Disney Animation Boss Reveals What’s Next for ‘Frozen 3,’ ‘Zootopia 3,’ and the Studio’s 10-Year Plan [Exclusive]

At this year’s SCAD Savannah Film Festival, attendees were treated to a very special look inside Hexed, Walt Disney Animation Studio’s first original movie in years following 2023’s Wish. Disney Animation’s chief creative officer and Academy Award winner Jared Bush (Encanto, Zootopia) attended the festival to debut exclusive new clips and talk in-depth about the film’s never-before-seen artistry and story.

Hexed is an all-new, magical coming-of-age story about Billie (Hailee Steinfeld), a young girl who discovers she possesses mysterious abilities. These newfound powers launch Billie into the adventure of a lifetime when she leaves her safe suburban neighborhood for Hexe, a secret realm for witches. The movie also features the vocal talents of Rashida Jones as Alice, Billie’s overly cautious mother, Jodie Foster as Queen Celeste, and Walton Goggins as Beef Roger, leading a whole host of stars.

While at SCAD, Bush also shared tales from his storied career with one of the world’s most influential animation studios, but Collider’s Steve Weintraub was interested in what’s next for the fans. During an exclusive interview, which you can read in the full transcript below, Bush discusses Disney Animation Studios’ 10-year plan, from originals to sequels, and even more musicals, as well as all the changes he’s made and hopes to see in his time as CCO.

Don’t miss the first scoop on Disney’s return to The Princess and the Frog, new details on the worlds of Frozen 3 and 4, Zootopia, Tangled, and Hexed, plus what’s to come from Hexed director Fawn Veerasunthorn with 2028’s Clay, starring Kieran Culkin. He also discusses Pixar’s future slate, Disney Animation’s stance on A.I., master horror filmmaker Jordan Peele‘s potential future with the studio, and so much more!

Disney Is Making a New ‘Princess and the Frog’ Special With the Original Cast

We’re “almost there!”

Image via Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett Collection

COLLIDER: The MCU is basically in shutdown on Disney+. What are your plans for Disney Animation on Disney+? Will we see any original content or short films?

JARED BUSH: We have a short film on the front of Hexed coming out in just three weeks — Lilo & Scratch. It’s a new one.

I guess what I’m saying is specifically for Disney+, because as a consumer, I would say that the offerings have been really pulled back, and so it’s almost like it’s been overcorrected.

BUSH: Well, there is something we’ve actually been working on. It is a special set in the world of The Princess and the Frog. We are really moving on that right now. So, that’s actually in active production. That will be out to people soon. New songs. Original cast. It is pretty spectacular.

Is it like a special? Is it like a 30-minute episode? Is it a short?

BUSH: I’m hesitant to give you the specifics. I’d say it probably will feel more like a special to people. So, it’s not shorts. It’s a full story with a lot of songs as part of it.

2027?

BUSH: We have not announced a specific timing of that yet. I’ll get back to you on that. But there are other projects in similar veins, and I think that that’s a great way for us to experiment with some things and also to revisit worlds that I think people want to see.

So this is me wanting something. What are the chances of doing an Avengers-style team-up with a number of Disney animated characters that somehow come together in one movie and work together to do something?

BUSH: I like the idea of that. I will not give you credit for it if we ever do it, but I like that idea.

Please do this. You saw a little bit of it in Wreck-It Ralph, and everyone loved it. In animation, you can come up with any reason why all these characters have to come together.

BUSH: Yeah. What are we doing? What are we waiting for?

All your decisions have been wrong until this point.

BUSH: [Laughs] I’m realizing that now. I’m going to have to reassess a lot of things in my life.

I’m dead serious. Please take the idea. Will we see more Wreck-It Ralph stuff?

BUSH: Oh, man, I hope so. Right now in Tokyo, there’s a new attraction that’s just about to open that’s Wreck-It Ralph-centric. These are characters I personally love. Going back to that world would be great.

‘Zootopia 3’ Will Take Judy and Nick Beyond Zootopia City

Plus, Bush reveals a new introduction to the franchise.

Zootopia 3. The second one was, you could say, a little popular. People seem to like it. So, where are you in the development of the third?

BUSH: Oh, man, I don’t want to get myself in trouble right here.

I think you might be involved in the story.

BUSH: Yeah. I’d say deeply. This is something that is going to take a lot of time to get right. I think with any movie set in the world of Zootopia, Judy and Nick are going to be at the very center of that. I think people know at this point that we are going to introduce birds into the world of Zootopia, and I think this may be the first time that we travel outside the bounds of Zootopia City itself.

When it was successful, did you immediately start thinking, “Wait a minute. Yeah, we do have to make another one?”

BUSH: The honest answer is that on the very first Zootopia, Byron [Howard] and I had a great time, and a year in, we said, “We want to stay in this world and tell all kinds of stories.” So, the idea that one day you’d introduce reptiles or one day you’d introduce birds are conversations we had 15 years ago.

Has this moved up the chart? Because I think you have a 10-year schedule or a five-year schedule.

BUSH: Yeah.

Are you already thinking, “We need to bump something,” or do you think one year there might actually be two movies?

BUSH: Here’s something that I’ve found, being at Disney Animation. When a movie is ready, that’s when it goes out into the world. And so I think that we have general ideas of when something might be ready, but until you’re in there, until everyone’s watching the movie and we all go, “This is the very best that we can make this. Now it’s ready to go out into the world,” that’s really what determines our release schedule.

Roughly, we have to have a sense of a musical to a nonmusical so we’re not bunching those up, or an original to a sequel story. We like to vary those quite a bit. So, there’s math that goes into that. Types of stories are important. But honestly, it’s when something is ready, and when we all feel that it is great.

What’s In Store for The Next Era of ‘Frozen?’

We’ll never let it go!

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Where are you at in Frozen 3 and 4?

BUSH: Well, Frozen 3 is out in one year. I will say, very exciting. Right now, literally as we speak, Kristen and Bobby Lopez are working on one of the movie’s most emotional songs right now. They are about five songs in.

I’d say that we have a very special story in store for people. I think one that will surprise people. And we have a brand new character coming in, a new villain, into the world of Frozen, and someone who may be more powerful than Elsa. So, lots going on.

When are you going to announce the casting of this voice?

BUSH: That’s a great question. We’ve already recorded her multiple times. Stay tuned.

Can you tease the title of a song you really like?

BUSH: Oh my gosh. I’ll say that there is a song that you hear around the wedding of Anna and Kristoff that is spectacular.

Is it their song?

BUSH: I won’t go into any more details.

You’ve avoided talking about Frozen 4, even though we all know Frozen 4 is coming. My question is, when you guys were making Frozen 3, how cognizant were you in the writing of it, like, “Okay, we’re going to make two, so what’s the story for both so we can make sure that at the end of the third, say we do a cliffhanger, we know where we’re going? We’re not just going to try to figure it out like the way they did Star Wars 7, 8, and 9?” Not to bring that in, but they had no plan and not a great idea.

BUSH: It’s tricky to answer that question. I’d say for me personally — again, talking just for myself — I think you have to have a rough sense of emotionally where you want your characters to go, a sense of an emotional journey. The plot behind that, at least for me, is secondary to the character journey.

So I think, looking at Frozen 3 and what a Frozen 4 could look like, I know early on it was, “We’re going to put them right together, and they’re going to be out in the world. It’s going to happen quick.” That’s not what we’re doing, for a lot of reasons. To me, an important one is we want to make sure that Frozen 3 is the best movie it can possibly be, so that when you get to the end of the movie, do you feel like you’ve watched a complete story? That it feels like something that feels fulfilling. That doesn’t always mean that everything is buttoned up, but it does mean that you have to be building to something that feels worthy of the end of a franchise that’s that important to people.

But then you also need to think, “Okay, well, if there was a future story, what might that look like?” So you have to have a rough sense of that. But I’d say in my personal experience, I try not to go too in the weeds on that because it can lock you into a Frozen 3 that you may want to change or make better. If you’re so rigid on what [Frozen] 4 might look like, then it could stifle you, and that’s not something that I want to do.

Personally, when you think about the original Star Wars movies, they came out in ‘77, ‘80, and ‘83. Three years between the films. Great amount of time. I would imagine that from the studio perspective, as you said, if Frozen 3 isn’t awesome, there’s a huge problem.

BUSH: Sure.

It needs to be awesome.

BUSH: It does.

Which means deploying all resources at one movie.

BUSH: Yeah.

But it also means, let’s hypothetically say it could be a three-year wait between the films, and I think fans would be okay with it.

BUSH: Well, I think yes. Something I noticed, certainly for Disney Animation, is if the future story is great, it doesn’t matter how much time has passed. And I’d say that for a musical, even more so. I think a little extra time is not a bad thing because the character is going to need to sing again.

That’s actually no easy feat. There’s never been a trilogy musical in cinema, to my knowledge, let alone four, right? So, what are these characters singing about? That’s really important for us to figure out. You can’t just say, “Well, now they sing something.” All of our characters for our movies sing about the most important thing in their life. You have to then believe, in the future story, there’s a new, most important thing in their life for them to sing about. That means there’s a lot of character journey to work out.

Then, as you go from movie to movie, you want those songs to feel different, that you’re not repeating yourself, but also don’t feel like it’s music from a different type of movie. So, it’s a lot of hard work.

I don’t know if you can answer this, but I’ll ask. Is there a lot of time between Frozen 2 and Frozen 3, or does it sort of start when the last one ended?

BUSH: There’s not a whole lot of time between those two stories. I’d say that, if you remember the end of Frozen 2, Kristoff finally proposed to Anna. This movie starts with their wedding. So, not a whole lot of time has passed between those. How much time? You’ll discover in the film.

‘Hexed’ Features an All-New Animation Technique for the Studio

It’s also Disney’s first original movie in years.

What do you want to tell people about Hexed?

BUSH: Number one, it’s an original. It’s our first original in a few years. We wanted to make sure that we came out of the gates with something very special, something very unique, something that is going to transport audiences to an entirely new world. So much heart went into the story.

It’s our first mother-daughter buddy comedy, and something that I’m very proud of for that respect. I think that whether you are a child who feels like your parents never let you go out into the world, or whether you’re a parent who says, “I want my child to go out into that world, but that world is scary, and I don’t know how to let them be free, but also keep them protected,” I think that’s really the debate of this movie. I think both sides of that are valid. We’re not saying that one of those arguments is better than the other. It is a world of deep emotion, huge comedy, and I think it is a spectacle.

We’re here at SCAD. There are a lot of students here that I’m sure want to work at Disney. When you’re here promoting Hexed, what else are you doing to talk to the students or watch their work? Because there’s a lot of talent here you might want to bring it.

BUSH: There is. We have a lot of folks that worked on Hexed who are SCAD graduates. My son goes to SCAD, so I’m actually here all the time. This is a place where they value artistry. They value creativity. This is a place that we draw from quite a bit because we want fresh perspectives. So, I try to talk to as many people as possible.

I was very lucky when I was growing up that I would be able to hear someone give advice that I wouldn’t have gotten had it not been someone from the industry coming and saying, “Hey, think about this a little differently.” I think there’s only so much you can learn from reading things in books or online. I think having someone who’s been in the trenches is important, so I try to do as much as possible.

Do you watch any of the shorts and stuff when you’re here? Do you see any of their stuff?

BUSH: Usually, yes. This time is a different trip, so unfortunately, I have not been able to see some of the new things. But I think that I’ll be here quite a bit over the next, definitely several months, but over the next few years. My son comes to school here, so I’ll be seeing a lot.

Technology advances each year. You see how powerful A.I. has become. How has technology and computational power, if you will, changed the infrastructure when you’re making a movie? Or are you always maxing out what the technology is at all times?

BUSH: This is something we talk about a lot. We are constantly trying to find ways to continue to experiment, to try things, to push boundaries. So I’d say that as we’ve been able to render things faster, it doesn’t mean that we’ve actually finished our movies earlier; it means we can do experiments longer until we have to then render it. So, I think that goes for everything we do.

I’d say Hexed is a great example of trying some very new things. There are a couple of sequences that have not been part of any of the materials we’ve put out yet that are pivotal moments.

I really appreciate that because trailers ruin everything.

BUSH: It is true. For an original, it’s so hard to put out a trailer because you want to hook people and say, “Hey, there’s a reason to go see it,” but if you give away everything, people are like, “You just told me the whole movie.” Hexed actually has walked a very fine line, and I think when people actually see it and when they get to the end, they’re gonna be surprised.

But there are these couple of sequences within that that were really difficult from an artistic and a technological standpoint. There are a few moments, without getting too specific in terms of what’s happening, where we are concurrently on ones, meaning there’s animation every frame for 24 frames — ones, twos, and fours, all at the same time, with CG animation and a painterly look that’s on a different frame rate, all at the same time for a very specific purpose. It’s one of the most interesting, cool, but also deeply emotional things that I’ve ever seen. We’ve never done it before, and I think when people get to those moments, it’s going to blow them away.

Is it something to do with spells?

BUSH: I will give you no additional information. When you get there, you’ll know.

Is Disney Making ‘Tangled 2’?

Jared Bush explains what it would take to return to Corona.

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

With the huge success of Tangled, did you ever discuss doing a sequel to that?

BUSH: We discuss all kinds of things all the time. I think people would be kind of surprised by the number of discussions we have around, “Do we want to return to a world with characters that we really care about?” It’s all the time for many, many different things. I think it always comes down to: Is there a filmmaker who is passionate and has a story that’s undeniable that we must tell? That usually is how we approach any new story.

The world of Tangled is one of the things that drew me to Disney Animation. I think when that movie came out, there was this resurgence of the Disney musical. That’s no easy feat. You may remember that when that movie came out, we weren’t sure whether Disney musicals were something that people wanted to watch, and that said, “Yes, it’s something that people want to watch — a new version of what that could be.” So, it has a very special place in my heart. And Byron, my good friend, was one of the directors.

With artificial intelligence advancing so quickly, where do you draw the line between technology that helps artists and technology that threatens what makes Disney Animation special?

BUSH: This is obviously something that the entire world is talking about. It’s not just in creative aspects, but how is this technology going to impact everyone? I’d say that, at its core, Disney Animation is a place where we value the human hand. Every single frame is hand-built. That is critical to what we do. It’s not just the skills of the artists; it’s their life experiences that they put on to the screen, and they put on to a page. Protecting that is absolutely critical.

And so I’d say as we move into the future, not knowing what it will bring for anybody, I think the number one job will always be to make sure that human creativity is protected.

Disney’s ‘Clay’ Features a Totally New Animation Style

The movie will look like stop-motion.

Image via Walt Disney Animation Studios

What can you tell people about Clay? Someone told me it looks like claymation.

BUSH: Yeah. Someone told you right. I’d say Clay is, I think, going to be the first time that we’ve really taken a big swing in terms of a new art style. Something that we talk about a lot in our films is, “Should we change the look of our movies, and why does it make sense? Is it is that something that will add to the story?”

Clay is set in a world where, in this community, you are born as a ball of clay, and you are shaped by a parental figure and mentor into who you’re supposed to be. So the fact that this is going to feel tactile, it’s going to feel like claymation in terms of making it feel like this very real, touchable place is important to us. It won’t be stop-motion. It will be CG animation, but it will look unlike anything we’ve ever done.

Is something like that a result, do you think, of the success of Spider-Verse and all the animation that’s really pushing the boundaries of a new look? How much does that all influence each other?

BUSH: I think anyone in animation, anyone in any art field, is always excited by someone doing something that is special. I think Spider-Verse is a great example of this amazing comic book style that makes so much sense telling the story of Miles Morales, right? Those are connected. It’s not a new art style for the sake of a new art style. It is, “This is going to resonate because it feels so much of that world.”

We are trying to do that constantly. There’s a short that we did called Paperman. Obviously, looking at how painterly something is, a new approach to art styles is something that we’ve always done. I think as we step into our future world, we have this incredible 100-year legacy, and so we’re constantly trying to look at the balance of how do you continue to evolve, which we must, but also how do you make sure that something still feels distinctly Disney? That’s important to us.

One of the things that you’ve talked about is how a project is only going to get the green light and get on the schedule when it’s crossed the Rubicon, if you will, where everyone believes in it. What made Clay cross the Rubicon?

BUSH: It is the passion of Fawn Veerasunthorn. She is one of the directors of Hexed. She’s actually one of the directors of the Lilo & Scratch short that’s on the front of Hexed.

She pitched me this very original world that’s centered on this parental mentor dynamic, with a character that doesn’t want to be a role model to anybody. She really based that off of her own life, becoming a mother and worrying, “How am I going to parent a kid? Do I believe in myself enough that I could be of value to this person’s life?” And it’s something that I think a lot of us struggle with, whether that’s as a new parent or in a work environment — can I help those around me?

It was the emotion of that story that, to me, grabbed me the most, and then the way that she applied that very universal struggle to this world and made the entire world revolve around that concept. So, I think in terms of how do movies come to be, especially new art styles, to me it’s a perfect example of why this movie has to look different, why it will be better than that, but at its heart, it’ll be this universal human story that everyone can relate to.

I’m assuming no songs, or are there songs?

BUSH: It is not currently a musical. But I’d say Hexed is a good example. Hexed is not a musical, but I think for the first time, we have six needle drops in it. We don’t ever do that. So, I’d say that the approach to Clay could be many things.

But you’re also still in the super early days, I would think, of the film.

BUSH: Yeah.

For people that don’t realize, it comes out in 2028. Where are you in the production process on something like that?

BUSH: Right now, we are actually about to have a screening, which is exciting. Building characters, building out the world, but still very much experimenting.

I think that something that I came to understand, one of the real special parts about Disney Animation, is early on, you’re just exploring. You’re not trying to hone the perfect movie. You’re actually trying a lot of different paths. You have this luxury of taking big swings, which is, I think, what Fawn’s been able to do.

Every person I talk to with animation says it changes like 17 times, so this is the best time to be exploring.

BUSH: Honestly, it is this extreme luxury. I feel like sometimes when you hear about a live-action movie, they say, “Oh my gosh, they had to do a bunch of reshoots.” To me, that’s a luxury. We have the luxury of constant reshoots for six years, because we can, because we’re trying to make something better. We’re trying to improve something, or something’s going to be more meaningful. So, yeah, early on, we are constantly taking big swings to see what else we could do.

What’s interesting is how when I was younger, I thought of reshoots and additional photography as, like, it’s a disaster, but now I understand additional photography is a luxury, and that until it reaches theaters on opening day, it’s all a work in progress.

BUSH: It is. And to me, that’s something that I love. Sometimes you have to finish the whole movie and look at it before you can go, “Oh my gosh, now that I’m seeing all of it, I realize we need to add this to the beginning to make that feel different to have it resonate.” Or you go, “This moment we thought was going to be hilarious or emotional, and it’s not yet. How do we fix that?” And so that’s what we do constantly.

Pixar Is Finding New Ways to Tell Stories

With Ghost Market and Gatto, Disney’s sister studio is exploring storytelling through new animation.

So I know you’re Disney Animation, but have you seen Ghost Market?

BUSH: I’ve seen pieces of it.

I’ve heard the look of it is really cool.

BUSH: It’s an amazing look. I’d say that something that Pete Docter and I talk a lot about is how do you marry an art style to a tone? I think that, from what I’ve seen so far, it’s a very, very unique thing for Pixar that I think really makes sense with the tone of the world they’re creating and making it feel like something that is pushing boundaries.

Have you seen Gatto?

BUSH: Yeah.

What was your reaction to it? Because it looks so cool.

BUSH: It’s gorgeous, right? I think this kind of goes with how do you marry a new art style with your storytelling? That’s one of those stories where it’s set in Venice. The fact that they’re going with a very painterly style really makes sense with that story and where it’s set, the tone of the movie, the soundtrack of the movie. It’s got a gorgeous score. I think when people see it, it will all feel cohesive, which is a really important thing as you’re trying to push boundaries, is to make sure that it doesn’t feel like it’s different for the sake of being different, but there’s an artistic point of view that means it has to be that.

It has to always be story.

Disney Animation’s Future Isn’t Just About Sequels

Bush breaks down the 10-year plan and what fans can expect more of.

You’ve talked about how you have the 10-year plan. Where are you right now, because I don’t think you’ve gone beyond 2028? Do you know what’s in 2029? Do you know what’s in 2030, and you’re just not saying it? Or is it possible that those could still change based on how scripts and animation go?

BUSH: I know what those things are, but depending on how we’re doing, they can be shuffled. Obviously we’ve already announced we’re working on Zootopia 3. That could be in a few different years, depending on how that movie is doing, how the movies around it are doing, how our world is doing. So, when I talk about a 10-year plan, I know roughly the movies that will be playing within those 10 years. The first five? I know those really well. Beyond those first five, the next five, I have to know kind of what we’re shooting towards because, again, our movies take four to six years to make, so you have to have a sense of what that looks like.

But it’s not so written in stone where if a new filmmaker comes in with a fantastic idea and you go, “Oh my gosh, this is lightning in a bottle. We’ve gotta move,” we will move. Or if we go, “This movie needs some extra help. We need some more time,” great. We have the ability to give that more time.

I think it’s really important for a studio, one, to get people excited; two, a lot of our artists, they’ve always wanted to work on a Disney musical. “Oh, great! They need to know what that looks like in the future.” Or they say — we got this a lot on Zootopia — “I came to Disney because of Zootopia. I really want to work on Zootopia 2.” There will be people that, because of that, want to work on Zootopia 3. Great. We need to be able to tell them when that is so they can they can look at their life and say, “Okay, this is the movie that I want to jump onto.” So, having a sense of that and being able to communicate that to the entire studio is critical.

When you’re thinking about the upcoming slate, there is the possibility of doing more sequels, there’s the possibility of doing originals, the possibility of doing musicals. You have so many options.

BUSH: Yeah.

And yet you have one slot a year.

BUSH: Yep.

Talk a little bit about what your plan is. This year, you have Hexed.

BUSH: Yep.

Next year, you have Frozen. The year after, you have Clay.

BUSH: Yep.

Are you thinking that every other year can be a sequel, and then there’s the original? And then it’s a question of what does the original fall into? Also, part two to this is how much are the people above you saying, “We need this, so this is what’s going to happen?”

BUSH: Something that’s important is that there’s no rigid philosophy, or there’s no rigid mandate. I’d say with Alan Bergman, with Dana Walden, with Josh D’Amaro, they’re all partners in this. By the way, as is Pixar, because Pixar’s our sister studio, and we talk a lot because both of our studios release movies every year, and we also want to make sure we’re not stepping on their toes.

So, I think for me, on average, an equal number of originals to sequels makes sense to me. That doesn’t always mean that it’s going to be one year this and then the next year’s the other, and then back to the other. It will not be that rigid moving forward, but it is something we think about.

I think original stories are key to what we do. The first three movies I worked on at Disney Animation were all originals. It was Zootopia and then Moana and then Encanto. I was very lucky that it was sort of this amazing heyday of original animation. Now, people want to go back into this world. So, how do you do both of those things?

As we have seen over the last decade, original animation is hard. You put a movie out into the world that you want people to love. Sometimes they find it, sometimes they don’t. So you have to be cognizant of that.

And then to your point, musicals are another part of that. I’d say that Disney Animation has this amazing history and legacy of musicals, but the musicals also can’t be the same type of musical. So you can’t just say, “Let’s make a musical.” People want those musicals to feel different or to take you to a different part of the world, or to have a different songwriter’s perspective. All of those things, we’re doing that mental math constantly. But it’s not a set formula. It really comes from a gut feeling and passion.

Jared Bush Wants Jordan Peele to Make a Disney Animated Movie

Get Out of here!

Image via Dave Starbuck/Future Image/Cover Images

If you could select a filmmaker, who might not be typically known for Disney Animation, who is the dream? Who is the person you would love to have working on an animated movie at Disney, to put it out into the world and see if they will read it?

BUSH: Oh my gosh. I need — immediately — for Jordan Peele to come to Disney Animation. That’s what I need. Because one: Brilliant filmmaker. He takes very, very big chances. Bold storytelling. I’d love to see what he would do with a Disney Animated film.

Jared Bush Is Taking a Collaborative Approach to Leading Disney Animation

The CCO discusses shelved projects, dream projects, and the hard work that goes into every frame.

Image via Dave Starbuck/Future Image/Cover Images

What have you learned from being on the production side that you’re applying to being the head of a studio?

BUSH: A lot of things. I think we have the extreme luxury in production of this iterative, collaborative process, and so as being the CCO, it’s just scaling that up and just making sure that you’re hearing from a lot of different voices. You’re finding moments to make sure that everyone has a voice as we’re trying to figure out how to make our movies better.

The other thing you do in production constantly is, everyone’s a perfectionist, and so saying, “Well, how else can we apply this?” Of course we want to make our movies as great as they can be, but I think the health of our community is making sure that as people are working on these films, they are fulfilled, that they’re able to put themselves on screens is really important. So, how do we do that better?

Are there any projects that were previously shelved at Disney Animation that you considered bringing back to light?

BUSH: We have this amazing luxury that most of what we develop, we make. It’s very rare in the industry to be able to do that. There are certainly aspects of projects that, again, when something doesn’t 100% pan out, they go, “Oh, I wonder why that is.” Sometimes it is the specific story; sometimes it is a filmmaker with a really distinct point of view that you say, “Okay, well, maybe that idea wasn’t the one, but maybe there’s something different.” Sometimes the reason we don’t do something is because, at that time, that story didn’t make sense, but in the future it could.

So, I guess I’m always wanting to say, I’m always open to anything. It really does come down to someone’s passion to create something. I think right now audiences want that. They want to feel like people are taking these big swings, and you’re getting something that feels unique and personal.

What’s been the most difficult decision you’ve had to make since becoming head of Disney Animation that audiences would never know about?

BUSH: Wow. Man, I’ve got to think about this one deeply. This is going to sound like a copout, but it’s true: I think what people would be the most surprised by is the massive decisions that happen on every single project all the time. I think if you look online and hear stories, you go, “Oh my gosh, this big moment happened on a Disney Animated film.” Those are only the big moments that go out to the world. We’re making very, very big choices and changing things constantly. That is a luxury of working at Disney Animation is that you can make big adjustments as you’re moving through a story.

I’d say that for Hexed, without giving away any spoilers, our villain may fall into that category for me. Queen Celeste, who’s played by Jodie Foster, we made a pretty bold change to her character, one that I think makes the film. My hope is that when people see the movie, and they get to know her character, that’s something that will resonate for people. I’d say that’s a big one.

But I mean it when I say, we have this amazing benefit of screening our movies for our entire crew — for an entire building, by the way. Whether you’re part of the 700-person crew that works on any of our movies or whether you’re one of the 1,300 employees that works at Disney Animation, everyone watches our movies multiple times. Everyone gives feedback, and they say, “This is not working for me,” or “I think we can do better here,” or “I don’t think we’re being bold enough.” We listen to that all the time.

That’s something that, when I stepped into this role, making all that feedback transparent, so when we get the feedback, as opposed to the filmmakers know it and that’s not reflected back, that’s probably one of the bigger things that I try to adjust, is that all that feedback actually gets said back to the entire studio, unfiltered, so that if things are not going well, everyone knows they’re not going well. If things are going well, we tell everybody that. But that was probably one of the harder things. If you’re a filmmaker, it’s so hard to acknowledge when things are not what they need to be, but I’ve found that that’s been great for the studio.

I would also think that it is much better to know that a year or two out than it is to just pretend that there’s not a problem.

BUSH: Correct. We used to run into this problem where we would do an audience preview, which is very late in the process, so the movie’s out in five months, and you’d get some very big feedback, and everyone would go, “Oh my gosh!” And you make these big last-minute changes.

The question was always, “Well, why are we not giving ourselves that same feedback?” And the truth was, we kind of were; we just weren’t sharing with everybody. And then we weren’t always being as honest as we needed to be.

Sure. If you could change one thing about the animation industry overnight, what would it be?

BUSH: Outward visibility. And what I mean by that is for audiences and fans of animation to understand the lengths it takes to make any of these films — and beyond Disney. I mean in anything in animation. I don’t think people understand.

I’ll take CG animation as an example. CG animation is someone working basically with a virtual puppet and adjusting it frame by frame. It is a virtual stop-motion. If people understood how hard that is… When you watch a film, and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, that expression that character made,” whether it’s something goofy or silly, or whether it’s something very subtle, where there’s subtext, that takes weeks. Literal weeks.

When that’s done, a whole group of other people go in and say, “Okay, well let’s make sure that the clothing feels right to the character. Let’s make sure that the effects on that character feel really tied in that world. Let’s make sure the lighting is also emotionally continuing to tell the story.”

I think if people had visibility into how hard that is… Whatever you’re watching, it is hours and hours and weeks and months and years of people’s lives.

It’s almost like you’re describing what could be a Disney Animation/Disney+ special: What it really takes to make an animated movie at Disney.

BUSH: I think that sounds great. But that’s real.

I’ve watched a lot of the behind-the-scenes on Disney+. I’ve watched a lot of the making of or the behind-the-scenes, and this is the absolute perfect thing to put on Disney+ about Disney Animation, where you actually maybe time-lapse someone showing an animator making this one thing, and it’s over three weeks. There’s a lot you can do here just to pull back the curtain, to be like, “So when you see that shot, this was all of this.”

BUSH: Yeah. And think about it, so much of what we do that I don’t think people realize is we have some of the greatest animators in the world, and when they come in to work on a shot, it’s hard for them. It’s difficult. They sometimes struggle, and they’re the best in the world at what they do. And that is every frame of our films for 90 to 100 minutes. It is unbelievable.

100%. Also, again, I’m trying to give you the options for Disney+.

BUSH: I appreciate it. By the way, I can see what you’re saying is I need more Disney+ content specifically from Disney Animation. We will deliver for you.

I’m saying this as a person who watches a lot of streamers. Disney+ was very aggressive, and now they’ve dramatically pulled back on content and offerings, and I think that it’s been an overcorrection. I do think that there is, with the amount of people that are struggling with inflation and with choices you need to make, you might not like all of Netflix’s offerings or Prime Video’s offerings, but they are constantly hitting you with new content. You need to have stuff.

BUSH: Okay. I’m on it.

If I could give you unlimited money and told you you could make any animated movie you wanted with no concern about the box office, what would you make?

BUSH: I’ll give you the real answer. It’s what we’re already making. And I mean that. Everything that we do, we have this incredible luxury of making stories that we deeply care about. No one that I know of that I work with goes into something and says, “Here’s a story that I think is going to make a lot of money at the box office.” What people come in and say is, “I want to make something that I really care about.” And you have hundreds of people surrounding you that want to help you achieve what that is. So for me, anything I’ve worked on at Disney Animation has been my dream project every time.

I totally hear where you’re coming from, but then you look at something like Pinocchio at Netflix, which is maybe not aimed at kids. Is there the one-quadrant or the two-quadrant film? Right now, it’s not going to happen, but I would love to see the Disney Animation machine aimed at something that’s 13 and up, where you can bring in some stuff that maybe is not a four-quadrant movie.

BUSH: Sure. Look, I think I’ve famously said that I’m a big fan of all John Wick films. My son is hugely into horror films. I’d say that the emotion that some of those films are able to pull off is exciting. Who knows what that would look like at Disney Animation? Those are really fun films.

But it’s tricky because at the same time, I’ll say that I grew up on Amblin movies, so what we make is my sweet spot. It is exactly the thing that brings me the most joy. So I personally never feel like, “Oh man, I wish we could do that, and we can’t.” I’m actually more constantly amazed that the thing that I love the most is what I get to do every day.

Hexed opens exclusively in theaters on November 27.

Release Date

November 25, 2026

Runtime

99 minutes

Director

Jason Hand, Fawn Veerasunthorn