{"id":568491,"date":"2026-08-14T05:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T05:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/568491\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T05:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T05:00:14","slug":"d23-convention-2026-disney-convention-expected-to-draw-tens-of-thousands-of-fans-to-anaheim-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/568491\/","title":{"rendered":"D23 convention 2026: Disney convention expected to draw tens of thousands of fans to Anaheim, California"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Michael<\/p>\n

August 14, 2026 \u2014 11:30am<\/p>\n

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By the time you\u2019re reading this, tens of thousands of Disney fans will be pushing through the turnstiles at the studio\u2019s D23 convention in Anaheim, California, the House of Mouse spin-off to San Diego Comic-Con<\/a> which draws Disney diehards from around the world. They have come to meet the stars of Disney projects, see and hear first-look trailers and announcements, and buy toys. Lots and lots of toys.<\/p>\n

D23, a one-stop shop which merges branded marketing and old-school fan convention<\/a>, is as renowned for its cosplaying fans as it is for the nearby Honda Stadium showcases, which will, over this weekend, unveil the next two years of Disney\u2019s plans in the realms of streaming TV, animated and live-action movies, and theme park and cruise attractions. Think of them as Hillsong for plush toys and roller coasters.<\/p>\n

\"HappyHappy clappers? Disney fans worshipping at the altar of the House of Mouse in 2024.<\/p>\n

So, what is likely to lead the headlines? The most anticipated drop is likely to be either a teaser trailer or a glimpse of production footage from Star Wars: Starfighter. The film, produced by Disney-owned Lucasfilm and set five years after the events of Star Wars: Episode IX \u2013 The Rise of Skywalker, will star Ryan Gosling and is expected in cinemas in 2027.<\/p>\n

That makes this year\u2019s D23 the most likely staging ground to start marketing it to Disney-brand diehards. A year out from release and so far, not a single frame marketed to the audience? That\u2019s an oversight. Expect it to be corrected. Directed by Shawn Levy and written by Jonathan Tropper, the film also has an intriguing supporting cast: Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre and Amy Adams among them.<\/p>\n

Marvel\u2019s big ticket announcement is likely to be X-Men related, specifically the upcoming reboot directed by Jake Schreier. What makes that significant? Schreier\u2019s last film Thunderbolts<\/a> was a refreshing spin on the Marvel universe, which is beginning to show its age in story and casting terms. Gift with purchase: it\u2019s written by Lee Sung Jin (Beef) and Joanna Calo (The Bear). Two buzzier writers you will not find.<\/p>\n

On the X-Men front, there is already persistent online chatter. Sadie Sink is tipped to play telepathic and telekinetic Jean Grey, Kit Connors has been tipped to play Cyclops and Samara Weaving<\/a> is tipped to play diamond-hard super heroine Emma Frost. Marvel\u2019s Kevin Feige is expected to confirm those castings, and unveil more. But there\u2019s less urgency here; the X-Men reboot is not due in cinemas until late 2028.<\/p>\n

\"FeelingFeeling the call of the Force: Star Wars fans at a \u201ccosplay meetup\u201d at D23.<\/p>\n

The Disney animation headliner will almost certainly be Hexed, the studio\u2019s upcoming supernatural coming-of-age film about a young witch discovering her powers. Disney unveiled the voice cast and a glimpse of the film at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas. Audiences at D23 are expected to be given an extensive preview of the film.<\/p>\n

But rumours suggest Disney is also likely to tap its legacy well, with news about a third instalment of the Frozen franchise. Late 2027 is the date earmarked for the film, and this year\u2019s D23 is a critical step; D23 only happens every other year, and next year\u2019s marketing calendar will be dominated by the 50th anniversary of Star Wars.<\/p>\n

Disney is expected to showcase a couple of other Lucasfilm and Marvel titles. The second season of the Star Wars series Ahsoka<\/a> is long overdue, and a new trailer is likely to drop. The second season is due early in 2027, and in a highly competitive space like D23 (and it\u2019s non-Disney cousin, San Diego Comic-Con) buzz doesn\u2019t come cheap.<\/p>\n

Marvel is also expected to drop footage from this year\u2019s Avengers: Doomsday. With a December release date, that film might as well be opening next week for the time left to ramp the marketing noise up a notch. And critically, coming off big box office returns for The Odyssey<\/a>, Moana and Spider-Man<\/a>, \u201cnobody goes to the movies\u201d is wearing thin as an excuse for underperforming films.<\/p>\n

\"RosarioRosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano. The show\u2019s second season is expected to be among this year\u2019s big reveals.Lucasfilm<\/p>\n

Though the convention is pitched wider than the company\u2019s streaming assets, all roads lead ultimately to an arms race in the digital television space. Disney\u2019s core asset is threefold: Disney+, the US-based Hulu and ESPN+ which command, between them, a paid subscriber base of around 207 million people worldwide.<\/p>\n

The market leader, and logically Disney\u2019s major competitor, Netflix, has more than 325 million subscribers worldwide. That looks like a commanding margin, however, Netflix\u2019s core assets lack the pop culture appeal of Disney\u2019s. Marvel and Star Wars are, after all, hard to argue with.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Our<\/a><\/p>\n

While major announcements will make headlines in the mainstream media, D23 also feeds a raft of very detailed reveals to a micro-economy of Disney-focused news websites and blogs, YouTube channels and fan podcasts, with names like All Ears, Blog Mickey and Mice Chat, which unpack content announcements and theme park developments in minute detail.<\/p>\n

The dozen or so most-read of those sites generate as many as 100 million page views on a busy month, with more than 120 million subscribers to major social video channels across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. If measured as a single consolidated vertical, that micro-economy is worth more than US$300 million.<\/p>\n

Of particular interest to those sites will be the company\u2019s plans for new theme park extensions, including Villain\u2019s Land, the most substantial addition to a Disney parks since the launch the Star Wars-themed Galaxy\u2019s Edge in 2019. Villain\u2019s Land, at Walt Disney World in Florida, will be themed entirely around the villains of Disney stories, including Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), Ursula (The Little Mermaid) and Jafar (Aladdin).<\/p>\n

D23 is held every other year in Anaheim, California. The event draws as many as 100,000 people through its gates across a three-day weekend, excluding a separate D23 Disneyland day and, this year, a D23-branded baseball match at Dodger Stadium. The injection of revenue into the local economy, including accommodation, dining, transport and retail is worth an estimated US$55 million.<\/p>\n

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\"MichaelMichael Idato<\/a> is the culture editor-at-large of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 14, 2026 \u2014 11:30am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-568491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}