Despite Hollywood’s ongoing struggles with original films, Disney isn’t backing off from trying new characters and concepts as the studio announced a new original animated film “Hexed” that will be released on Thanksgiving weekend in 2026.
The film was unveiled as part of an hour-long animation presentation at Disney’s Destination D23 in Orlando on Saturday, along with the announcement that the upcoming sixth “Ice Age” film would move to a February 2027 release and would bear the title “Ice Age: Boiling Point” and the addition of Yvette Nicole Brown and Patrick Warburton to the cast of this November’s “Zootopia 2.”
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In its logline for “Hexed,” Disney says the film will follow “an awkward teenage boy and his Type – A mom, who discover that what makes him unusual, might just be magical powers that will turn their lives and a secret world of magic, upside down.”
Over the past four years, the majority of original animated films released theatrically have come from Disney, either through Walt Disney Animation or its NorCal counterpart Pixar, which also has original films on its upcoming slate with “Hoppers” this March and “Gatto” in June 2027.
But while Pixar’s “Elemental” was able to rebound from a poor opening weekend to become a box office success in 2023, WDA’s “Strange World” and “Wish” were high-profile Thanksgiving busts while Pixar’s “Elio” became this summer’s most prominent bomb with just $152 million worldwide against a production budget that has been reported to balloon well past $150 million after original director Adrian Molina exited the film and a major overhaul of its plot commenced.
To date, the last original film to cross $500 million at the global box office was Pixar’s “Coco” with $814 million back in 2017. Since then, “Elemental” is the closest to get to that mark with $494 million, followed by Illumination’s “Migration” with $300 million.
Sony Pictures Animation’s “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” meanwhile, skipped theaters when its studio sold the film to Netflix for a $20 million profit. It went on to take advantage of its immediate streaming release to become a viral sensation and this past week became Netflix’s most-watched film of all time as well as the streamer’s first No. 1 at the box office with $18 million grossed from a two-day limited engagement theatrical run.
“Hexed” won’t be alone on the 2026 slate when it comes to original films. Along with Pixar’s “Hoppers,” Sony will release the animated furry basketball film “Goat” this February while DreamWorks will release “Forgotten Island,” an adventure comedy from “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” director Joel Crawford, in theaters in September 2026.
On the Thanksgiving 2026 slate, “Hexed” now sits alongside Universal’s “Fockers-in-Law,” a legacyquel to the 2000 film “Meet the Parents” starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro alongside Skyler Gisondo and Ariana Grande. Netflix will also release Greta Gerwig’s upcoming adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” in a rare full theatrical release negotiated by the “Barbie” director.
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