Wish is a 2023 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn and written by Jennifer Lee and Allison Moore, and stars the voices of Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, and Natasha Rothwell. The story follows a 17-year-old girl named Asha (DeBose) living in the kingdom of Rosas, where she makes a passionate plea to the stars in a moment of need. She meets a living, magic fallen star, and together they face the kingdom's devious ruler, the sorcerer Magnifico (Pine).
Development of Wish began in 2018 but was not publicly disclosed until January 2022, when it was revealed that Lee was writing an original film at Disney Animation. In September 2022, the project was officially announced, with the title revealed alongside the involvement of DeBose and Tudyk. Buck and Veerasunthorn, who had worked with Lee on Frozen (2013) and Frozen II (2019) as co-director and story artist, were confirmed as directors the same month, with Moore later hired to join Lee in writing the screenplay. Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice wrote the songs, while frequent Disney orchestrator Dave Metzger composed the score. Wish is inspired by Disney's centennial, tying together a theme of most Disney films: wishes coming true, and it is also noted to be the origin story for the "wishing star". The film's art style combines computer animation with the look of traditional animation.
Wish premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on November 8, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 22. It received mixed reviews and grossed roughly $255 million worldwide on a production budget of $175–200 million. Analysts considered it to be a box-office bomb, resulting in an estimated $131 million loss for the studio after accounting for income from streaming and home entertainment. On Disney+, it became the third most viewed premiere for a film from Walt Disney Animation Studios. The film was nominated for several awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
Plot King Magnifico and his wife, Queen Amaya, establish the kingdom of Rosas on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. Having studied sorcery, Magnifico is able to grant the greatest desires of his subjects, but they have to give up the memory of their wishes to be sealed away and protected by the king until he can grant them. Once a month, at a ceremonial event, Magnifico chooses one wish to be granted.
Years later, 17-year-old Asha prepares to interview for the job of Magnifico's apprentice on the day of her grandfather Sabino's 100th birthday, hoping that Magnifico will grant Sabino's wish to inspire the next generation. The interview goes well until Asha requests for Sabino's wish to be granted, which Magnifico, rendered paranoid by the destruction of his family's land, declines for being too vague. Asha realizes Magnifico never intends to return the ungranted wishes to their owners, and when she questions his methods, Magnifico refuses to accept her apprenticeship.
Asha tries but fails to convince Sabino and her mother Sakina of the flaws in Magnifico's system. Distraught, she makes her own wish on a star, and to her surprise, the star descends from the sky in the form of an anthropomorphic star of light, which Asha names Star. Star's magic gives the forest animals, including Asha's pet goat Valentino, the ability to talk, and they tell her that all life is made of stardust. Encouraged, Asha enlists Star's help in retrieving her family's wishes. Everyone in the kingdom senses Star's presence, and Magnifico interprets it as a threat. Despite Amaya's pleas, he turns to a book of forbidden dark magic to maintain his position of power as his subjects begin to doubt his way of ruling.
Asha retrieves Sabino's wish and he is overjoyed to be able to remember it, but Magnifico arrives to arrest them, having been informed that Asha was responsible for Star's summoning. Corrupted by the dark magic, Magnifico intends to use Star's magic and Rosas's wishes to increase his own power, forcing Sabino and Sakina to flee to a nearby island while Asha, Star, and Valentino stay behind to free the citizens' wishes. One of Asha's friends, Simon, is revealed to be the one who sold her out to Magnifico, in hopes that his wish to become a knight would be granted. Magnifico grants the wish, but additionally bewitches Simon into being his henchman.
Asha rallies her other friends Dahlia, Gabo, Hal, Bazeema, Safi, and Dario to put an end to Magnifico's reign. Amaya also joins them, having discovered Magnifico's corruption. While her friends infiltrate Magnifico's study and open up the ceiling to free the wishes, Asha tries to distract Magnifico, only to be tricked by a disguised Simon, whom she defeats with the animals' help. The real Magnifico ascends the castle's tower, absorbing the power of every wish and trapping Star. Asha attempts to stop him but is easily overpowered as Magnifico blocks out the sky and immobilizes the citizens, preventing them from wishing on stars.
Unwilling to give up, Asha remembers the animals' message from before and encourages the citizens to make a wish about changing Rosas's future. The strength of their collective desire overpowers Magnifico, releasing the wishes from him and freeing Star. Magnifico's magic turns against him and traps him inside his staff's mirror, while the citizens regain their sealed wishes with a newfound appreciation of pursuing them.
Amaya becomes the sole ruler of Rosas, helping the citizens make their wishes come true on their own. A regretful Simon is forgiven by Asha and her friends. Star gifts Asha with a magic wand so that she can inspire people to keep dreaming before returning to the sky among the other stars.
Voice cast
Ariana DeBose as Asha, a 17-year-old girl who wishes upon a star to help save Rosas after sensing a coming darkness. Director Chris Buck says Asha is "energetic—an enthusiastic member of her community who proudly shows off this incredible place where she's grown up". Chris Pine as King Magnifico, the evil sorcerer king of Rosas who is the sole keeper of people's wishes. Writer Allison Moore says his motivations are not honorable, stating that "Magnifico seems to think wishes are just ideas. But they are a part of your heart—the very best part of your heart! Yet he's holding them inside these wish bubbles—hundreds of them—and most will remain there forever because that's how he controls the kingdom—by giving false hope". Alan Tudyk as Valentino, a goat whose wish to communicate comes true after Star's magic grants him the ability to talk. Angelique Cabral as Queen Amaya, King Magnifico's wife and the queen of Rosas. Victor Garber as Sabino, Asha's 100-year-old grandfather who is waiting to be granted his wish. Natasha Rothwell as Sakina, Asha's mother. Jennifer Kumiyama as Dahlia, Asha's best friend who is the royal baker and the unofficial leader of "The Teens". She was inspired by Doc from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Harvey Guillén as Gabo, a boy who is cynical but has a heart of gold and is part of The Teens. He was inspired by Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Niko Vargas as Hal, a joyful girl who is part of The Teens. She was inspired by Happy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Evan Peters as Simon, a strong boy with a big heart who is part of The Teens. He was inspired by Sleepy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Della Saba as Bazeema, a shy girl who is part of The Teens. She was inspired by Bashful from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Ramy Youssef as Safi, a boy who is plagued with allergies and is part of The Teens. He was inspired by Sneezy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Jon Rudnitsky as Dario, Asha's rosy-cheeked and wiggly-eared friend who is part of The Teens. He was inspired by Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Additional voice cast includes Keone Young as Mountain Climber, Tall Man Tourist, and Guard #1; Heather Matarazzo as Flying Woman; and Nasim Pedrad as Sania, a woman whose wish to make the finest dresses is granted by King Magnifico.
Singer and television presenter Rochelle Humes cameos in the UK version of the film as Rochelle, a villager who wishes to become the captain of a ship. Yvette Nicole Brown and James Monroe Iglehart have vocal cameos during "I'm a Star" and are credited as the featured singers of the Choir alongside Woody Buck.
Production Development
Wish began development in 2018, but it was not publicly disclosed until January 21, 2022, when it was reported that Walt Disney Animation Studios' chief creative officer Jennifer Lee was writing an original film at the studio.
On September 9, 2022, during the 2022 D23 Expo Presentation, Disney Animation announced the film's title, as well as that the directing team would consist of Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, and Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster-Jones as producers. Buck, Veerasunthorn, and Del Vecho had all worked with Lee on the Frozen franchise, as co-director, story artist, and producer, respectively. It was also announced that the art style would combine the look of Disney's traditional watercolor animation and computer animation, which the company utilizes in its modern period. Composer Dave Metzger cited Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Sleeping Beauty (1959) as the main sources of inspiration for the designs of the characters and setting, as well as the latter film being the source of the decision to present the film in the 2.55:1 aspect ratio. Veerasunthorn, who was making her feature directorial debut with this film, said that she was "excited about honoring Walt Disney with the feature. Our art and technology team would come together to figure out how to combine the 20th century illustration look that inspired Walt [Disney] with the CG technology we have now".
The film's animation was originally intended to be completely traditional, but it was later decided to be blended with computer-animation when 2D alone was considered, in the filmmakers' opinion, as having too many limitations in terms of camera movements and characterization.
The Art of Wish artbook revealed that Queen Amaya was originally going to be a villain alongside Magnifico, while Star was originally "a human character, part magical, part glowing, inspired a bit by Peter Pan". Additionally, several concepts and scenes were ultimately cut or altered from the finished film, including a scene where Asha and her family hide away in a village where the people write their wishes on trees and Sabino dies shortly after inspiring Asha to fight Magnifico, a chase scene through the forest where Star transformed into several creatures to escape Queen Amaya and her guards, and an alternate ending where Magnifico devoured wishes to become all-powerful and Asha, intending to stall him, attempted to pass Valentino off as Star. A scene of Sabino singing "A Wish Worth Making" after Asha recovers his wish was cut from the film late in development for unknown reasons.
Casting On September 9, 2022, during the 2022 D23 Expo, Ariana DeBose and Alan Tudyk were announced to have been cast in the leading roles of Asha and Valentino, respectively. On April 26, 2023, at CinemaCon, it was announced that Chris Pine would voice King Magnifico. Lee said of Pine "as the most powerful person in the kingdom, King Magnifico needed to be played by someone who could give all the charm, cleverness and charisma to this magnanimous character, and Chris is beautifully bringing all of that and then some". On September 18, 2023, Angelique Cabral was announced as the voice of King Magnifico's wife, Queen Amaya. The rest of the cast was announced with the release of the full trailer.
Music