It’s not often that a Walt Disney Animation Studios film gets a cinematic sequel. In fact, it’s only happened a handful of times; there was The Rescuers Down Under in 1990, then Ralph Breaks The Internet in 2018, and Frozen 2 in 2019. But for the most part, Disney animation follow-ups have been straight-to-video, or non-existent. But while there’s nothing confirmed yet, there seem to be stirrings out there for a possible Encanto follow-up. The latest Disney animated feature has been a huge hit for the studio, especially after it hit Disney+ and ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ became a worldwide chart-topping sensation. Naturally, a sequel has been speculated upon – and sounds like it may be a possibility.
On Twitter, the film’s co-director Jared Bush (who made the film alongside Byron Howard and Charise Castro-Smith) directly addressed rumours of possible sequels or adaptations into other mediums and said “it was always our dream” for there to be more – though he didn’t state whether anything was actually in the works:
But more importantly, he also recently tweeted about the film’s ending, and hinted that there’s more of a story to be told after the credits roll. SPOILERS FOLLOW With the film ending on the creation of a new ‘miracle’ for the Madrigal family, Bush explored the distinction between Abuela Alma’s candle, and the rebuilt house from the end of the movie – and wrapped up his Tweet with a promising sign-off: “What’s next… I hope we’ll see.”
Is there more story to be found in the wake of Mirabel’s miracle? Could there be more to see from the entire Madrigal clan, or in flashbacks to Alma’s earlier days? And, most crucially, does Lin-Manuel Miranda have a stack of leftover bangers just begging for some animated accompaniment? Maybe we’ll find out in the future – but for now, we’ll keep the obsession going with the live performance of ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ at the Oscars on Sunday…