After producing 14 films, Pixar has become renowned for their work in the world of animation. With the recent announcement of Toy Story 4 in addition to several other planned sequels and original films, Pixar has slated the next few years to be full of animated wonder.
For some, the announcement of Toy Story 4, came as a surprise. For many the third movie perfectly concluded the series. Slated for June 2017, the movie’s screenplay will be written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack. The film will be directed by the head of the studio itself, John Lasseter, who directed the first two movies.
“A lot of people in the industry view us doing sequels as being for the business of it, but for us it’s pure passion. We only make sequels when we have a story that’s as good as or better than the original,” Lasseter stated.
In addition to the announced film, a second Toy Story special will be airing next month on ABC. Toy Story That Time Forgot will be a Christmas themed 22 minute special that airs on Dec. 2. The special has both Tom Hanks and Tim Allen reprising their roles of Woody and Buzz. The special focuses on Trixie, the dinosaur, as she must guide the group of toys through a new land of action figures to get back home. With this Christmas Special and last year’s Halloween special, Pixar is looking to continue branching out the Toy Story franchise with these annual specials.
2014 happened to be the first year Pixar hasn’t released a film since 2005. Pixar has plans to release two original films in 2015. Inside Out will come out on June 19 and The Good Dinosaur is expected to come out Nov. 25. Inside Out will focus on a young girl, Riley Anderson, and the five emotions that live inside her and try to lead the girl through life. The emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) help advise Riley through everyday life inside the control center of her mind.
When Riley’s Dad makes the family move from the Midwest to San Francisco, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate through a new location. Directed by Pete Docter, best known for directing Monster’s Inc. and Up, he has been working at Pixar since graduating from college. Born and raised in Bloomington, Minnesota, Docter described himself as a “geeky kid from Minnesota who likes to draw cartoons.” Bringing in his experience of moving from the Midwest to the West, he has added his own personal touches to the movie. When asked about the concept of the film and Docter’s vision, Lasseter commented on both.
“You look at people oftentimes and they do something to make you go ‘What are they thinking?’ or it’s like how a song gets stuck in your head and you just can’t get it out. Little quirky things like this that we all do. Certain emotions just seem to take us over, anger or happiness, where you start giggling and laughing and you can’t stop. Doctor thought ‘I want to take a look at that, explain that.’ His idea is that the emotions of this little girl are the characters and it takes place in the head of this little girl, and shows how they control things that go on. It’s very, very clever and it’s truly unlike anything you’ve ever seen, yet it explains things you’ve seen,” Lasseter said.
The Good Dinosaur, a Pixar film that has been in production since 2008 will be released next year. Going with the idea that the asteroid that wiped out all dinosaurs never happened, the film follows the 70-foot tall teenage Apatosaurus, Arlo. When an event rattles his community, Arlo sets out to restore peace and gains a young human boy companion named Spot. Outside of the general synopsis not much more information has been released about the film outside of the main cast. Arlo’s family will feature members played by John Lithgow, Frances McDormand, Neil Patrick Harris, and Bill Hader.
Along with Toy Story 4, Pixar has sequels planned for Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Cars. Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo, will be coming out Summer 2016. Taking place a year after the events of Finding Nemo, the film will focus on Dory and the idea of being reunited with her family. Many of the original characters from Nemo will be returning. The film has also casted Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy to play Dory’s parents along with Ty Burrell and Idris Elba playing unannounced characters. On the “Ellen DeGenres Show,” Ellen stated her excitement to be back in the role, when the movie was announced.
“I have waited for this day for a long, long, long, long, long, long time. I’m not mad it took this long. I know the people at Pixar were busy creating Toy Story 16. But the time they took was worth it. The script is fantastic. And it has everything I loved about the first one: It’s got a lot of heart, it’s really funny, and the best part is—it’s got a lot more Dory,” Ellen said.
As for the Incredibles 2 and Cars 3, there is much less information as they were just announced earlier this year. The Incredibles 2 will see Brad Bird, the director and writer of the original, back as Director/Writer. Samuel L. Jackson has also confirmed that he will be back as Frozone in the sequel.
With the slated releases of several movies in the next few years, Pixar is looking to continue to entertain children and adults alike. Hopefully the upcoming films will be just as good as the ones so many students here at Gustavus grew up with.
-Dan Vruno