Darkwing Duck Gets Dangerous Again as Disney+ Orders the Reboot

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Jim Hill and Drew Taylor provide a comprehensive update on the animation industry, headlined by the official series order for the Darkwing D

Key takeaways

• Disney+ has officially ordered the Darkwing Duck reboot to series, featuring Mark Hamill and Seth Rogen.
• DreamWorks Animation's Forgotten Island is entering theaters with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes critical score.

Main topics

• Darkwing Duck Reboot
• DreamWorks Forgotten Island Box Office

Notable quotes

Animation is film.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a vital briefing for animation fans tracking the

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Welcome back to Fine Tuning with Drew Taylor, your one-stop shop on the campsite of animation news and commentary. I am entertainment writer Jim Hill, and Mr. Taylor, whose writings on the industry you can regularly read over on The Wrap, and whose musings on the Mission Impossible movies you can still listen to on Light the Fuse, the official Mission Impossible podcast. He and I are recording this week's show on Thursday, September 24th, 2026, which is a lot earlier than we usually do this, but that's because... I'm on the road as of tomorrow. I am traveling to, what is it, Beach Mountain, North Carolina, to do that Autumn in Oz thing. So we are recording this, in fact. Forgotten Island is just now having its Thursday night previews. Is that correct? Speaker 1 (0:53) That's right. Well, you know, as we say on the show all the time, it used to be midnight, but now it's like 5 p.m. they start showing. So, yeah. There we Speaker 2 (1:01) go. And again, Drew and I both really want this Joel Crawford 1L Mercado movie to do well at the box office. Now, what's kind of interesting is that. This has become one of DreamWorks Animation's weekends of choice. I mean, for example, back in late September of 2024, this is the weekend that The Wild Robot came out, the Chris Sanders film. And that did $35 million at the North American box office. Whereas last, this same weekend in 2025 is when the Gabby's Dollhouse, the movie, came out. And that didn't do quite as well. That only did 13, right? Yes. But a much lower budget. Speaker 1 (1:55) You know, all things are relative, Jim. You know, Speaker 2 (1:57) yes. All true. All true. And I guess what's interesting is hearing from friends. at Universal is they are hoping that Forgotten Island lands somewhere between these two extremes, the 35 that Wild Robot did or the 13 that Gabby's Dollhouse did. And it's gotten really good reviews so far. I mean, I want to say I went over to, what was it, Rotten Tomatoes, and it's a 97 % critical success. So again, hoping that this connects with an audience. What are we hearing, Drew? Speaker 1 (2:42) Yeah, Speaker 2 (2:42) I Speaker 1 (2:42) mean, I think that there is, you know, there are some sentiments at DreamWorks and at Universal that the word of mouth will really carry things through because as of right now, tracking is not huge for this weekend is what you're implying. But, you know, you look at something like Puss in Boots The Last Wish, which Joel and Jan also worked on and had a really wonderful film, but that really stayed. around a long time. It was not one of these things that was in and out. It just, word of mouth kept growing. People kept going. It was a huge hit even after it hit digital. So that's what I'm hoping for, Jim, is that people see it, enough people see it to tell other people and it turns a little bit of a profit because it really is a very special film. And I could see the sky being the limit for the franchise potential. Jim, I want to go to Forgotten Island in real life. I want an epic universe portal to Forgotten Island. Do you know what I mean? Okay. Speaker 2 (3:43) Okay, I can definitely get behind that. Again, the 15 minutes or so I've seen so far of this film make it look really, really special, and I'm looking forward to getting to see it in theaters. Though we were just talking about Gabby's Dollhouse, we just learned, in fact, today, Netflix put out word that that animated series from DreamWorks Television is getting a companion show, Doozy's Doghouse. that debuts on November 9th. And what is it? We're getting seven 22-minute long episodes. So, you know, definitely working the, you know, the preschooler side of the street there, right? On Speaker 1 (4:24) the upside, Jim, it's a story that you could probably understand without too much explanation. Speaker 2 (4:31) There is that. Yes, there is that. Because, again, if you get too sophisticated, you know, I can't follow it. I mean, for example, we got a trailer, finally, for Ray Gunn this week. The Brad Bird film I've only been waiting for for 30 years. Were you surprised, though, about the news about the, what is it? In 70mm in select theaters on December 4th? Was that new news? I did not Speaker 1 (5:00) know about that. But I am so thrilled because all I want is for this movie to get the biggest and best theatrical release that it can. But I love this. I saw this trailer a few weeks ago and I love it. What did you think, Jim? Speaker 2 (5:17) I can. It's just it's you know, it's so obvious that Brad Bird is a fan of film noir. And just to see him finally get to do this. uh no just just cannot wait to see the whole thing up there on the uh the big screen which again in select theaters in 70 millimeter on december 4th but then begin streaming on netflix on december 18th um so again put that on the calendar folks you definitely want to check this spend your Speaker 1 (5:49) christmas with ray gun that's that should be the the tagline you know solve a mystery over christmas break yeah Speaker 2 (5:56) Okay. Well, we have even more animation news in a moment, folks. But before that, we have to acknowledge our sponsors, which is BeOurGuestVacations.com. And again, you know, we're now... At the outermost stage of October, which, of course, is when Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, which, by the way, has officially now gone clean for this year. So, you know, if you want to do a seasonal hard ticket, that would throw it down. Still plenty of Speaker 1 (6:25) tickets to Oogie Boogie Bash, Jim. Come on out. I think they're going to start selling them on the corner or something. Yeah. Speaker 2 (6:33) Well, Halloween