Wish

[Mooky]

Chris Pine is a huge star. To me this implies two things:
a) Disney has either moved past twist villains, or
b) Chris Pine's character will be a reformed villain/potential love interest, and there's another twist villain

[Sotiris]

I think Chris Pine has an AWESOME voice that will attribute a villain song especially. I'm really looking forward to seeing/hearing how this plays out!

Me too! I'm glad we finally have a villain again and one who gets to sing, no less. The last time we had a villain sing was Frozen and the last time we had a villain song was Tangled. Chris Pine seems like a solid choice. Let's just hope it's an actual villain this time and not a red herring or a misunderstood/manipulated antagonist who'll get redeemed at the end.

My theory about the villain being a White king who's against immigrants is starting to become true.

Will his name be Ron DeSantis too? I hope your theory's not true, although knowing current Disney it probably is. WDAS doesn't need another political controversy that will hurt its chances at the box office.

Chris Pine is a huge star. To me this implies two things:
a) Disney has either moved past twist villains, or
b) Chris Pine's character will be a reformed villain/potential love interest, and there's another twist villain

Disney has already moved away from twist villains: Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen II, Raya and the Last Dragon, Encanto, Strange World all feature misunderstood antagonists who get redeemed or no villains at all. As for him being a love interest, there's no way he could be Asha's since Disney doesn't give love interests to their female leads anymore. It's possible he's romantically attached to a secondary character, but even that seems doubtful.

[Farerb]

Chris Pine's character will be a reformed villain/potential love interest, and there's another twist villain

That's never going to happen.

[carolinakid]

Is there still the rumor going around that Asha likes the ladies?...Or was that just wishful thinking on the part of some thirsty fans?

[Farerb]

Is there still the rumor going around that Asha likes the ladies?...Or was that just wishful thinking on the part of some thirsty fans?

I heard speculation that she might be bisexual, but people might think that because Ariana DeBose is. There are reports that the wishing star will be non binary, though I don't know how they are going to represent that cause obviously a star doesn't have a gender, I don't think people assume otherwise.

[carolinakid]

Merci de m’avoir répondu, Farerb!
(I’m feeling very Québécois today!)

[Disney's Divinity]

WDAS doesn't need another political controversy that will hurt its chances at the box office.

The Renaissance films weren't political for featuring those types of characters, so I don't know why this film would be. I'm glad the villain will most likely have a song here, too--but I'm not sure if that's a guarantee just because Pine can sing? Alma's voice actress in Encanto is probably the best singer in the film, but she has no part in any of the songs, does she? A background part among a chorus perhaps, but nothing notable. Personally, I'd prefer Pine was playing Asha's love interest than the villain.

Anyway, I don't think the grandfather in Frozen II is misunderstood or redeemed. The Druun are an evil force that aren't redeemed but eradicated (unlike Te Ka turning out to be Te Fiti). I'd argue Dang Hu is an unrepentant villain as well, even if she's very minor.

[blackcauldron85]

Alma's voice actress in Encanto is probably the best singer in the film, but she has no part in any of the songs, does she? A background part among a chorus perhaps, but nothing notable.

She sang parts in "The Family Madrigal" + "All of You."

Chris Pine being in this sounds good to me. I was excited for the film before that came out and am still excited now!

[D82]

Chris Pine as the villain though... I mean, I like him, but I wouldn't imagine him playing a villain. I guess he may be like Prince Hans.

I have a hard time imagining him as a villain as well. However, I think he played a bad guy in his most recent movie, Don't Worry Darling, but I haven't seen it, so I don't know it for sure. I like Chris Pine too, I think he's very charismatic. I'd prefer he wasn't the villain, but perhaps he'll do a good job. If his participation is confirmed, it most likely also means the villain will be a new character and not a past Disney one, as some fans speculated.

[Farerb]

Skye Roberts suggests that Wish will have a multicultural cast and won't be focused on one county or one racial group (so the Kingdom of Rosas will be similar to Avalonia from Strange World):
https://youtu.be/8v2vzRVuzlk

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Skye Roberts suggests that Wish will have a multicultural cast and won't be focused on one county or one racial group (so the Kingdom of Rosas will be similar to Avalonia from Strange World):
https://youtu.be/8v2vzRVuzlk

She's basing that off the addition of Chris Pratt, though.

[Farerb]

She's basing that off the addition of Chris Pratt, though.

But when I think about it, it actually makes sense.
They can't do films about specific cultures anymore because they're afraid of being accused of being insensitive to that culture or being accused of cultural appropriation. They won't make films with only white people cause then they'll be accused of not being inclusive, so the movies will just have everyone getting along and the culture represented will be that of modern USA.

[UmbrellaFish]

I’m not sure if I’ve shared this theory here or not, but I think the Kingdom in this movie is meant to be like some… fantastical ancient mother civilization. Kinda like Atlantis (but not like the last time they did Atlantis). Which could justify hodge podges in architecture, costuming, languages, ethnicities. This is supposed to be *the* Disney wishing star and I think the civilization in this movie is meant to predate all the other Disney movies.

[D82]

Skye Roberts suggests that Wish will have a multicultural cast and won't be focused on one county or one racial group (so the Kingdom of Rosas will be similar to Avalonia from Strange World):
https://youtu.be/8v2vzRVuzlk

That's what I've suspected from the beginning. We'll see if her theory turns out to be right or not.

I’m not sure if I’ve shared this theory here or not, but I think the Kingdom in this movie is meant to be like some… fantastical ancient mother civilization. Kinda like Atlantis (but not like the last time they did Atlantis). Which could justify hodge podges in architecture, costuming, languages, ethnicities. This is supposed to be *the* Disney wishing star and I think the civilization in this movie is meant to predate all the other Disney movies.

That's an interesting theory. The first impression I got from the D23 presentation was that it wasn't even set on our Earth, but maybe it's that I've seen too many Marvel multiverse movies.

[carolinakid]

“The” wishing star to me will always be the beautiful wishing star in Walt Disney’s Pinocchio (1940).
People can wish on any of the stars in the heavens, but “the” wishing star is the one Geppetto wished on for Pinocchio to be a real boy.

[Lele]

If they want to make the place multicultural the setting still looks far too european.

Why not make a movie with clear ancient asian or ancient african architecture and setting and put different races into it?

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

At 48:33, Grace Randolph in her Q&A for today's BTT Live (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ES5owdZmAo) says Bob Iger, despite being dealt a punishing blow to Disney with the parks from Ron DeSantis by way of dissolving their Reedy Creek district, isn't likely to remove the LGBTQ representation from Wish because she claims the movie is completed. But she thinks we may not see any Wish characters at the Disney Parks and hope Iger doesn't give in to Ron DeSantis and cut that stuff out or stop Asha from being in the parks.

[Farerb]

If they want to make the place multicultural the setting still looks far too european.

Why not make a movie with clear ancient asian or ancient african architecture and setting and put different races into it?

I think they want it to be a vague fictional European kingdom like Rapunzel's kingdom, but one which has diversity in it, like we see in the remakes or other modern fantasy movies/shows.

I think we started speculating on where this movie takes place based on Asha's ethnicity and the architecture, because we are used to Disney films being more or less authentic to the locations in the movies they were making up until this point. We fail to understand that the trend in Hollywood in general is to not take authenticity into consideration anymore, and just do the story they want to make, but with a diverse cast.

And when I think more about it, it makes sense that they want their 100th anniversary celebration movie to have representation for all ethnicities.

[blackcauldron85]

But she thinks we may not see any Wish characters at the Disney Parks and hope Iger doesn't give in to Ron DeSantis and cut that stuff out or stop Asha from being in the parks.

Strange World didn't have its characters in the parks either...same reason??

[carolinakid]

No, I would think the film was such a stink bomb that 99% of parks guests wouldn’t know who the hell these people are. And of course, they no doubt didn’t want to spend the money on actors and costumes (would they be face characters or masked characters?) on meet and greets or parade floats on characters few guests have even heard of. That woke flop is best forgotten for everyone’s sake. Solo mi opinión...