In A Rare Move, Disney Pulls The Plug On Gigantic

After first being announced in 2015 with a presentation at Disney's D23 convention, the studio has officially pulled the plug on their Jack and the Beanstalk adaptation, Gigantic. Originally set for a 2018 release before it was pushed to 2020, the project is a very rare cancelation for the studio.

According to Walt Disney Animation Group president Ed Catmull, who gave a statement on the film to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio has ended active development on the project "for now," but has another project in the works for a Thanksgiving 2020 release.

The full statement from Catmull reads, "It’s impossible to know when we begin a project how the creative process will unfold, and sometimes, no matter how much we love an idea or how much heart goes into it, we find that it just isn’t working. With Gigantic, we’ve come to that point, and although it’s a difficult decision, we are ending active development for now. We are focusing our energies on another project that has been in the works, which we’ll be sharing more about soon, now set for Thanksgiving 2020."

Gigantic was to be set in Spain during the Age of Exploration, with an 11-year-old Jack befriending a female giant named Inma. While no cast had been named, the film was being co-directed by Nathan Greno (Tangled) and Meg LeFauve (Inside Out). Additionally, Frozen songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez had been brought aboard to pen the movie's original songs.

While Catmull's statement leaves the door cracked open to revisit Gigantic again in the future, the film now joins the likes of Pixar's Newt and Disney's King of the Elves as projects shelved after long periods of development.

Gigantic's 2020 replacement has yet to be announced, but Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 will hit theaters on its original November 21, 2018 release date. The studio's next movie, Pixar's Coco, debuts on November 22.