D23 Expo - Art and Imagination: Animation at the Walt Disney Studios

To kick off the D23 Expo on Friday morning in the area was a welcome from Bob Iger then a presentation by John Lasseter titled "Art and Imagination: Animation at the Walt Disney Studios". He walked through the upcoming slate of films from Disneytoon Studios, Pixar and Walt Disney Studios. He brought out the directors and producers from the films to talk about them and to introduce some of the voice talent following the familiar format of the first Expos presentations. For a summary of all the news that was announced, click here for the press release. Since the release covers all the news and several sites were live tweeting below are some pictures and video clips to give you a flavor of the event.

First up a highlight video Disney released after the Expo showing some of the key moments from this presentation as well as Saturdays on Live Action films.

Bob Iger opened the presentation and the Expo welcoming all D23 fans. One interesting fact that I had not thought about he threw out was he is the 6th person to run the company.

“The Good Dinosaur” - Co-director Peter Sohn and producer Denise Ream led the discussion and Lucas Neff, voice of Arlo; Bill Hader, voice of Forrest; Judy Greer, voice of Ivy joined them on stage.

“Inside Out” - Director Pete Docter and  producer Jonas Rivera

Finding Dory was next. Here is a fun video clip that includes Bill Hader and John Ratzenberger talking about being Pixars "Lucky Charm".

The Pixar segment ended with the first 10 minutes of Toy Story of Terror that will be on ABC in October.

Disneytoon Studios

First up a discussion of the next two Fairy Films.. “Legend of the NeverBeast” and "The Pirate Fairy". Here is a video clip featuring Director Peggy Holmes and Christina Hendricks, who gives voice to Zarina, and Tom Hiddleston, tapped to voice a young James aka Captain Hook.

They discussed Planes and then moved on to the sequel due out next year, “Planes: Fire & Rescue”

Walt Disney Animation Studios

The section started off with a great tribute to Burny Mattinson who has worked for Disney for over 60years. Then they moved on to the films. First up a look at the Mickey Mouse short, “Get A Horse!” that will be in front of Frozen.

Then on to Big Hero 6 with director Don Hall.

A brief look at Zootopia followed then onto Frozen to wrap up the presentation. Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee discussed the film and brought Josh Gad, voice of Olaf out.

Then Kristen Bell, voice of Anna.

To wrap up the presentation “Let It Go,” was performed by Broadway’s Tony® Award-winner Idina Menzel, who provides the voice of Elsa.