates of the Caribbean." At the end of the presentation of the
latter movie, Johnny Depp came on stage dressed as his character
Captain Jack Sparrow and, true to form, acted borderline drunk and
threw grapes at the audience.
However, following the debut of a new trailer at April's "Star
Wars" fan event called "Celebration" and a behind-the-scenes
feature at Comic-Con, director J.J. Abrams had nothing new to show
from December's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Still, with visions
of spending an entire day immersed in "Star Wars" at Disneyland
someday, fans certainly didn't appear dissatisfied.
Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com
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