Swans

Swans would be a 2025 American computer-animated road comedy-drama film written and directed by Chris Buck, with Clark Spencer producing. The film would be a follow-up to the Hans Christian Andersen tale The Ugly Duckling, and would star the voices of Jeremy Suarez, Alfree Woodard, Christopher Walken, and Alan Tudyk. The film's score would be composed by Hans Zimmer.

Development for the film would start in 2022, with Buck being set to write and direct the film. Suarez would sign-up for the project in late 2023, with the rest of the cast joining during early 2024. The film would be set after Andersen's tale because Buck would consider the story's ending unsuitable for modern audiences. The animation team would also investigate on swan and duck's behavior in order to animate the characters in a realistic way.

Swans would be released on November 8, 2025, and would meet a positive critical and commercial reception. The film would earn 998 million dollars worldwide against a budget of 189 millions, becoming the 10th hightest-grossing animated film of all time. The film would be praised for its screenplay, voice acting, direction, animation, musical score, and visuals. The film would earn an Academy Award for Best Original Score, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects.

Synopsis
It's been two years since Thomas, the Ugly Duckling, managed to find a home with a group of swans. However, he dosen't really feel like home, specially due to the treatment the other swans, specially their leader Selvisk, give to other animals. One day, the flock finds the ducks that adopted Thomas, just as a hunter arrives. With the swans now unable to go back to their home, they force the ducks to take them to another hidden place that shall protect them for most of the hunter's stay. While traveling, Thomas gets to know better both his former and current families, discovering that not every animal is not what it seems to be. Torn between his species and his heart, Thomas must face the questions that had haunted him all of his life: Who is he? Where he belongs?

Cast

 * Jeremy Suarez as Thomas, a swan who was born and lived his childhood with a flock of ducks who discriminated him for his looks before finding a flock of swans who seemingly accept him, only to find himself again wondering his place after meeting the ducks again.
 * Alfre Woodard as Mor, the mother of the ducklings, and Thomas adoptive mother, who is forced by her adoptive son's new flock to help them evade a hunter.
 * Christopher Walken as Selvisk, the shallow and egotistical leader of Thomas' swan flock, who seems himself and all swans above every other bird in the forest.
 * Alan Tudyk as Bølle, the oldest of the ducks, who was Thomas' main bully as a kid.

Additionally, Jim Cummings would voice Al, an alligator and the leader of the forest's animals. Jeff Bennet would voice Ian, a hunter who finds himself targeting the duck and swan flocks as they are the only animals around. Bill Farmer and Tony Anselmo would Ian's hound dogs. Tress MacNeille, Corey Burton, Grey DeLisle, and Bret Iwan would voice the miscealouns swans in Selvisk's flock, while Stephen J. Anderson, director Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Melissa Villaseñor, and Jennifer Hale would voice the ducks in Mor's flock.

Music
Hans Zimmer would compose the film's score. Zimmer would say that he would aim to create "a simple score that amplifies the film's heart". Zimmer would create a theme for Thomas that would feel "wondering, as if reacting to a question whose answer he dosen't know, yet also lonely", while Selvisk's theme would be "pompus but elegant and royalty-like" to fit the character's personality and social position, throught it would become more bombastic and malevolent as his true evil nature surfaces. Zimmer would say that Mor's theme would have to "cover a lot of places" due to the character's growth and development in the film.

Trivia

 * This would be Chris Buck's first time directing a film without a co-director.
 * Swans would be Danny Elfman's second animated Disney film, after Meet the Robinsons (2007).
 * Both Christopher Walken and Alfre Woodard voiced characters in a Disney remake: Walken voiced King Louie in The Jungle Book (2016), while Woodard voiced Sarabi in The Lion King (2019).
 * Coincidentially, both films were directed by Jon Favreau.
 * The film would be Jeremy Suarez's third Disney film, after Brother Bear (2003), and Brother Bear 2 (2008).
 * Buck would say that Disney's Tarzan (1999), which he co-directed, was a big influence on the film's story, particularly with the relationship between Thomas and the ducks, as well as in Mor's character arc.
 * Buck would describe Selvisk's death as "half-The Lion King in the sense that he falls and gets eaten alive, and half-The Princess and the Frog in the sense that he gets forcibly dragged down".