Gigantic: why Disney canceled its Jack and the Beanstalk movie

Disney Animation spent years on Gigantic, a Jack and the Beanstalk musical with a 60-foot girl and songs by the Frozen team. Then it pulled the plug in 2017. See what happened and what took its spot.

Disney had a giant movie on the calendar. Literally.

Gigantic was Walt Disney Animation Studios’ take on Jack and the Beanstalk, from one of the directors of “Tangled,” with songs by the couple who wrote “Let It Go.” Disney showed it off at the D23 Expo in 2015 and gave it a release date.

Then it moved the date. Twice.

And on Oct. 10, 2017, Disney shut it down for good. Well, “for now,” as the studio put it. It’s been nine years.

So what was Gigantic, and what happened? Here’s the beanstalk version.

What was Disney’s Gigantic about?

Jack climbs the beanstalk and finds a whole world of giants up in the clouds.

The twist was Inma. She’s an 11-year-old giant, 60 feet tall, and she treats Jack like a living doll, /Film reported. At D23, she was described as “fiery, feisty and a lot to control.”

The story was set in Spain during the Age of Exploration. The villains were Storm Giants, who stood about 120 feet tall, according to /Film.

Director Nathan Greno, who co-directed “Tangled,” wanted something bigger than the usual fairy tale. “It’s not one big castle with one big giant walking around,” he said in 2015, as Cartoon Brew reported.

Who was making Gigantic?

A pretty stacked team.

Greno directed. Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who wrote the songs for “Frozen,” signed on to write songs for it, too. Dorothy McKim, who produced “Meet the Robinsons,” was the producer, Cartoon Brew reported.

The project had been in the works since 2013, at first under the name “Giants,” /Film noted.

Later, Meg LeFauve, a co-writer of Pixar’s “Inside Out,” joined Greno as co-director. /Film reported she was brought on to help rework the story.

Flicks And The City posted clips from the 2015 D23 Expo panel, with Greno, McKim and the Lopezes:

When was Gigantic supposed to come out?

The date kept sliding.

• March 2018: the original plan, according to Cartoon Brew.

• Nov. 21, 2018: where it moved in June 2016, after Disney gave the March slot to its “Wreck-It Ralph” sequel, Cartoon Brew reported.

• Nov. 25, 2020: where it landed in April 2017, when “Ralph Breaks the Internet” took the November 2018 date instead, Film Buff Online reported, citing The Hollywood Reporter.

About six months after that last move, it was gone.

Why did Disney cancel Gigantic?

Disney’s answer was short.

Ed Catmull, then president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, explained it in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. No matter how much the studio loves an idea, he said, sometimes “it just isn’t working.”

“With Gigantic, we’ve come to that point,” Catmull said.

Disney was “ending active development for now,” he added. The studio was moving on to another project, set for Thanksgiving 2020.

Empire reported that Catmull and John Lasseter were the ones who shut it down.

Disney didn’t say publicly what wasn’t working.

What movie took Gigantic’s release date?

Disney didn’t name it in 2017. Two years later, at the 2019 D23 Expo, it revealed “Raya and the Last Dragon” for Nov. 25, 2020, the same Thanksgiving slot, according to Disney.

Raya missed that date, too. It opened March 5, 2021, in select U.S. theaters and on Disney+, according to D23.

Will Disney ever make Gigantic?

Disney hasn’t announced anything.

Catmull’s “for now” left the door open a crack. Nine years later, it’s still just a crack.

Has Disney made a Jack and the Beanstalk movie before?

Yes, with Mickey.

“Mickey and the Beanstalk” is the second half of “Fun and Fancy Free,” released Sept. 27, 1947, according to D23. Mickey, Donald and Goofy climb a beanstalk to rescue a singing harp from a giant and bring happiness back to Happy Valley.

It’s also the movie where Jim Macdonald started voicing Mickey, because Walt Disney had gotten too busy, D23 says.

“Fun and Fancy Free” is streaming on Disney+, according to JustWatch. So if you want a giant, Disney’s still got one.

What are some fun facts about Gigantic?

“Zootopia” hid a joke about it. Duke Weaselton’s stash of bootleg DVDs includes “Giraffic,” a “Gigantic” parody with a squirrel climbing up a giraffe’s neck in place of a beanstalk, /Film noted. “Zootopia” opened in March 2016, while Gigantic was still on the schedule.

It wasn’t the only shelved movie of its era. Cartoon Brew pointed to Disney’s “King of the Elves” and Pixar’s “Newt” as other announced films that got shelved.

The songwriters stayed busy. The Lopezes went on to write the songs for “Frozen 2” (2019), according to D23.

Gigantic went further than most canceled movies. It had a public announcement, a D23 panel and three release dates before it vanished. /Film called it rare for Disney to cancel a big animated movie that far along.

Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.

Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Hat Tips:

• The Hollywood Reporter, Oct. 10, 2017: Ed Catmull’s statement on Gigantic (via Cartoon Brew, /Film and Empire)

• Peter Sciretta, /Film, Oct. 10, 2017: ‘Gigantic’ Canceled By Disney Animation

• Cartoon Brew, Oct. 11, 2017: Disney Cancels Fairytale Animated Feature ‘Gigantic’; and June 30, 2016: Disney Officially Announces ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ Sequel

• Empire: Disney Shuts Down Animated Fairytale Gigantic

• Film Buff Online, April 25, 2017: Disney Announces Release Dates for Star Wars IX, Frozen 2; Shuffles Others (citing The Hollywood Reporter)

• Disney News, Aug. 24, 2019: Raya and the Last Dragon coming November 2020

• D23 Disney A to Z: Raya and the Last Dragon (film), Zootopia (film), Frozen 2 (film) and Fun and Fancy Free (film) entries

• JustWatch: Fun and Fancy Free U.S. listing, checked Oct. 11, 2026

• Flicks And The City on YouTube: Gigantic D23 Expo Panel (2015)

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