Well, we’ve made it to June (somehow). But there’s a silver lining to being stuck inside for another month: there’s a lot of really great, fun stuff coming to Disney+ in June. So that’s something … right?
From classic episodes of the Disneyland TV show to robust behind-the-scenes documentaries that show how your favorite Disney TV shows and movies were made to a brand-new movie intended for a wide theatrical rollout (whoops), Disney+ is bringing the heat in June.
Here are our picks of the best of the best, but be sure to look at everything new coming to Disney+ this June.
Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian (“Visualization”)
Available: June 5
One of the biggest surprises of Disney+ is how edifying this making-of documentary series, that does an in-depth deep dive into the production of the platform’s smash hit Star Wars series The Mandalorian. With previous episodes devoted to the creatures, cutting-edge video screens that helped augment the backgrounds in real time and the talented group of filmmakers behind the series (also in one episode Werner Herzog talks about Baby Yoda), this newest episode is devoted to “Visualization.” According to the official release, this episode digs into the show’s influences, from westerns to samurai films. “We delve deeper into those influences and discuss how emulating those genres inspired the show,” according to the press release. It’ll be interesting to hear from the filmmakers about what they drew on, since so many of the episodes have their own, idiosyncratic tone and feel (while still coloring within the lines of the Star Wars universe).
"The Liberty Story"
Available: June 12
Up until now, the amount of classic Disney television series on the platform has been pretty sparse. But that seems to be changing, with two episodes of Disneyland coming to the platform this week alone. “The Liberty Story,” a season three episode of Disneyland (original airdate: May 29, 1957), served many purposes. For one, it combined an extended version of 1953 short “Ben and Me,” starring Sterling Holloway as a mouse named Amos who contributed significantly to Ben Franklin’s career; and previewed Johnny Tremaine, starring Hal Stalmaster as the Revolutionary War figure. It also, fascinatingly, served as a preview for Liberty Street, an extension of Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland that was inspired by Johnny Tremaine but ultimately never built. The concept stuck around, as no good idea truly goes away at Disney, and was expanded for the opening of Walt Disney World in Florida. When the Magic Kingdom opened on October 1, 1971, you could stroll through Liberty Square, visit replicas of the Liberty Bell and Liberty Tree, watch the Hall of Presidents unfold and ride The Haunted Mansion. So in a way, the episode still managed to drum up excitement … for an experience that would open nearly 20 years later on the other side of the country.
"The Story of the Animated Drawing"
Available: June 12
For this episode of Disneyland, the eleventh episode of season two (original airdate: November 30, 1955), Walt and company do a historic deep dive on the origins and evolutions of animation. “Most of us are inclined to think of the animated cartoon as a modern invention, like the airplane or the automobile, but actually the idea of imparting life and motion to still pictures is as ancient as man itself,” Walt begins. And, in truth, this is a really fascinating episode, as it begins with cave drawings and (surprise!) continues through Walt’s more recent accomplishments, like the first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. What’s remarkable is how informative it actually is; if you’ve never read up on the history of animation, this is solid first step. And that information is told in typical lively Disney fashion, with humor and grace. But perhaps most remarkably, the episode contains an entire segment from Walt’s 1940 masterpiece Fantasia. A virtually complete version of “The Nutcracker Suite” section of the film, it must have undoubtedly delighted audiences, since the last time the film was in theaters was 1946 (and, of course, the wintery atmosphere of the segment would have been a treat so close to Christmas). Airing “The Nutcracker Suite” also drummed up interest, as the next Fantasia theatrical re-release would occur just aa few months after the episode aired, on February 7, 1956. The story of the animated drawing continued.
Walt and El Grupo
An incredible, rarely discussed documentary from 2008, Walt and El Grupo traced Walt Disney’s footsteps as he embarked on a 1941 goodwill tour of South America, sponsored by the United States government (who were nervous about allegiances in South American countries falling to the Nazis). Walt embarked on the trip because, at the time, his life at the studio was particularly fraught. The outbreak of World War II had left his costly films without European audiences (soon the Disney lot would be overrun with troops, who turned it into a makeshift base) and the animators’ strike, which happened shortly before the trip, had badly demoralized him. The South American trip would wind up having a profound effect on Walt and the small cluster of artists and animators who accompanied him (Theodore Thomas, son of legendary animator Frank Thomas, who accompanied Walt on the trip, wrote and directed the documentary). Most directly, the South American trip would wind up inspiring the films that made up two of his better “package films” of the 1940s – Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. (This trip is also notable for coinciding with the death of Walt’s father; Walt was so emotionally detached at the time that he didn’t even deal with his father’s passing until he returned from the journey.) Spirited and colorful, this documentary illuminates a forgotten but hugely informative period for both Walt, the animators that went along him, and the company itself.
Artemis Fowl
Available: June 12
Initially designed to be one of Disney’s big summer 2020 theatrical offerings, it was announced that Artemis Fowl, based on the novel by Irish author Eoin Colfer, would instead make its debut on Disney+. It seems to be a win for everyone – families get a brand new, handsomely produced (its budget was supposedly over $100 million) Disney movie to watch again (and again) while sheltering in place, and Disney avoided a potential box office bust that would have been embarrassing and very public. And Artemis Fowl doesn’t look bad either. Ferdia Shaw plays the title character, a young criminal mastermind who dresses like a mini-Men in Black and gets involved in a fairy tale world after his father is kidnapped by otherworldly forces. Celebrated filmmaker Kenneth Branagh directs a stellar cast that includes Josh Gad, Colin Farrell, Hong Chau and Judi Dench, and the trailers have promised a diverting, visually rich adventure that could provide some low-stakes summertime fun. We’re in.
Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian (“Score”)
Another behind-the-scenes look at The Mandalorian, this time focusing on the very memorable score from Black Panther composer Ludwig Göransson. This installment features extensive interviews with Göransson from inside his studio, as well as footage of the orchestra actually performing and recording his score. It’ll be fascinating to hear what inspired his distinct, western-y music and what kind of pressures he faced entering into a universe that is so closely identified with the work of a single composer (John Williams). The Force is with this episode, for sure.
Schoolhouse Rock (Season 1)
Available: June 19
In August 1995, Disney announced its plan to purchase ABC/Capital Cities in a deal valued at $19 billion. Along with this deal, they also acquired the rights to Schoolhouse Rock, a series of educational animated shorts (each with their own earworm-y song) that first aired in the early 1970s and ran until the early 1980s. (At the time, irony-prone Generation X was rediscovering Schoolhouse Rock, as they had with many kitschy, candy-colored pop culture artifacts from the 1970s. There was even a covers album by grunge and alternative artists.) The shorts themselves were fun to watch, with a groovy, counterculture art style and nifty character designs, and the messages they imparted with important. It’s telling that since the acquisition, Disney has done a pretty admirable job of keeping Schoolhouse Rock alive, whether its slotting them into its Saturday morning animated programming block, producing new shorts for more modern topics like climate change, or regularly reissuing the series in home video collections. Clearly, they know how timeless and universal Schoolhouse Rock really is. The listing from Disney+ indicates that this will only be the first season, aka “Multiplication Rock,” so get ready for “Three is the Magic Number” being stuck in your head for weeks on end.
Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian (“Connections”)
Available: June 19
Put your blast shields up, it’s another behind-the-scenes look at The Mandalorian. According to the official synopsis, this installment (“Connections”) features series creator Jon Favreau and director/executive producer Dave Filoni, who “look back at some of the Star Wars characters and props that made their way into The Mandalorian.” Considering what a deep nerd Filoni is, and especially after his impassioned, highly articulate analysis of the final lightsaber fight in The Phantom Menace (from a couple of episodes ago), this should be a lively and entertaining discussion. And it’ll be illuminating to see how much classic Star Wars lore made it into the first live-action Star Wars series. Also this episode will “showcase” the 501st legion, a group of dedicated Star Wars fans who dress up as Stormtroopers and who are officially recognized by Lucasfilm. Favreau recounted a story at last year’s Star Wars Celebration fan event about how the most coveted props are costumes are the ones that are “screen worn,” meaning they actually appeared on camera. When Favreau needed Stormtroopers, he called in the 501st, instantly making their handmade costumes “screen worn” and, therefore, infinitely more special.
“Man in Space”
Another episode of Disneyland! And this one is really worth getting excited about. “Man in Space,” a late season one episode (original airdate: March 9, 1955) is notable for a few reasons. First off, it was co-written, directed and produced by Ward Kimball, the legendary Disney animator and one of Walt’s Nine Old Men. Secondly, it features not one but two honest-to-god Nazis, in the form of charismatic scientists Heinz Haber and Wernher Von Braun, both of whom contributed significantly to America’s space program following the conclusion of World War II. (It also featured Willy Ley, a German-American scientist who pioneered ideas about space travel alongside Dick Dufeld, who voiced the flailing robot from Lost in Space.) But most fascinatingly, a copy of “Man in Space” was requested by Dwight D. Eisenhower, ostensibly to show to Pentagon experts who are working on the space program. But years later, Kimball would claim that Eisenhower’s interest had something to do with another project. Shortly after the television episode aired, Walt Disney and Kimball were contacted by the United States government asking them to be the ones to announce to the American people that UFOs (and extra-terrestrials) were indeed real. The government had been impressed with the recent Disneyland episode and the educational films Disney had produced (begrudgingly) during World War II. If anybody could make interplanetary life palpable, it was Disney. The way Kimball tells it, shortly before he and Walt were going to go over the secret documents and footage, the government changed its mind and pulled out of the project. (Later, rumors persisted that Disney ultimately wound up with the footage, including documentation of Air Force personnel interfacing with crashed UFO survivors.) Whether or not Kimball’s story is true, the fourth, unproduced installment in this series of Disneyland episodes was meant to be about UFOs and could have, potentially, educated the public on their very real existence. Ah, what could have been.
"Mars and Beyond"
Available: June 26
The third part of the space-themed Disneyland episodes directed by Kimball (the second installment, “Man and the Moon” is currently unavailable), “Mars and Beyond” is a hoot. Originally aired as part of Disneyland’s fourth season (original airdate: December 4, 1957), this episode features some truly iconic animation of different aliens, some of them imagined by H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose landmark novel Princess of Mars would be attempted by Disney in the late 1980s and finally brought to the screen in 2012 with Disney’s John Carter. (Donald Duck also appears in this segment.) “Mars and Beyond” is more purely speculative than the other episodes in this little series; when it aired mankind hadn’t yet visited the moon much less Mars and beyond. But there are educational moments, for sure, with detailed information about the larger solar system and another appearance by everyone’s favorite Nazi war criminal Wernher Von Braun, who details specifics of what a landing on Mars would actually entail. This is an essential, highly entertaining and educational piece of Disney history with some truly unforgettable animation, narrated by the great Paul Frees, a Disney Legend who Disney Parks guests will remember as the narrator of The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Tarzan
Available: June 26
Tarzan, released in the summer of 1999, marked the end of the so-called Disney Renaissance, a period of unparalleled commercial and critical success for the company’s animation unit that harkened back to Walt Disney’s heyday. Directed by A Goofy Movie filmmaker Kevin Lima and Chris Buck, who would go on to helm Frozen, Tarzan was Disney taking a crack at bringing its big, musical prestige to decidedly pulpy origins: the 1914 novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A streamlined origin story, Tarzan tells the story of a man (Tony Goldwyn), raised by the animals (including his gorilla mother played by Glenn Close) in the jungle that later fights back against modern man (Brian Blessed’s deliciously evil baddie). At the time it was the most expensive animated movie of all time, mostly due to the development and implementation of a new camera system called Deep Canvas that allows for animated characters to interact seamlessly with 3D computer-animated backgrounds. This technology breakthrough allowed for the awe-inspiring sequences of Tarzan “surfing” through the trees and was heavily utilized in future Disney animated films like Treasure Planet. And the movie itself is still really wonderful; the movie work is great (keep in mind that Harrison Ford was being wooed for the role of Tarzan’s ape father and Woody Allen nearly played his nervous elephant buddy) and the action is lean and muscular. And, let the haters hate: the Phil Collins songs still rule. Once it shows up on Disney+ crank it up.
Into the Unknown: Making ‘Frozen 2’
Available: June 26th
Hopefully the cold never bothers you anyway. Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 is an in-depth, surprisingly honest six-part documentary that dives deep into the making of Frozen 2, which would ultimately go on to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time. The documentary starts about a year before the film’s release date and goes into painstaking detail about the roadblocks and obstacles that are popping up as the entire production dashes towards the finish line. (One song becomes a particular sticking point.) Incredibly illuminating, the documentary (all six parts will be available) highlights the talented, hardworking artists, technicians and storytellers that come together to create one of these animated marvels, and goes into detail about some of the filmmakers’ personal lives – we get to see Jennifer Lee juggle the responsibilities of her directing the movie with overseeing the entire animation unit (as a single mother, no less!) and hear the heartbreaking story of director Chris Buck losing his young son. Everything about Into the Unknown is brilliant and amazing. Even if you don’t care for Frozen 2, you’re going to love this series – it’s one of the summer’s very best.