When a panel kicks off with footage of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," Belle wearing that dress in a live-adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast" and a never-before-seen glimpse at the next Marvel flick, you know it's going to be a good day.
Disney, Marvel and Lucasfilm fans were in for a real treat Saturday morning in Anaheim, California, as D23 revealed some huge news and proudly showcased Disney's upcoming live action film slate to an incredibly excited crowd.
From official word that a Star Wars Land is coming to Disneyland and Hollywood Studios in Orlando to a description of the kickass "Captain America: Civil War" footage shown, check out the best moments from this year's panel below!
Doctor Strange
Today, we got to see Benedict Cumberbatch in costume as Doctor Strange ... sorta.
Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige talked up the Phase III film, which comes out in November 2016, saying it will "expand what a Marvel Cinematic Universe film is" while "continuing to push the boundaries." He promised it will traverse dimensions in a cinematic way.
A message from Cumberbatch himself was then shown, with the "Sherlock" star saying Stephen Strange is an "extraordinary character" and the movie will be a "mind-blowing experience." "You gonna get girls, cars, explosions, astral projecting into alternate dimensions, I can't wait to tackle it," he continued.
Some concept art was then shown as Feige described the plot of the film, saying Stephen Strange is a neurosurgeon who gets his hands mangled a car accident. He then goes on a "quest" looking for a way to recover, meets The Ancient One who helps him heal. We get some idea of what The Ancient One looks like -- and it appears Tilda Swinton will indeed be playing a man, as the art showed an old gentleman with a beard.
We then saw images of flying cars (perhaps time travel?) and shots of Benedict in Doctor Strange's signature costume, red cape and all. There was also some brief test footage showing Cumberbatch working some major magic with his hands.
"Captain America: Civil War"
With one week left in production on the film, both Anthony Mackie and Cap himself, Chris Evans, were on hand to show some footage from the high-anticipated flick.
The clip started out with Falcon using his trusty Redwing (here a robot, not an actual bird) to run surveillance. Then Cap gets into a battle with Crossbones, who throws a magnetic bomb onto the supersoldier's shield.
As they're fighting, Falcon takes out Crossbones' cronies and Black Widow races through a marketplace, doing one of her trademark takedowns by twisting herself around a couple of armed men. Crossbones menacingly tells Cap, "This is for dropping a building on my face!" We see Crossbones unmasked, showing Frank Grillo's heavily scarred face. He brings up Bucky's name, leaving Cap stunned.
From there, we hear William Hurt's General Ross telling Steve Rogers, "the world owes you an unpayable debt. A great many people see you as a hero, but there are some who prefer the word 'vigilante.' People are afraid."
We get glimpses of The Vision, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, a funeral scene (likely for Peggy Carter, as there was a British flag draped over the casket, carried by Steve), truck explosions and Iron Man telling Rogers, "Sometimes I want to punch you in your perfect teeth."
There's a quick shot of Black Panther and his retractable claws and then a scene of the two opposing sides running into battle -- Black Widow asking Hawkeye, "We're still friends, right?" as they duke it out.
The clip ended with Ant-Man joining the party, Paul Rudd bringing his perfect comedic timing to a scene with Scott Lang fanboying out over meeting Captain America. He touches Steve's muscles while telling him, "It's an honor, I'm shaking your hand too long. I know you know a lot of super people, thanks for thinking of me."
The film hits theaters May 6, 2016.
The Jungle Book
Disney's trend of making live-action remakes of their animated catalogue continues with "The Jungle Book."
Directed by Jon Favreau, the film stars Neel Sethi as Mowgli, a boy who befriends a group of talking animals in the jungle. Featuring voice work from Sir Ben Kingsley, Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o and Christopher Walken, the film looks very impressive.
The trailer we saw opened with ScarJo's snake speaking about mankind bringing "warmth and life and destruction" into the jungle ... and shows Mowgli's parents getting killed by a giant tiger. He's then cared for by a panther, who eventually tries to help him reconnect with humanity.
Along the way, we see Mowgli run into a wolf, the aforementioned snake, the evil tiger and Baloo, the lovable bear perfectly voiced by Bill Murray. And yes, Baloo does sing "Bare Necessities" in the clip, as Mowgli rides on his stomach down a river. It's exactly what you'd hope it would be.
Walken's King Louie -- a massive orangutan -- makes a cameo as well.
The film opens April 15, 2016.
Pete's Dragon
Another remake from Disney's vault, this version of "Pete's Dragon" shares some similarities to "The Jungle Book."
The trailer we saw opened with Bryce Dallas Howard's park ranger character finding a feral boy in the middle of the woods. She tells Robert Redford's character that the kid has been there for six years ... and claims he was raised by a dragon.
Set in the Pacific Northwest (but shot in New Zealand), the clip didn't show much of the title character, but we did see a lot of people reacting to it. The video ended with someone touching the invisible dragon's fur, showing its camouflage. And yes, we said fur.
"Pete's Dragon" will hit theaters August 12.
"Beauty and the Beast"
Though nearly done filming, there wasn't any complete footage shown from this one -- save for a shot of Emma Watson as Belle in her now infamous gold dress, coming down the stairs to dance with the Beast. Let us just say that she looked GORGEOUS and seeing that moment brought to life brings chills.
In some behind-the-scenes footage shown, we got a look at the village set, which looks almost exactly like it did in the animated film. Belle is seen in her blue and white dress as well, while Gaston (Luke Evans) can be seen singing and dancing around a bar in his famous red costume and long ponytail. Sorry, nothing with the Beast in it just yet.
The crowd was told that the final film will include two new songs from Alan Menken.
"Beauty and the Beast" won't roar into theaters until 2017.
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales"
While this portion of the program yielded very little about the film itself, nobody seemed to care once Johnny Depp took the stage in costume as Captain Jack Sparrow!
Never breaking character, Depp threw grapes out to members of the audience, before going on a drunken rant about all the famous faces he had met the day before ... namedropping Dick Van Dyke and Susan Lucci.
He left the stage without showing anything from the flick, but man was the audience roaring.
The next "Pirates" film won't set sail until July 2017.
And last, but not least, Star Wars!
Lucasfilm pulled out all the stops for this one.
It was finally confirmed that Colin Trevorrow -- who directed "Jurassic World" -- will helm "Star Wars: Episode IX," which will hit theaters in 2019.
We then got a video message from Gareth Edwards, who is busy working on "Rogue One" right now. It was clear he was filming on a desert planet, but that's all we could really glean from the short intro. He then showed off the first photo of the cast in costume (below), giving us a glimpse at the band of rebels attempting to steal the plans for the Death Star.
The cast of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" hit the stage next, with Harrison Ford surprising everyone with his presence. When he walked out, the place exploded. "It's a great thrill to be here, I couldn't be happier," he told the excited crowd.
No additional footage was shown for that one, but a new poster from Drew Struzan -- who has designed the posters for every single film -- was unveiled.
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Then came the biggest news of the day: Star Wars Land is becoming a reality!
Bob Iger announced that a fully immersive Star Wars Land will be added to both Disneyland in Anaheim and Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. He described it as a "jaw-dropping new world that represents the biggest single-theme expansion ever."
Every store and restaurant in the land will be operated by "local inhabitants," as concept art showed creatures of all kinds inside a cantina with a cabaret singer. Yep, there will be a real cantina for you to go to!
Two new rides will be added as well, with one of them letting fans actually fly the Millennium Falcon!
No word yet on when they'll actually open, but man did they look insane.
That enough intel for you? Let us know what you're most excited for below!
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