During the D23 Expo held at Anaheim, California on August 14 to 16, Disney pulled a major surprise to fans of the upcoming sequel of the 2014’s surprise animated hit “Big Hero 6,” as well as gamers of the highly-anticipated cross-over role-playing game “Kingdom Hearts 3.”
Square Enix has confirmed during the event that Baymax, the adorable health-care companion of protagonist Hiro Hamada, will be joining Sora in “Kingdom Hearts 3,” and will officially become the first glimpse of “Big Hero 7” movie which has been officially greenlit by Disney early this year.
“Kingdom Hearts 3” producer Shinji Hashimoto showed a concept art at the D23 Expo showing Sora atop Baymax back and they are fighting against a Dark Baymax, the one who was left in the portal, details The Bit Bag.
Hashimoto said that the gameplay story will take place after the events of “Big Hero 6.” It can be recalled that the original Baymax was left in the portal when Hiro and his team attempted to rescue the daughter of the professor.
The character design of Baymax in “Kingdom Hearts 3” resembles the dark colored outfits of the cartoon figurines that were shown by Idle Hands, and it is possible that these costumes will also be the get-ups of Baymax for “Big Hero 7,” parallel with the rumored dark tone of the story of the sequel.
With the formal entry of “Big Hero 6” or “Big Hero 7” on “Kingdom Hearts 3,” the cross-over role-playing game now has officially four Disney themes in it, with the other three being “Tangled,” “Hercules,” and “Twilight Town.”
Great story for sequel
Writer Chris Williams and Director Don Williams both agree that the sequel to “Big Hero 6” should really have a great story line.
In an interview, the two revealed that Executive Producer John Lassater has been very supportive of the them and that he won’t force them to put out a sequel unless they come up with a really good story for “Big Hero 7,” notes Crossmap.
The two added that Lassater’s main criterion of a good story is a story that really has to be told or deserves to be told and not just merely cashing in on the success of “Big Hero 6.”
But they are also not closing their doors for a continuation of “Big Hero 6” story since the characters of the movie have been known to fans very well plus the fact that working on those characters definitely has its appeal.
Likely release date
While Disney Pictures has yet to make an announcement or statement about the release date of the sequel to the very successful “Big Hero 6” shown last year, it seems that the recent pronouncements of Marvel executive producer Stan Lee may have hinted a likely schedule for “Big Hero 7.”
In a recent speaking engagement to promote Marvel-inspired Gillette razors, Marvel executive producer and legendary comic book creator Stan Lee spoke about the possible start-up of production for the sequel of “Big Hero 6.”
He mentioned that production on the movie will begin after Marvel Studios get the following movies off the ground including “Ant-Man,” “Doctor Strange,” the “Black Panther,” the “Inhumans,” “Guardians of the Galaxy 2,” “Big Hero 6 (sequel),” “Avengers 3,” and “Captain America 3.”
Based on Lee’s production chronology of upcoming Marvel movies, it can be noted that “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” already has a May 5, 2017, playdate and so is the “Avengers 3” or the first part of the two-film series, which will hit theaters on May 4, 2018.
The “Big Hero 6” sequel or the “Big Hero 7” will be in between those two Marvel movies in Lee’s movie production chronology and as such, it will likely be released either late in 2017 or early 2018.