David Farnor | On 08, Feb 2021

“How did this world get so broken?” “I believe we can be unified again, but someone has to take the first step.”

Last night’s Super Bowl didn’t see the usual deluge of new movie trailers, but Disney was out in force to tease its upcoming releases of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Raya and the Last Dragon.

The animated adventure whisks us away to the fantasy world of Kumandra, where humans and dragons lived together long ago in harmony. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and it’s up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the legendary last dragon to restore the fractured land and its divided people. However, along her journey, she’ll learn that it’ll take more than a dragon to save the world—it’s going to take trust and teamwork as well.

The film features the voices of Kelly Marie Tran as Raya, a warrior whose wit is as sharp as her blade, and Awkwafina as magical, mythical, self-deprecating dragon named Sisu. The cast also includes Gemma Chan as Raya’s nemesis, Namaari, Daniel Dae Kim as Raya’s visionary father, Benja, Sandra Oh as Namaari’s powerful mother, Virana, Benedict Wong as Tong, a formidable giant, Izaac Wang as Boun, a 10-year-old entrepreneur, Thalia Tran as the mischievous toddler Little Noi, Alan Tudyk as Tuk Tuk, Raya’s best friend and trusty steed, Lucille Soong as Dang Hu, the leader of the land of Talon, Patti Harrison as the chief of the Tail land, and Ross Butler as chief of the Spine land.

The film will debut in UK cinemas on 5th March where available and will also be available on Disney+ following the same model as Mulan – subscribers will be able to pay an early fee of £19.99 for Premier Access to the movie. The Premier Access window will be active until 5th May 2021, although the film will be available to those who pay the fee for as long as they subscribe to Disney+. The film will then be added to Disney+ for all regular subscribers from 4th June at no additional cost.

Here’s the trailer:

 

Raya and the Last Dragon set for Disney+ Premier Access release

12th December 2020

Raya and the Last Dragon will follow in Mulan’s footsteps with a Premier Access release on Disney+ this spring.

The animated adventure whisks us away to the fantasy world of Kumandra, where humans and dragons lived together long ago in harmony. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and it’s up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the legendary last dragon to restore the fractured land and its divided people. However, along her journey, she’ll learn that it’ll take more than a dragon to save the world—it’s going to take trust and teamwork as well.

The film features the voices of Kelly Marie Tran as Raya, a warrior whose wit is as sharp as her blade, and Awkwafina as magical, mythical, self-deprecating dragon named Sisu. Newly revealed characters from the film include a street-savvy 10-year-old entrepreneur named Boun, the formidable giant Tong, and a thieving toddler Noi with her band of Ongis. The movie is directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada and produced by Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho.

It will be released in US cinemas and 5th March 2021 and in UK cinemas on 12th March 2021. It will also be released simultaneously on Disney+, but with a Premier Access fee to stream it earlier than it would normally be available on Disney+.

If that sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the same model Disney used for its live-action remake of Mulan this summer, an approach that it said would be a one-off measure as it tested the waters for alternate distribution strategies during the coronavirus pandemic.

Since then, Disney has announced the release of Soul straight to Disney+ on Christmas Day without any theatrical distribution, cutting out cinemas altogether. Raya’s release plan was announced this week at Disney’s Investor Day event, which took place after the backlash facing Warner Bros about its decision to release its 2021 slate directly online via its own streaming service HBO Max as well as in cinemas.

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