Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS) has announced it will be opening a new facility north of the border in Vancouver, BC, Canada sometime in 2022.
Animation veteran Amir Nasrabadi will serve as head of Walt Disney Animation Studios in Vancouver. His resume includes overseeing Pixar Canada as VP/General Manager, and a previous stint at WDAS as a finance lead.
The new Vancouver location will focus on long-form series and special projects for Disney+. The first project is expected to the a new Moana musical series for the streamer, with a debut date projected for 2024.
According to a recent article on Deadline, the Burbank location of WDAS will become the exclusive hub for feature film projects as well as shorter form series such as the recently announced Baymax! and Zootopia+, set to debut in 2022.
Baymax! is set in the movie’s San Fransokyo, and gives the health care robot from Big Hero 6 new powers as he help people.
Zootopia+ will feature some of the film’s most popular side characters, like the Tiger Dancers and Flash the sloth, as they star in various reality shows.
There is also a Tiana musical series in the works for 2022, based on Princess and the Frog, but no word which studio location will be working on it.