The film stars the voices of Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell, Harvey Guillén, Evan Peters, Ramy Youssef, and Jon Rudnitsky.

Development of Wish began in 2018 but was not publicly disclosed until January 2022, when it was revealed that Lee was writing an original film at Disney Animation.

[6][7] Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice wrote the songs, while frequent Disney orchestrator Dave Metzger composed the score.

Magnifico's magic turns against him and traps him inside his staff's mirror, while the citizens regain their sealed wishes with a newfound appreciation of pursuing them.

[21] Yvette Nicole Brown and James Monroe Iglehart have vocal cameos during "I'm a Star" and are credited as the featured singers of the Choir alongside Woody Buck.

[23][24] On September 9, 2022, during the 2022 D23 Expo Presentation, Disney Animation announced the film's title, as well as that the directing team would consist of Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, and Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster-Jones as producers.

[26] The film's animation was originally intended to be completely traditional, but it was later decided to be blended with computer-animation when 2D alone was considered, in the filmmakers' opinion, as having too many limitations in terms of camera movements and characterization.

[16] Lee said of Pine "as the most powerful person in the kingdom, King Magnifico needed to be played by someone who could give all the charm, cleverness and charisma to this magnanimous character, and Chris is beautifully bringing all of that and then some".

[34] By April 2023, Dave Metzger was confirmed to compose the film's score, while Benjamin Rice joined Michaels to write the songs by contributing additional music.

[35] At CinemaCon in April, Disney showed a clip of Asha singing the song "This Wish", which reporters from Deadline Hollywood described as "a very pretty, powerful anthem".

[37] For the film's underscore and orchestrations, Metzger incorporated "ethnic percussion (such as castanets and finger cymbals) as well as instruments from the Mediterranean region such as guitars to bring color to the score and evoke that kingdom".

[citation needed] Also featured in the film is "When You Wish Upon a Star", the signature song of The Walt Disney Company, first introduced in Pinocchio (1940).

[39][40] Wish had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on November 8, 2023, just hours after the end of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike was announced for 12:01 AM the next day, with Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn, Jennifer Lee and Disney CEO Bob Iger in attendance and Asha, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse walking the blue carpet in the cast's place, while featuring a live drone show above the theater.

[56][57] Wish was released for digital platforms on January 23, 2024, followed by Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD on March 12, 2024, by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

[10] In the United States and Canada, Wish was released alongside Napoleon and the expansion of Saltburn, and was initially projected to gross $45–50 million from 3,900 theaters over its five-day Thanksgiving opening weekend.

[2] Variety attributed the low opening to a lack of social media marketing and divided word-of-mouth, but suggested that the film could leg out as Pixar's Elemental did earlier in the year.

The website's consensus reads: "Wish earns some tugs at the heartstrings with the way it warmly references many of the studio's classics, but nostalgia's no substitute for genuine storytelling magic – no matter how beautifully animated it might be.

"[70] Brian Truitt of USA Today gave it three stars out of four and wrote that the film "entertains and unabashedly owns being a safe paean to old-school Disney, shamelessly aiming for all your nostalgic feels.

It hardly breaks any ground—it's simply there to celebrate the ground the studio was built on," but felt that "the jokes largely land a little flatly, to be appreciated by only the youngest audiences (although props must be given to the cadre of breakdancing chickens, a genuine highlight).

"[72] Sarah El-Mahmoud of CinemaBlend awarded the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing, "From gorgeous watercolor-like settings, to adorable talking animals, to earworm pop songs, Wish goes to the Disney mainstays.

"[73] Kristen Lopez of TheWrap called it "a darling film with fantastic music and amazing voice performances, but the story does feel a bit like a house of cards waiting to be poked.

"[76] Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic wrote that "What saves the film from being nothing but a rehash are DeBose, whose singing voice unsurprisingly shines, and Pine (who sang in Into the Woods), who makes an excellent villain, as well as some of the songs, most of which they're involved in.

"[77] Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave 2 stars out of 5 in a review: "what Wish feels like at times: not a movie made by filmmakers with an original vision, but one assembled by focus group, with an eye more on fan service than on fresh ideas. [...]

"[78] Damon Wise of Deadline Hollywood's review was mixed, saying that "Disney used to make this kind of film all the time, but now the studio seems a bit bamboozled as to how to do it in the modern age, which might explain why it lifts quite a lot from DreamWorks' Shrek—starting with a tongue-in-cheek fairytale-book opening—and takes its musical direction from The Greatest Showman, which means lots of tub-thumping numbers that sound like variations on a theme from a YA adaptation of Les Misérables.

Like that film's bombastic "This Is Me," every song here feels like an overreaction, and the verbosity of the lyrics ("hesitations" rhymes with "reservations") jars with the simplicity of the animation and its Snow White palette."

He concluded that "Thankfully, it doesn't outstay its welcome, but to cap 100 years with a few throwaway quips about Bambi, Mary Poppins and Peter Pan (plus a whole roll call of more recent characters during the end credits) seems to be a hell of a disappointing way to capitalize on such a formidable back catalog.