Disney’s Next Animated Feature Is ‘Strange World,’ A Pulp-Inspired Family Action Adventure

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 61st feature will be titled Strange World — not Searcher Clade, as some media had speculated from trademarks filed by the company.

The studio has also shared plot details and first-look concept artwork from the action-adventure film, which comes out on November 23, 2022 (the same Thanksgiving slot occupied by Encanto this year). Strange World “journeys deep into an uncharted and treacherous land where fantastical creatures await,” it says.

Variety adds that the film “centers on the legendary Clades, a family of explorers whose differences threatened to topple their latest and most crucial mission.”

Strange World reunites some of the top talent behind this year’s Raya and the Last Dragon. Don Hall, a director on Raya and Big Hero 6, returns to the director’s chair. The film is co-directed by Raya co-writer Qui Nguyen, who is also writing the screenplay. Roy Conli (Big Hero 6) produces.

Hall told Variety that pulp magazines are an influence on the film: “I loved reading the old issues of pulps growing up. They were big adventures in which a group of explorers might discover a hidden world or ancient creatures. They’ve been a huge inspiration for Strange World.”