While no formal announcements have been made of an Encanto 2, there have been suggestions of an Encanto series, as the film has become a franchise for Disney+.
Encanto was the winner of the Best Animated Feature Film award at the recent Oscars after its critical success and positive reception by fans.
Encanto’s premise is, “A Colombian teenage girl has to face the frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers,” according to IMDb.
The animated film was not a commercial success as it amassed over 237.4 million at the box office. The success of the film and its soundtrack was spurred by its availability on Disney+.
Despite this success, it has not been confirmed whether the film will have a sequel. Instead, there is reportedly a greater chance that an Encanto series will be made, after the film was labelled as a franchise.
What does Encanto mean?
Encanto is a Spanish word that, according to the Spanish Dictionary, means, “charm or endearment.” A term which is often used as a term of endearment or to refer to someone who is charming in their nature.
The meaning of the word in the context of the film is explained at the beginning of the film when Mirabel describes the magical valley where they all live, their home Casita, and the town, as a place of wonder or an encanto.
Are they going to make a second Encanto?
Encanto was released in movie theatres in November 2021. During the film’s exclusive-month availability at movie theatres, it amassed over 237.4 million views at the box office.
This number is not considerable for Disney animated films, but given that the film was released during the pandemic, its revenue was considerable.
So much so that Encanto was the highest grossing film of 2021. Arguably, the film’s success came when it was made available on Disney+ on Christmas Eve of 2021.
Not only did the animated film break all previous records on the platform, as it became the fastest film to achieve 200 million viewing hours in the platform’s history, but its soundtrack performed well too, as the smash hit, We Don’t Talk About Bruno was ranked number one in the US.
Moreover, the songs on the film’s soundtrack made it into the top 10 songs in the US. As such, fans have been wondering if there will be a sequel to Encanto.
However, as of June 2022, there is still no news of a sequel based on the Madrigal family and their adventures. Moreover, the first film seemed to have had quite a conclusive ending with no open-ended threads to suggest the possibility of a sequel to the film.
However, all thanks to the Madrigal family the film has been labelled as a franchise, so there may be more in store for Encanto fans.
Disney’s Bob Chapek on Encanto as a franchise
While there is no official news on the possibility of an Encanto sequel, it does not mean that all is lost.
Disney chief executive officer (CEO) Bob Chapek dubbed the animated film as a franchise, indicating there might be room for expanding the film’s imprint.
This suggestion provided hope for fans of the film when Chapek asserted, “We’d love for theatrical to come back for family movies- we hope it does- but if it doesn’t, we know we’re very secure in being able to use our own platform, Disney+, to help (build a franchise).”
Why Encanto is key to Disney+’s growth
Disney+ is one of the newly-established and introduced paid subscription video-on-demand services and, as such, it has yet to create original content that will increase the number of subscribers to the channel.
Beyonce’s Black Is King film helped populate the service, but, similarly to Encanto, they were just films and not long-form original content that would attract subscribers to the channel, and retain them.
Therefore, since Encanto’s success could arguably be credited to its availability on Disney+, creating a series would be advantageous for the service to create its own signature.
Encanto’s impact on Disney+
Encanto had a lasting impact on Disney+ and Disney as a whole. This follows reports of the company’s restructuring, one of the key strategic changes being that films should not be bound to initial theatre releases first before they become available on their streaming platform.
This is because Encanto did not perform well, by Disney animated film standards, but it was a cultural phenomenon upon its arrival on Disney+.
Chapek affirmed this when he stated: “Right now, their behaviour tells us and our industry that the way they want to experience entertainment is changing- and changing fast thanks to technology and the pandemic. We must evolve with our audience, not work against them.”