After a very eventful day of Disney news, you would think the House of Mouse would take it slow with the updates. Unfortunately — or fortunately if you’re Disney fanatics like we are — slowing down isn’t really Disney’s vibe and as Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania finally gets its (slightly) anticipated streaming release date, we’ve learned more about the newly teased Wish and a shocking development regarding The Little Mermaid‘s Flounder comes to light.
If you need a recap, Disney had a number of newsworthy events happen in the span of a few hours yesterday, notably the announcement of the first trailer for the animated film Wish, our first look at Ariel’s hyper-realistic (and some might say “ugly”) aquatic friends, and an escalation in Disney’s altercation with Florida governor and known hater Ron DeSantis. After the Mouse opposed DeSantis’ regressive “Don’t Say Gay” bill, DeSantis is attempting to replace Disney’s self-governed district in Orlando with his own self-appointed board of overseers. Disney, understandably, sees this as a retaliation for speaking up against DeSantis’ backward politics and is suing DeSantis for control over their theme park. According to CNN, Disney has a good shot at coming out on top, considering DeSantis has literally admitted to retaliation against the company, with legal experts calling the scenario a “classic First Amendment violation.”
Now that you’re caught up, let’s get into today’s big Disney news.
Months after its theatrical release, Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania is headed to Disney Plus with little fanfare
Disney finally announced a streaming date for Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, and for a film that was set up to introduce the MCU’s anticipated Phase Five, Quantumania turned out to be a disappointment for even the most dedicated Marvel fans — in more ways than one. Many post-Avengers: Endgame films have had mixed responses from fans, with most criticizing the writing and pacing in these films, but Quantumania blatantly felt like a movie entirely made as a set-up for future MCU films. Despite an impressive first week box office turnout, Quantumania‘s jokes and storyline fell flat for many viewers and the horrifying M.O.D.O.K. will likely haunt our dreams for years to come.
All that being said, we did expect Quantumania, which came out in early February, to hit streaming shortly after ending its theatrical run. That, obviously, didn’t happen; a likely reason for the delay is that the film’s star (who plays Phase Five’s proposed “Big Bad” of Thanos-like proportions, Kang) Jonathan Majors has been dropped from multiple projects as sexual assault and abuse allegations against him continue to pile up. As Disney continues to remain relatively quiet about future plans regarding Majors, it’s possible it was hoping the scandal would die down, and while things have definitely slowed, Disney has waited so long to announce the streaming date that Quantumania is now the Marvel movie with the longest wait for a streaming debut. Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania will debut on Disney Plus on May 17 – a whole 87 days after its theatrical debut.
Ariana Debose talks about being a strong Disney heroine as Wish‘s main cast is revealed in first trailer
Earlier today, Good Morning America gave us our first sneak peek at Disney’s upcoming animated film Wish, and shortly after the newest Disney star sat down with the show for a quick interview about her refreshing character. Ariana DeBose — yes, the same one who went viral for “doing the thing” at this year’s BAFTAs — will be playing Asha – a clever, optimistic 17-year-old teenager who opposes the ruler of the Kingdom of Rosas, King Magnifico, in order to help her community. DeBose speaks highly of Asha, saying the “quick-witted idealist” is “her own hero.” While there’s no shortage of independent Disney heroines in 2023, we’re excited to see how Asha’s journey plays out on the screen when Wish hits theaters Nov. 16.
Details are still coming out about the newest magical Disney film, but we have learned a little more about the main cast. In addition to DeBose as Asha, Chris Pine will be playing the villainous King Magnifico, and Alan Tudyk will be voicing the film’s quintessential animal companion, a sheep named Valentino. Obviously, a film like Wish needs music, and singer/songwriter Julia Michaels, producer Benjamin Rice, and composer David Metzger will contribute their musical talents to the film. Disney films like this always come with some iconic songs and we can’t wait to hear DeBose and Pine serenade us in the near future.
Bubbling under the sea, The Little Mermaid‘s Flounder Defense Squad is here to show the little fish some love
In our personal favorite news, The Little Mermaid‘s live-action Flounder is gaining a faction of fans who are defending his honor after a new character poster terrified potential viewers. Yesterday, most of the internet deemed Flounder a “literal flop” when the character poster showed had him looking like a hyper-realistic fish out of water. While the majority of Flounder reactions were not happy with his design, some are coming around and defending the little fish from haters, though none are defending the film’s dim lighting. We think criticizing the overly dark trailer is definitely valid (we want to see the movie, Disney), but as for Flounder, a growing minority is taking to social media to admit that they actually like Flounder’s design — this author will also admit, I think Flounder is actually kind of endearing, in his own (slightly ugly) way.
If you’ve ever seen what a real-life flounder fish looks like, then you know movie Flounder is an improvement (though, granted, we discovered Flounder was likely a guppy in the animated film), and as far as realistic movie animals go, Flounder is positively adorable. The incredibly talented Jacob Tremblay, best known for his starring roles in 2015’s Room and 2021’s Luca, will be voicing Flounder in The Little Mermaid and will no doubt make the fish an endearing character, no matter how audiences feel about his looks. If you’re planning on watching the film when it comes out May 26, you better get used to seeing a lot of Flounder and his other live-action companions, as the film clocks in at a whopping 135 minutes.
Published: Apr 27, 2023 07:00 pm