During today’s Disney Q1 earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that sequels to Frozen 2, Toy Story 4, and Zootopia are all in the works.
“Today I’m so pleased to announce that we have sequels in the works from our animation studios to some of our most popular franchises, Toy Story, Frozen, and Zootopia. we’ll have more to share about these productions soon. but this is a great example of how we’re leaning into our unrivaled brands and franchises,” Iger said (via Deadline.)
This isn’t too big of a surprise given how profitable and critically acclaimed all three of the listed franchises are. All three previous films — Frozen 2, Toy Story 4, and Zootopia — were nominated for Academy Awards, with the latest theatrical installment of each series making over $1 billion.
When compared to the returns of the most recent original Disney film, Strange World — which made less than $74 million worldwide in theaters — the approach of returning to these massive franchises for new sequels makes sense, especially as Disney is introducing a number of new cost-cutting measures.
