D23: Disney Animation Announces Gigantic and Previews Dwayne Johnson’s Moana

At today’s Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation panel at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter announced they would be retelling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk in Gigantic, directed by Nathan Greno (Tangled) and produced by Dorothy McKim (Get a Horse!), which they’ll release in 2018.

One of the differences is that it’s going to be set in Spain during the Age of Exploration, and according to the announcement, it “follows adventure-seeker Jack as he discovers a world of giants hidden within the clouds. He hatches a grand plan with Inma, a 60-foot-tall, 11-year-old girl, and agrees to help her find her way home. But he doesn’t account for her super-sized personality—and who knew giants were so down to earth?”  The two of them will take on storm giants that live in a city in the clouds.

The film will feature new songs from the Oscar-winning Frozen duo of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, including one that was sung live at D23. 

They also announced that singer Shakira would be joining their upcoming Zootopia, opening March 4, 2016, voicing Gazelle, the biggest pop star in Zootopia. She will be singing a brand-new song titled “Try Everything” for the film

Dwayne Johnson was also on hand for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ November 23, 2016 release Moana, as were directors John Musker and Ron Clements (The Princess and the Frog, The Little Mermaid) and producer Osnat Shurer, to talk about that film and its story of how people from the South Pacific became such great navigators. Johnson is voicing the demigod Maui, who can change shape and is covered in animated tattoos.