Disney Shows off ‘Pirates 5,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at D23

Jack Sparrow invaded D23 Expo 2015 Saturday.

Johnny Depp stormed the stage in character to show off Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

“Never heard of it,” he said when informed he was at Disneyland, before throwing grapes into the audience.

Depp reprises his role as Captain Jack Sparrow, with co-directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg‘s film also starring Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem, Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites.

Pirates It is set to splash into theaters on July 7, 2017.

Fairy tales also invaded Anaheim on Saturday. 

D-23 showed off the first footage from Disney’s live action Beauty and the Beast, which stars Emma Watson as Belle and Downton Abbey alum Dan Stevens as The Beast. Luke Evans is playing the villainous Gaston and Josh Gad is playing his sidekick LeFou. 

In a video message featuring Watson, her co-stars Evans and Gad sang a few bars from “Gaston.”  

Bill Condon is directing the film for a March 17, 2017 release date. 

Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass star Mia Wasikowska came out to discuss the sequel, which will involve time travel, allowing Alice to see characters from the original at different stages in their lives. A sizzle reel showed Alice confronting Time (Sacha Baron Cohen), whom she needs to help her travel back to save the Mad Hatter (Depp).

The film is set for May 27, 2016. James Bobin is directing the film, which stars Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, and Rhys Ifans. The 2010 installment was directed by Tim Burton and went on to earn more than $1 billion worldwide. 

Director Jon Favreau shared details his live-action Jungle Book. Among his key concerns: “How do you use today’s technology to take it to a different place from the film that already exists?” 

Favreau trotted out stars Ben Kingsley, Lupita Nyong’o, and young star Neel Sethi, who is playing Mowgli. Kingsley, who plays Bagheera the panther, said he did not understand actors who advised colleagues never to work with children or animals. 

“I worked with a child, I played an animal, and I would say, ‘Anytime. You have my number,’ ” said Kingsley. “Neel has an astonishing purity, an amazing connection with his character Mowgli. To be with him for those days Jon brought us together was very inspiring.”

Favreau showed the first footage, which got big applause from the crowd, in particular Bill Murray‘s Baloo talking about the Bear Necessities. 

Jungle Book stars Scarlett Johansson, Murray, Christopher Walken, Giancarlo Esposito, Kingsley, Nyong’o and Idris Elba. Warner Bros. also has a Jungle Book film in the works, although it won’t open until Oct. 6, 2017.

The Jungle Book hits theaters April 15, 2016.

Star Bryce Dallas Howard brought details of Disney’s remake of the 1977 classic Pete’s Dragon.

“I was incredibly moved, because there is a power in this story and there is something very universal that gets told in this,” said Howard. “It’s a story about what it takes to find your family, and what a family can be when perhaps you’ve lost your own.” 

David Lowery is directing the film, which also stars Robert Redford, Karl Urban and young actor Oakes Fegley.

Nyong’o returned to the stage to talk Queen of Katwe, which centers on a young girl from the slums of Uganda who, with the help of her coach, becomes a chess prodigy. Mira Nair is directing with David Oyelowo also starring. 

She said shooting the film in Uganda was going home for the actress, who is from nearby Kenya. 

“Uganda is such a vibrant country, with so much potential and so much youth,” said Nyong’o. “It’s a story about a girl who saw something that interested her and went for it with all that she had. We look up to her today around the world.”

More to come …