Disney’s recent acquisitions of Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, and the Muppets expands the possibilities for Disney animated features, such as crossover of characters and storylines. The 3-D computer animated feature Big Hero 6, based on the Marvel comics superhero team, is scheduled for release in late 2014.

“…[Director Don] Hall found a story with Disney-friendly elements—a child hero, humor—and a distinctive tone that played well with the animation studio's many Japanophiles, including [Disney Animation chief creative officer John] Lasseter.

"The storytelling aspects are very frenetic, very visceral," Joe Quesada, Marvel's chief creative officer, said of the comic. "It takes tropes of Japanese culture, manga, anime. There are giant dinosaurs that invade a city, big robots, youth fashion, cutesy stuff in the vein of Hello Kitty." - Los Angeles Times

Pixar Animation Studios has announced new titles for popular film franchises: Finding Dory—featuring the easily distracted sidekick from Finding Nemo—will be released in 2016, and Disney CEO Robert Iger recently confirmed that sequels for Cars and The Incredibles are in development.

Its relationship with Pixar has motivated Disney Animation to adapt its corporate structure to give more of a voice to filmmakers when it comes to creating new stories that resonate with audiences.

We went from something at Disney Animation that was executive-driven to more filmmaker-driven. How does the development department work, for example? Does the development group develop ideas and give them to directors, or are you asking directors and writers and story artists to come up with the ideas themselves? It's the latter, and that's a shift. We implemented a structural and process change around our Story Trust, which is like the Brain Trust at Pixar. Our directors and our writers and our heads of story, about 20 people, are all part of the Story Trust. They have a right and a responsibility and an obligation to give honest, direct feedback to each other to help elevate those films. There's collective wisdom that you can bring to bear on the critique of a story in development and production. - Andrew Millstein, General Manager, Disney Animation Studios

Regardless of the direction that Disney animated films may take in the coming years, it will be the characters and storylines embodying universal themes that will live forever for Disney fans of all ages.