RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Jared Bush, chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, spoke about the possibility of a Kingdom Hearts feature film, and he didn’t rule out the idea.
Kingdom Hearts fans are on top of the world after footage of the fourth game was shown off at D23. Sora and the gang are back to fight the heartless, which are wreaking havoc in the Land of the Dead. Coco’s universe is an explorable world in Kingdom Hearts IV , and Sora even gets a keyblade themed after Héctor's Guitar, along with some calavera facepaint to match.
A Kingdom Hearts animated series was also announced at the event, coming to Disney+ on an as-yet undetermined date. With these two big reveals in mind, IGN’s Jeffrey Vega quizzed Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Jared Bush if there’s anything more planned for the Kingdom Hearts world on Disney’s side of things… specifically, a feature-length animated film.
“Are we ever gonna get a Kingdom Hearts movie?” Vega asked, going on to joke that Bush basically has the power to “greenlight” the project.
“Technically, you’re not wrong,” Bush answered. “I’d say, I’m always excited to hear what people are passionate about. And I’d say that we have a very bright future of new projects coming out — different ways of putting material out into the world. So I would just say, nothing is impossible.”
Bush’s response was, as expected, quite reserved, but his open-ended answer leaves no end of possibilities to the imagination. Given all the good news fans just got about the franchise, specifically the animated show, the idea of a full-length CGI movie following Sora’s adventures doesn’t seem so impossible now... especially since Disney recently bragged that Kingdom Hearts is one of its " billion-dollar franchises ."
Kingdom Hearts IV is scheduled for release in late 2027. Combat footage from Coco’s section of the game seen at D23 shows Sora using the keyblade as a kind of skateboard as he follows a flying heartless, to which he’s tethered by a glowing chain. Graphically, the game looks absolutely stunning, with the endless city of the dead giving an impressive depth to the environment.
This most recent trailer also showed off Mickey, Goofy, and our iconic king of the underworld, Hades, as well as a few glimpses of some story beats that take place in Quadratum, a realistic city inspired by modern-day Tokyo — an area that was also shown in the game's surprise trailer at the June 2026 Nintendo Direct.
This isn’t the last we’ll see of Kingdom Hearts IV this weekend; the game will also be discussed on August 15 in a panel titled ‘ DEEP DIVE into KINGDOM HEARTS at D23,’ streaming at 4.30pm PT / 7.30pm ET / August 16 at 12.30 AM UK time. Disney has confirmed that it will feature a “behind-the-scenes look at the making of the games,” with names like Nana Gadd from Disney & Pixar Games, Tai Yasue from Square Enix, Haley Joel Osment, the voice of Sora, David Gallagher, the voice of Riku, and Renée Johnson, who voices some of the Disney-specific characters.
In the meantime, keep it locked to IGN for more news coming out of D23 this weekend, and check out everything that got announced at the event’s big presentation at the Honda Center on August 14.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze .
Jeffrey Vega is the Lead Social Host/Producer at IGN and is probably feeding his neopets right now. You can follow him on Twitter @jeffreyvega , Instagram , and IGN's TikTok .
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