D23 2026 Animation Slate: Frozen 3, Zootopia 3, Tangled Live-Action and the Bluey Movie

D23, Disney’s biennial fan celebration, has long been the place where the studio shows off what’s coming next — and Friday night’s entertainment showcase at the Honda Center in Anaheim was one of the most packed in years. Alongside the Marvel and Star Wars bombshells, the animation side of the house came roaring back with a slate that had the room screaming: Frozen is heading toward wedding bells, Zootopia is getting a third trip around the animal kingdom, Rapunzel is going live-action, and the beloved pup Bluey is officially coming to the big screen. Here’s everything that was announced.

Frozen 3: wedding bells, a new villain, and a portal to somewhere wild

Let’s start with the big one. Kristen Bell confirmed on stage that Anna will be marrying her “mountain man” Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) in the threequel — with Elsa by her sister’s side, of course. Idina Menzel teased that the world of Arendelle has gotten “a little bit more mysterious” since audiences last visited, and the footage shown to the crowd backed that up in a hurry.

The scene: Anna and Kristoff, on their wedding night, find Elsa out on the dock studying a mysterious stone that appears to open a portal to a very snowy dimension. Menzel called it “a frozen land more wild and dangerous than anything Elsa has ever created.” When the characters step through, they’re confronted by a new figure — the crowd didn’t see her face, but what we know is a woman with short black hair and a wicked cape who clearly isn’t looking to make friends. Fans have already started speculating about who she might be, and the “land of ice more powerful than Elsa” premise is a fascinating way to raise the stakes for a character whose whole arc has been about understanding and mastering her powers.

The leading ladies also debuted new music from the film, and Josh Gad joined them onstage to sing about Olaf’s one true love, Samantha — a bit that had the entire Honda Center charmed. Filmmaker Jennifer Lee previously explained that the questions left dangling after Frozen II would take two films to answer, which means Frozen 3 is only the first half of the next chapter. Disney has dated the threequel for November 24, 2027, and the franchise’s $2.76 billion global haul to date (plus two Oscars) tells you exactly why the studio keeps going back to this well.

Zootopia 3: the birds are taking over

Right after Frozen 3, the animation team dropped another bombshell: Zootopia 3 is officially in the works, and this one will focus on birds. Ke Huy Quan joined Ginnifer Goodwin on stage to make the announcement — a fitting move, since Quan voiced the snake Gary De’Snake in last year’s smash sequel and is clearly being positioned as a franchise mainstay.

The timing makes sense. Zootopia 2 became the highest-grossing Hollywood animated movie of all time with $1.8 billion at the global box office, a jaw-dropping result that crowned an unlikely franchise. The original 2016 film — about rabbit police officer Judy Hopps (Goodwin) and con-artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) solving a missing-mammal case that exposed a city-wide conspiracy — crossed $1 billion itself and spawned the Disney+ spinoff series Zootopia+. Now the animal metropolis is going airborne.

What “focuses on birds” means in practice remains to be seen — whether the story stays in Zootopia proper or ventures into new feathered neighborhoods, and whether Judy and Nick return as the leads or hand off to a new cast of characters. Given how much audiences fell for the sequel’s expanding world, the safer bet is that the beloved duo returns while the bird population gets its own slice of the spotlight. There’s no release date yet, but with Quan and Goodwin attached to the announcement, expect a theatrical window to be locked in sooner rather than later.

Tangled live-action: Rapunzel gets her close-up

The live-action remake train keeps rolling, and this time it’s stopping at the tower. Disney confirmed that its Tangled live-action adaptation will open on March 31, 2028, and gave fans their first real look at the cast — starting with Teagan Croft as Rapunzel, whose long blonde hair was the literal first shot of the footage. The crowd reaction peaked when Kathryn Hahn stepped out as Mother Gothel, the villain fans had been hoping for on social media for years. Hahn’s comedic menace is a perfect fit for the role, and the reveal had the room screaming.

Michael Gracey — the director behind The Greatest Showman — is at the helm, with Milo Manheim on board as Flynn Rider. The original Tangled grossed $607.6 million worldwide back in 2010, and its blend of fairy-tale romance and adventure comedy has made it one of the most requested titles in Disney’s live-action pipeline. The remake follows the same path as the recent Moana and upcoming live-action projects: keep the beloved story, cast charismatic leads, and lean into the visual spectacle that only a big-budget theatrical release can deliver.

Trailer: Bluey (YouTube)

The Bluey Movie: a pup’s first theatrical adventure

One of the biggest crowd-pleasers of the night was the first teaser for The Bluey Movie. The beloved Australian series, which follows blue heeler pup Bluey and her family — dad Bandit, mum Chilli and little sister Bingo — through the joys and chaos of imaginative play, has become a genuine global phenomenon. It ranked No. 2 among all streaming titles in the first half of 2026, and the theatrical film has been one of the most anticipated kids’ releases of the decade.

Based on the trailer, the movie takes place on an action-packed day when a big surprise changes everything for the Heeler family. Melanie Zanetti and David McCormack reprise their roles as Chilli and Bandit, series creator Joe Brumm wrote the script, and Richard Jeffery directs. Produced by Ludo Studio in collaboration with BBC Studios, the film arrives in theaters on August 6, 2027 — which, for anyone with small children, means you now have roughly a year to mentally prepare for the emotional impact of seeing a cartoon dog on the big screen.

If you’ve never watched Bluey, do yourself a favor and catch up before 2027. It’s one of those rare shows that parents genuinely enjoy as much as their kids, and the movie’s teaser suggests the big-screen outing will keep that magic intact while adding the spectacle a theatrical release demands.

More from the animation slate: Clay and Hexed

Walt Disney Animation Studios also used the showcase to confirm two original titles. Kieran Culkin — fresh off his Oscar win for A Real Pain and his Emmy-winning run on Succession — will lead the voice cast of Clay, a 2028 release about a mentor who is, in the words of studio chief Jared Bush, “the next Disney mentor [who] stunk.” Flip (Culkin) is assigned a literal ball of clay named Mushi as his first student and, like all inspiring mentors, immediately runs away in the middle of the night — only to discover Mushi is inescapable, pure chaos, and now very much out in the wild with him.

Then there’s Hexed, which is slotting into the prized Disney Thanksgiving window on Wednesday, November 25. Jodie Foster and Walton Goggins joined the voice cast: Foster plays Queen Celeste, the film’s main baddie witch (and, in her own words, the first Disney character she’s ever voiced), while Goggins voices Beef Roger, a three-eyed green cat in a pink coat who befriends Hailee Steinfeld’s teen protagonist. Steinfeld, Alan Tudyk, Rashida Jones, Stephen Fry, CeeLo Green and Tracey Ullman round out a stacked cast for this story about an awkward teen who discovers her peculiarities might actually be magical powers.

What it all means

Put the whole slate together and a clear strategy emerges: Disney is alternating blockbuster sequels with fresh originals, and it’s betting big on theatrical animation at a time when the rest of the industry has mostly retreated to streaming. Frozen 3 and Zootopia 3 are guaranteed money — the kind of releases that anchor an entire year of box office — while Clay, Hexed and the live-action remakes keep the pipeline full of new characters and new worlds.

For families, 2027 and 2028 are shaping up to be an embarrassment of riches. A Bluey movie in August 2027, Frozen 3 in November 2027, Tangled live-action and Clay in 2028 — that’s a run of event releases that will have parents planning theater trips years in advance. And for animation fans, the sheer range on display Friday night — from a dog’s gentle imagination to a witch’s curse to an icy villain with a wicked cape — is proof that the medium has never been healthier.

Which of these are you most excited for — Frozen 3, Zootopia 3, the Bluey movie, or something else from the D23 slate? Tell us in the comments.