Get ready for a weekend that will play like a thrill ride on Disney+, thanks to the three best movies to watch on the streaming service, which include two must-watch projects this weekend. On last weekend’s Disney+ movie recommendations, I discussed the exciting elements one can find in Iron Man, Hoppers, and Lightyear, three high-profile genre movies, two of which are animated.
Out of those three recommendations, only one of them is currently trending on the streaming service nationwide. At the time of writing, Pixar’s Hoppers stands as the most-watched movie on Disney+ in the United States. This means that the animated film, which recently arrived on Disney+ on June 3, has retained the streamer’s top spot after its first week on Disney+.
While Hoppers remains an exciting pick this weekend on the streamer, there are other exciting movies on Disney+ for viewers to check out. Based on how viewers are enjoying the Pixar film, I decided to include one of the studio’s best entries to date on this weekend’s list, and now is the perfect time to watch it before an exciting sequel arrives in theaters.
From Steamboat Willie to Encanto · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Disney Movies? “When you wish upon a star…”
🐭Steamboat EraBlack-and-white Mickey
👑The PrincessesSnow White onward
🦁90s RenaissanceLion King & Aladdin
💡Pixar LampToy Story onward
❄️Modern EraFrozen & beyond
01
On November 18, 1928, Walt Disney premiered a seven-minute black-and-white short at the Colony Theatre in New York — the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released to the public, and one of the earliest sound cartoons ever made. Whistling Mickey at the helm of a riverboat became the studio’s first iconic image. Name the short.
✓ Correct! Steamboat Willie. Mickey actually finished production first on the silent short Plane Crazy earlier that year, but Walt and his brother Roy bet the studio’s entire future on retooling Steamboat Willie with synchronised sound — a brand-new technology that had only just appeared with The Jazz Singer (1927). The gamble worked: Steamboat Willie’s November 1928 release made Mickey an instant national icon and put Disney on the map. The short entered the public domain in January 2024, exactly 95 years after release.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Steamboat Willie. Plane Crazy was actually animated first (May 1928, silent) but didn’t find a distributor. The Gallopin’ Gaucho was the second Mickey short, also originally silent. The Karnival Kid (1929) is where Mickey first speaks. The breakthrough — the first publicly released, sound-synchronised Mickey short — is Steamboat Willie.
02
Walt Disney sank the studio’s entire balance sheet, plus a heavy mortgage on his home, into a project Hollywood derisively called “Disney’s Folly” — the first full-length cel-animated feature film ever made in English. It premiered December 21, 1937 at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles to a standing ovation. Name the film.
✓ Correct! Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The 83-minute film cost $1.49 million — an enormous gamble at the height of the Depression — and grossed $8 million on its initial release, the highest-grossing sound film made up to that point. Walt won an honorary Oscar (one large statuette and seven small ones, presented by Shirley Temple). The film’s success funded the construction of Disney’s Burbank studio and effectively created the feature-animation industry.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Pinocchio (1940) is the second Disney feature. Fantasia (1940) is the third. Bambi (1942) is the fifth. Snow White was the bet-the-studio first — ridiculed in production as “Disney’s Folly” before becoming the highest-grossing sound film ever made up to 1937.
03
Walt Disney’s vision of a film-quality theme park opened to a chaotic, oversold “Black Sunday” debut — counterfeit tickets, a gas leak, and asphalt soft enough to swallow women’s heels. The Anaheim park was built on 160 acres of orange groves in just 12 months. In which year did Disneyland open?
✓ Correct! July 17, 1955 — press preview day, dubbed “Black Sunday” in Disney company lore. ABC broadcast a live two-hour TV special featuring Ronald Reagan, Bob Cummings and Art Linkletter (collectively winging the script as things went wrong). Disneyland was built on Anaheim orange groves Walt mortgaged his home to fund. Walt Disney World opened in 1971 in Orlando, six years after Walt’s death — that’s the date many people confuse with Disneyland’s opening.
✗ Wrong. The answer is 1955 — specifically July 17. 1948 is when Walt first sketched the concept. 1962 doesn’t mark a major Disney park milestone. 1971 is when Walt Disney World opened in Florida (six years after Walt’s death) — that’s the date most often confused with Disneyland’s. The original Anaheim park opened in 1955.
04
The Lion King (1994) was pitched internally as “Bambi meets…” a particular Shakespeare play — and the parallels are unmissable: a young prince’s father is murdered by his uncle, who usurps the throne; the prince later returns to avenge him. Which Shakespeare tragedy provided the bones of the story?
✓ Correct! Hamlet. The internal pitch was famously “Bambi meets Hamlet” (or, in some retellings, “Hamlet with lions”): Mufasa is the murdered king-father (Hamlet Sr.), Scar is the usurping uncle (Claudius), Simba is the exiled prince (Hamlet), and even the ghost-on-a-cliff appearance plays out beat-for-beat. The Lion King grossed $968 million worldwide and remained the highest-grossing animated film for 16 years until Toy Story 3 broke the record in 2010.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Hamlet. Macbeth is the “ambitious wife pushes husband to murder the king” story (the closer Disney parallel there is the Frollo/Esmeralda dynamic in Hunchback). Othello is the jealousy tragedy. King Lear is the divided-kingdom tragedy. The Lion King’s bones are unambiguously Hamlet’s — ghost, uncle-murderer, exiled-prince and all.
05
Frozen (2013) became the highest-grossing animated film at the time and won two Oscars including Best Animated Feature. Its standout song — performed by Idina Menzel as Elsa, written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez — won the Oscar for Best Original Song and dominated radio playlists for an entire year. Name the song.
✓ Correct! “Let It Go” — the Oscar-winning power ballad that fundamentally rewrote the film’s plot in production: Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez wrote the song so persuasively that the directors threw out the existing script and rewrote Elsa from villain to misunderstood protagonist. The song spent over 30 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, was translated into 41 languages for international releases, and its Idina Menzel single sold 10.9 million copies. Frozen grossed $1.28 billion and held the highest-grossing-animated-film record until its own 2019 sequel.
✗ Wrong. The answer is “Let It Go.” The other three options are also Frozen songs by the same Lopez/Anderson-Lopez writing team. “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” is the early childhood-montage number. “For the First Time in Forever” is Anna’s coronation-day song. “Love Is an Open Door” is the Hans/Anna duet. The Oscar-winning monster hit is “Let It Go.”
06
In November 1995, Pixar — then a small Disney distribution partner founded by Ed Catmull, John Lasseter and Steve Jobs — released the world’s first fully computer-animated feature film. It became the highest-grossing film of 1995 in North America and won a Special Achievement Oscar for John Lasseter. Name the movie.
✓ Correct! Toy Story (November 22, 1995). Made for $30 million, it grossed $373 million worldwide and immediately rewrote what was possible in animation. Steve Jobs — who’d bought Pixar from Lucasfilm in 1986 for $5 million — took the company public a week after the film’s release at $22 a share, instantly making him a billionaire. Disney bought Pixar outright in 2006 for $7.4 billion in stock, making Jobs Disney’s largest individual shareholder. A Bug’s Life (1998) was the second Pixar feature; Monsters, Inc. (2001) the fourth.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Toy Story (1995). A Bug’s Life (1998), Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Finding Nemo (2003) are all later Pixar features. Toy Story was the studio’s first — and the first fully computer-animated theatrical feature in cinema history. Its release a week before Steve Jobs took Pixar public effectively turned him from struggling NeXT-era founder into a billionaire.
07
In a roughly seven-year span, Disney made a sequence of franchise acquisitions that transformed it from an animation studio into a global IP empire. Pixar (2006, $7.4B), Lucasfilm (2012, $4.05B) and 21st Century Fox (2019, $71.3B) bracket the era. The remaining major brand — bought in 2009 for $4 billion — brought Iron Man, Spider-Man and the Avengers under Disney’s roof. Name it.
✓ Correct! Marvel Entertainment, acquired August 2009 for $4 billion. The deal followed Marvel Studios’ first independent production (Iron Man, 2008) and gave Disney rights to over 5,000 characters — though crucially not Spider-Man (still under a Sony deal) or the X-Men/Fantastic Four (under Fox until the 2019 acquisition reunited them). Disney’s combined Marvel-Lucasfilm-Pixar-Fox portfolio is now the largest IP holding in entertainment history.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Marvel Entertainment. DC Entertainment is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (since the 1969 Kinney/National acquisition). Image Comics and Dark Horse remain independent. Disney bought Marvel in August 2009 for $4 billion, two years after Marvel Studios’ first self-financed film (Iron Man, 2008).
08
Disney Animation’s Moana (2016) features Hawaiian newcomer Auli’i Cravalho as the title role and Dwayne Johnson as the demigod Maui. Its musical numbers — including “How Far I’ll Go” and “You’re Welcome” — were co-written by a Pulitzer- and Tony-winning Broadway composer who’d become a household name with Hamilton the previous year. Name him.
✓ Correct! Lin-Manuel Miranda — co-writing with Te Vaka frontman Opetaia Foa’i and composer Mark Mancina. Miranda’s Hamilton had opened on Broadway the year before (August 2015) and turned him into the rare Disney songwriter with crossover Broadway-rap credibility. Miranda has since become a Disney mainstay, returning for Encanto (2021), where his songs “Surface Pressure” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” topped the Billboard Hot 100.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Lin-Manuel Miranda. Stephen Sondheim wrote Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods and West Side Story’s lyrics — but never a Disney animated feature. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote Cats, Phantom and Evita — also never a Disney film. Alan Menken is the great Disney Renaissance composer (Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) but didn’t write Moana’s songs. Moana is Miranda’s, with Foa’i and Mancina.
The Castle Has Spoken · Final Tally Your Magic Kingdom Standing
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True Disney royalty — or just a tourist with churros?
Like last weekend’s Disney+ movie recommendations, there are two animated films on the list, including this Pixar entry and a sci-fi movie that connects with a key character from a film that is now playing in theaters. Those options are joined by a live-action space opera that is one of the most underrated movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
3
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
Ever since The Mandalorian and Grogu was released in theaters, I have been suggesting Star Wars movies that connect to it in some way and could help enhance the experience of catching Pedro Pascal’s latest sci-fi adventure in theaters. For the second weekend of June, I believe that watching the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie is perfect.
While the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series is one of the most popular releases in the franchise, the film ends up falling by the wayside in comparison. It should not, as there is a lot of fun to be had in the film that establishes the dynamic between Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano. The animated movie marks the debut of Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta, who now returns as an adult gladiator in The Mandalorian and Grogu and is key to the 2026 movie.
2
Toy Story 4 (2019)
The other animated movie on this weekend’s Disney+ movie recommendations is one that simply could not be missing. Yes, Toy Story 4 is one of the best animated movies released in recent years. However, the film is one of the most timely projects to rewatch or finally put on for the first time this weekend, as its sequel, Toy Story 5, will be released in theaters on Friday, June 19.
Toy Story 4 is currently Disney+’s 6th most-watched movie in the United States.
In Toy Story 4, beloved characters like Woody and Buzz Lightyear take to the road with their new owner, Bonnie, and embark on a transformative ride that forever changes the crew. Alongside the animated franchise’s stellar voice cast, Toy Story 4‘s new additions included names like Keanu Reeves, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Christina Hendricks, and more.
1
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Finally, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 closes out our Disney+ weekend movie list as one of the most underrated releases in the MCU. While I agree that it ranks lower than James Gunn’s other two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, the second entry in the franchise packs a huge emotional punch with Kurt Russell’s role as Ego, a living planet and the biological father of Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord.
Additionally, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a space opera that operates on the highest level, with eye-popping visuals, unique new planets, advanced technology, space exploration, and high-stakes action sequences. It is an engaging sci-fi movie through and through, with a high 85% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. It feels close in tone with the other entries on the list and connects to Star Wars: The Clone Wars‘ sci-fi angle, which makes this list perfect for a three-movie binge on Disney+ this weekend.
