Disney announces its next animated movie, Wish, starring Ariana DeBose

In addition to making remakes of animated movies, Disney sometimes makes animated movies themselves.

In 2023, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the studio, the company will release Wish, heading to the kingdom of wishes. Blending the animation styles of the 61 other Disney movies, Wish takes place in the Kingdom of Rosas, which has a look all its own. Co-director Chris Buck says there’s nothing else like it in the Disney canon.

The story follows a courageous heroine named Asha, who is the first person to connect to the stars and make a wish for them. It’s a little unclear how this will connect to the rest of the Disney legacy, outside of them trademarking and copyrighting the idea of wishing upon a star. When Asha wishes upon a star, it calls down an actual star named “Star,” which looks like one of the round stars from Super Mario Galaxy.

Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose will star (pun heavily intended) as Asha, singing songs written by Julia Michaels. DuBose sang the first single, “More For Us,” and it certainly lives up to Chris Buck’s assertion that it pulls from the Disney legacy, which it is to say that it sounds like a mashup of several different Disney animation classic songs. Buck did say that the movie would take “easter eggs to a whole new level,” so make of that what you will.

Alan Tudyk will return to the Disney Cinematic Universe, and as far as we’re concerned, he might as well voice the whole thing. He can do it, and we all know it. Tudyk has appeared in eight Disney animated movies at this point, starring in Moana, Wreck-It Ralph, and more. Here he’ll play a goat named Valentino, who is very cute.

The animation style is impressive, and differs a little from the rest of Disney’s other announcements. The backgrounds have a watercolor aesthetic interacting with sputtery CGI, reiminscent of the look of Sony’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.

Wish will hit theaters next year.