A new week of mailbag is here. This week I am joined by my good friend Zach Perilstein of Boardwalk Times to help me answer some of your questions from the world of Disney. If your question didn’t get answered here check out BoardwalkTimes.net for part 2 of this week’s mailbag.

Whatever happened to that planned “Marley” musical Bill Condon was gonna direct and possibly starring Ian McKellan? Did the pandemic kill it?

Skyler: I will say, Bill Condon is working on his new movie Kiss of the Spider Woman and all signs are pointing to that being a top-notch pic, so who knows what may happen. One thing is for sure, Condon and his team have a great relationship with Disney, so who knows?

Is Jennifer Lee going to be fired as Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios due to Strange World and Wish being flops?

Zach: Iger has been reemphasizing the creatives having power back and that also means responsibility for the financial outcomes. In the film industry, you will have misses. Disney expected Wish to be a hit, and on that same note, Disney expected Strange World to be dead on arrival (hence lack of marketing).

For live action Moana, will Dwayne Johnson look like his regular self but with the Maui hair or will they use CGI to make him look closer to his animated counterpart?

Skyler: It is too early to say, but if I was a betting man The Rock is a big guy already, there is no reason to make him a larger build whether that is in a suit or CGI.

Any news regarding the David Gordon Green Disneyland/Walt Disney film?

Zach: Currently on pause. There are some rights issues at play, which was expected because there were some characters involved in the creation of Disneyland… However, if this project resumes it will likely be theatrical and not Disney+.

Is there any Muppets projects in the works

Zach: Muppet-adjacent but the Jim Henson biopic is in development. For The Muppets proper after the cancellation of The Muppets Mayhem things seem murky. Adam F. Goldberg, co-creator of The Muppets Mayhem, wants to do more with the characters. The Muppets Studio currently falls under Disney Live Entertainment/Walt Disney Imagineering, and although I like WDI it may be time someone at Walt Disney Studios inherits that division. 

Do you know of any animated movies that have not been publicly announced yet that you can tease?

Skyler: All I know as of now, a new princess project movie is in early development, as is a Pirates project (not sure if that is Pirates of the Caribbean, which at one point I did hear, or an all-new original project).

Is there any chance we get some sort of Kingdom Keepers adaptation at some point? I know that Kevin Smith revealed that he was helping develop a television series a couple of years ago before the project was eventually canceled, so Disney was exploring the idea at one point

Zach: Ironically Kevin Smith’s Kingdom Keepers was killed by a Disney+ exec because it featured too much IP. I know that’s crazy! Especially because modern Disney loves mining for IP. Kingdom Keepers has been on their radar as evidenced by the Kevin Smith Disney+ series attempt. However, Kingdom Keepers features a ton of characters from the  Disney Parks and Disney films so it would be a massive film/series with a budget. I still believe we will see an adaption of the property at some point. It’s too good of a story and checks too many boxes not to happen.

When will you return with the DisInsider Show??

Skyler: I am not sure if this show will come back as I do these mailbags now. Derek my co-host and DisInsider co-founder has started his family and needed a bit of a break and I respect that but I chose to not do the show without him.

 That said,  we do have amazing shows on The DisInsider including News From The Castle and Walt’s Apartment.

Feige and Iger have spoken about Marvel Studios’ recent decline in quality and box office earnings and they have stated they know what they have to do to turn things around. However, Pixar and in particular Disney Animation Studios also had a number of flops in recent years. I expected Iger, Docter and Jennifer Lee to make similar statements about what went wrong at some point, but other than Iger saying they’re going to make both sequels and originals in the coming years, they haven’t shared with us more details. Do you think Lee and Docter should obviously remain at the company but be replaced as CCOs and if not what should really change to make these studios as good as they were in the recent past?

Zach: For what it’s worth, Docter has come out in interviews and discussed Pixar’s miss in Lightyear. Also, I think you could’ve put anyone in charge of Pixar/Walt Disney Animation Studios/Marvel/Lucasfilm during this pandemic/Disney+ “we gotta make a ton”  era and everyone would’ve still came out with these results. I think both Docter and Lee are great creative leaders and despite stumbles, they will continue to persevere at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Who else are being considered for Meg other than Ariana Grande? Elizabeth Gillies perhaps?

Skyler: Not saying anyone should run with this as 100% fact but a name I hear Disney likes right now is Dua Lipa.

How’s the progress on Mufasa: The Lion King and the other Disney live-action movies?

Skyler: Well, I heard some decent things about Mufasa already. Snow White has scored solid scores at test screenings, and the studio is still quietly developing Hercules and Aristocats, as well as trying to redevelop its Sword in the Stone remake.

That’s all for this week’s mailbag, stay tuned as every Thursday a new DisInsider Mailbag will drop. Thank you to Zach for joining on this week’s mailbag and don’t forget to check out BoardwalkTimes.net for part 2 of this week’s mailbag.

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