Hexed

[Sotiris]

Description of the footage shown at CinemaCon.

In footage unveiled today in Las Vegas, as part of Disney’s CinemaCon presentation, we saw Billie getting a personality test / interrogation by a book and quill, speaking in British accents, who invite her into a a world of magic and wonder.

Source: https://deadline.com/2026/04/hexed-firs ... 236862614/

Disney showed off teaser featuring Steinfeld’s Billie meeting a talking book and pen. “Have you ever been persecuted, drowned or burned at the stake?” the Pen asks, to which Billie quips, “I’ve burned a steak in the microwave.” After Billie signs her name to his pages, the book then introduces her to a “world of magic and wonder.”

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 236567070/

In the new clip, we see Billie fall through a portal into a dark chamber filled with branches that blossom with flowers as she touches them. The branches lead her to an ancient book of spells…that can talk. And so can the quill and inkwell next to him. The quill asks Billie if she has ever been burned at the stake, and she says “I burned a steak…in a microwave.” When the quill asks if she wishes to live in a world free of conventions that tell her who to be, Billie says yes, and the quill allows her to use it to write her name in the book. A door opens, and Billie is welcomed to a magical world called Hexe.

Source: https://www.thewrap.com/creative-conten ... ida-jones/

The exclusive first look opens on Billie arriving in the hidden realm in a wooden, glowing corridor. At the end is a table with a book, a feather quill, and a jar of ink. To her surprise, these objects are alive, with the book and quill asking Billie a series of questions that ultimately lead to her acceptance into the realm. After signing the book with the quill, the door opens, and we see her welcomed into a little town. The footage felt like a perfect blend of contemporary Disney animation with classic throwbacks. The design of the book and quill was particularly reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast, as was the quick shot of the village.

Source: https://www.laughingplace.com/disney-en ... ns-inside/

A few Disney Easter Eggs appear, including names of past sorcerers in a book: Merlin, Ursula…

Source: https://x.com/NewRockstars/status/2044918485927809209

[DisneyJedi]

When the quill asks if she wishes to live in a world free of conventions that tell her who to be...

... okay, I doubt they will confirm it, but something tells me Billie might be MTF transgender and that would probably explain the switch from a male to female lead. This is only my personal theory, of course.

[Disney's Divinity]

I doubt that considering what happened with Elio.

But Alice in Wonderland (2010) made over a billion, and The Wizard of Oz is the most beloved film on this planet.

Well, I did say either here or the first thread where I started talking about it that Alice is lifted by being known as a classic piece of literature.

Oz though--and Harry Potter for that matter--works because the world they enter isn't that unfamiliar to ours as far as wars, politics, power, cruelty, etc. Those aren't nonsense worlds like Wonderland, the weird aliens in Treasure Planet, the creatures in Strange World, etc.

[PatchofBlue]

Seeing how Disney has sort of burned all of its goodwill surrounding princess fairy-tales (at least for now) after something like the Snow White remake, it sounds like they may be trying a backdoor into Disney nostalgia by invoking literal Disney magic--i.e. Merlin, The 3 Fairies, Tinker Bell. That's the vibe I get reading about the talking books and whatnot. It would hypothetically be interesting to see Disney integrating something in their Fantasyland crew that didn't involve a princess. Something in the vein of Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan.

The footage sounds interesting, I'm hoping we'll get a teaser this summer.

Or sooner--I'm not picky.

[Disney's Divinity]

Not sure that's true? Moana is about to come out and make a billion, they're working on Tangled which should at least do Maleficent #s considering the casting isn't completely off and no mass story changes like with TLM / SW / Mulan, and the last original from either animation studio that made any sort of impact was Encanto.

The only real problem I foresee here is the lack of music possibly holding it back even if story / characters, voice acting all align--like what happened with Raya. Raya probably would've been fine if not for the pandemic, but where it had to rely on streaming, it's clear the lack of music geld it back to a degree. I do think Raya is worth attempting making a sequel to if they wanted to experiment to see if perhaps a couple of these last few films could replicate Moana 2 as far as being a substantial jump over the original's performance because of familiarity that's grown via streaming. Still, a good soundtrack is always a boon--whether it's a film with a female *or* male protagonist.

[DisneyFan09]

The exclusive first look opens on Billie arriving in the hidden realm in a wooden, glowing corridor. At the end is a table with a book, a feather quill, and a jar of ink. To her surprise, these objects are alive, with the book and quill asking Billie a series of questions that ultimately lead to her acceptance into the realm. After signing the book with the quill, the door opens, and we see her welcomed into a little town. The footage felt like a perfect blend of contemporary Disney animation with classic throwbacks. The design of the book and quill was particularly reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast, as was the quick shot of the village.

Source: https://www.laughingplace.com/disney-en ... ns-inside/

Really? The village is going to be reminiscent of the one in Beauty and the Beast? Sorry for my snarky remark, but that`s been said about all of the following features. Even the kingdom in Tangled was claimed to look like it. But frankly, the village in Beauty truly set the standard for the following towns, as Beauty truly influenced most of the settings, components and tones for the following Disney features (and even Disney knockoffs like The Swan Princess and Anastasia). But it`s still interesting that Hexed is going to look like classic Disney, as I first thought it was going to be an alternative and modern setting.

A few Disney Easter Eggs appear, including names of past sorcerers in a book: Merlin, Ursula…

Well, let`s hope that the Disney Easter Eggs will be done lovingly.

[Disney's Divinity]

Would be cute if Yensid is one of the names, too.

Forgot to add with my last post, too, that it'll be worth noting if it shows a climb from Wish or not. I don't know what they think of Wish's streaming #'s behind-the-scenes, but it's one of those films like TLM or TP&TF where they only become significant later if an upward rise is tracked afterwards.

[PatchofBlue]

I don't think the success of LA Moana or Tangled are guaranteed at this point. (My investment in those two projects is very convoluted and turbulent, so I don't really even know what I'm rooting for with them.) They have a lot of benefactors backing them up, but after Snow White's walk of shame, I also don't think they're bulletproof anymore, particularly with the market being as turbulent as it is today.

While I'd personally stipulate that there were compounding factors to the bombing of Snow White, it did sort of give commentators a chance to dust off and exercise their anti-fairytale talking points and reintroduce them into the system. Maybe a successful launch for LA Tangled could help reset the clock. [EDIT: And, potentially, Frozens 3 and 4]

And anyways, I've always seen Moana as like a second-cousin to the Disney fairy-tale rather than a prototypical Disney fairy-tale. The aesthetics and narrative design feel more like "Adventureland with a Fantasyland twist" rather than "Fantasyland." Similar to "Encanto."

I'd also appreciate seeing some Yen Sid recognition.

[Disney's Divinity]

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree. I do agree that nothing is bulletproof. But in this case, the factors at play in the underperformance of Mulan, TLM, and Snow White are obvious and impossible to deny, imo. Just going by how faithful L&S and Moana have been shows Disney took away the lesson, that people don't like severe story changes, race and genderbends, song cuts, etc. Neither Moana nor Tangled is following the model that plagued those three films on top of being recent properties which compound their potential.

Only reason I wouldn't be willing to bet outright that Tangled easily hits a billion, too, is because of experience with the TV series highlighting that the weird adjective title as opposed to "Rapunzel" has low brand recognition. If the original film had been as big as a Frozen, say, it would've been fine with that title, but alas... That's why I still say the company should use the remake as an opportunity to title reset the original film for stronger long-term brand recognition.

[Thumper_93]

A female character means dolls, costumes, wigs, merchandise in the parks and even make up. Male characters are harder to explote in merchandise sales because they have more limits. If you give a walk around a Disney Store or around a place that sells Disney stuff they have only a few IPs leaded by male that actually have tons of merchandise and these IPS use to be from Marvel or SW.

[DisneyFan09]

Forgot to add with my last post, too, that it'll be worth noting if it shows a climb from Wish or not. I don't know what they think of Wish's streaming #'s behind-the-scenes, but it's one of those films like TLM or TP&TF where they only become significant later if an upward rise is tracked afterwards.

Perhaps, but I`ll honestly think that Wish will have a harder time climbing up. After all, it was mostly shunned by critics and is regarded as Disney`s new Black Sheep. Unlike The Little Mermaid, who was a critical hit and started the Renaissance with it`s success on VHS. And The Princess and the Frog, which was at least a modest hit and was given good reviews.