On Wednesday, July 10th, Disney Branded Television hosted its premiere event for “Descendants: The Rise of Red” on The Walt Disney Studio Lot in Burbank. Stars Kylie Cantrall, Malia Baker, Rita Ora, Brandy, and the entire cast & creative team walked a stacked red carpet filled with top consumer and trade outlets. The 60 foot step and repeat was designed to look like the Queen of Hearts castle walls featuring towering spires, dimensional logos, and over a hundred fresh roses. Talent was joined by previous “Descendants” movie talent as well as stars from Disney’s “High School Musical: The Musical: The  Series,” “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place,” “Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires,” “Disney Jr’s Ariel,” and more. In addition, 100 earned influencers created content with a combined reach of 250+ million impressions in the first 24 hours alone.“Dancefluencers” Twinsauce collabed with the DBT social team for a surprise red carpet flash mob moment. 

We designed three photo-ready, custom activated vignettes inspired by the movie – The Queen of Hearts throne, rose topiary from the castle’s garden, and a graffiti wall pulled from the film. A 360° video moment also helped create memorable, shareable moments on the carpet.

The premiere itself took place in a custom built theater inside an adjacent soundstage. 600 seats were surrounded by red drapes and red carpet, custom Descendants banners, bespoke dynamic lighting, 5.1 immersive surround sound, and a 50 foot silver screen. Guests enjoyed a surprise heart-pumping pre-screening performance featuring Red’s Army, and opening remarks by DBT President Ayo Davis. An adjacent overflow theater housed an additional 100 guests.  

After the premiere and standing ovation, guests were led out of the theater by the Queen’s dancing army, and into an adjacent sound stage for the after party through 10ft tall storybook pages. Music and dance were a part of our event at every turn with the dancers throughout the party including a DJ spinning top tracks, Wonderland inspired dance floor, large castle turret lighting elements, and even some surprise performances by TwinSauce and Millenium Dance Company featuring pyrotechnics. Every element of the party was inspired by the film including a multi-tier castle mainstage with rose clad DJ booth, main bar with towering castle backbar featuring family friendly cocktails and bubbling Merlin’s cauldron, and small bites pulled from the film including magical cupcakes from the film’s cookbook. Glam stations gave attendees of all ages the opportunity to step into the film with hair tinsel face gems, and temporary tattoos. 

Taking over two soundstages, the event featured 31,000 sq feet of carpet surrounded by 20,000 sq feet of 32’ high drape creating our red canvas with projected RED graffiti layered on the walls. The event brought together cross-divisional partners to celebrate the franchise – including the movie’s soundtrack via Disney Music Group; and character costumes and Mattel doll display from Disney Consumer Products. Working with the Disney Synergy team, we also created a special “Dream Come True Moment” for a 2024 Disney Dreamer Academy DREAMbassador. 

“Descendants: The Rise of Red” garnered 6.7 million views in its first three days on Disney+, making it Disney Branded Television’s most-viewed Disney Channel Original Movie premiere ever.