This weekend marks the fourth annual D23 Convention, known as “The Ultimate Fan Event” in Anaheim, CA, where Disney brings out the big guns for their major announcements from Walt Disney Animation, Disney Studios, Pixar, Marvel, and now, Star Wars. Things are already off to an incredible start today, where Disney and Pixarâs best and brightest shared details and previews of their upcoming slate. One such announcement that already has us singing The Pixies in joy is Gigantic, Disneyâs new take on “Jack and the Beanstalk.â
Gigantic is set in Spain during the Age of Exploration, and follows Jack as he stumbles upon a whole new world of giants living up in the sky. There he meets Inma, a 60-foot-tall, 11-year-old girl who’s lost her way home. He agrees to help her, not realizing quite what he’s getting into with her “super-sized personality.”Â
Director Nathan Greno (Tangled) and producer Dorothy McKim (Get A Horse!) took to the stage to introduce the film, and were joined by the Oscar-winning songwriters of Frozen, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, whose new music will be featured in the film. In fact, the duo even performed a little preview of one of the songs Inma sings to her new pal Jack. Accompanied by animatics of Inma tossing Jack around like a toy (complete with tea parties and sponge cake trampolines), they sang:
"You can toss him in the air / you can comb his tiny hair / my pretty, pretty, pretty little man" #Gigantic #D23Expo
— Dan Casey (@DanCasey) August 14, 2015
Inma was inspired by a real girl the filmmakers met while conducting research in Spain. The young girlâwith an outsized personalityâproclaimed that she was the “princess of her people,” and was there to protect them. They hung out with her all day and when they got back to the studio, they realized she was the perfect character/personality model for Inma.
Gigantic hits theaters in 2018.Â
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Special thanks to senior editor and D23Â correspondent/champ Dan Casey for covering this panel on the ground floor. Stay tuned for all our D23 coverage throughout the weekend right here on Nerdist, and make sure you follow Dan Casey on Twitter for up to the minute updates!
Rachel Heine is the Editor-in-Chief of Nerdist. You can have Disney sing-alongs with her on Twitter @RachelHeine.