One of the big cinematic events each year is the release of Walt Disney Animation Studios' latest film. The next one is to be the science fiction adventure comedy Strange World, and today the film's first full trailer was released.

Disney's Strange World was first announced in December of 2021. A short teaser trailer was released in June, followed by the cast list in July. The film will be an action comedy, perhaps more in line with their previous films Zootopia and Raya and the Last Dragon than with their iconic musical films, like Frozen and Encanto. Given the lackluster performance of their two previous films, released during the attendance slump of the pandemic, Disney is likely hoping for a return to their box office smashing successes of days past.

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In the new Strange World trailer, we meet the Clades, a family of famous explorers—or, at least, some of them are. Jaeger Clade was once a world-famous explorer but went missing during an expedition. His son Searcher settled down to life as a farmer and never took up his father's mantle. Grandson Ethan, however, is tired of simple farm life and yearns for something more. One day the president of Avalonia visits their farm and requests the Clades' help on a dangerous expedition into the unknown. The film will follow the journey of Searcher, Ethan, and the rest of their crew on their first big adventure.

According to the film's director Don Hall (Big Hero 6, Raya and the Last Dragon), Strange World is inspired by the science fiction pulp magazines from the first half of the 1900s. In a statement to the official Disney fan club D23, Hall described the pulp stories as “big adventures in which a group of explorers might discover a hidden world or ancient creatures.” The film also clearly draws heavy inspiration from the stories of 19th-century science fiction author Jules Verne. In particular, Verne's 1864 novel Journey to the Center of the Earth depicts a scientist's expedition into the Earth's core, where he discovers an untouched prehistoric world.

The film will be written by Qui Nguyen (Raya and the Last Dragon) and produced by Roy Conli (Tangled, Big Hero 6). Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the middle-aged Searcher Clade; Dennis Quaid plays his father, the famous explorer Jaeger Clade; Jaboukie Young-White plays Searcher's 16-year-old son Ethan Clade; Gabrielle Union plays Searcher's wife and the expedition's pilot, Meridian Clade; and Lucy Liu plays Callisto Mal, the team's leader and the president of Avalonia.

Strange World is scheduled to release in theaters on November 23, 2022.

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Source: Disney/YouTube