October Animation Tidbits [#2]

Tidbit time...

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Willem Dafoe recently talked about Finding Dory. Recording sessions have begun, which indicates that the script is already in great shape. Dafoe confirmed the other day that he is indeed returning to voice Gill, and he also said "It's even better than the first. It’s fantastic. It’s good to say I think it’s going to be better than the first; that’s good advertising!"

To hear him (he recently criticized reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, a film he has not even seen, for being a "cynical approach to making money") be enthusiastic about a sequel that many are having a hard time warming up to is something of a good sign, don't you think? Or is it just PR sugarcoating?

Finding Dory can very well be like Toy Story 2, folks. Just because Cars 2 (which obviously wasn't going to be fantastic to begin with) and Monsters University didn't fully deliver as sequels/prequels doesn't mean Finding Dory can't. Andrew Stanton and crew may just surprise us all.

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Disney Animators' Instagram unveiled this...

If that's Big Hero 6's official logo, then that's great. I already love the look of it, very Marvel-esque but also anime-esque. It perfectly describes the "big" scope and the Japanese flair of this upcoming Walt Disney Animation Studios film. Now hopefully we'll get some sort of official logo reveal some time soon!

And... I might be too hopeful here, but I'd love to see a teaser before Frozen... Heck, use that test scene as the teaser and get the word out! C'mon Disney marketing.

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Two directors have been attached to the 2016 Angry Birds animated film...

Disney veteran/supervising animator Clay Katis is one of them, who was the supervising animator on Bolt and Tangled. He also worked on several other films during his 19-year tenure at the studio.

Veteran storyboard artist Fergal Reilly is the other, his credits include The Iron Giant, Spider-Man 2 and most of Sony Animation's films... This leads me to believe that this film - which is being distributed by Sony - will be a partial Sony Pictures Animation production. Maybe. Summer 2016 is blank right now, usually they release two films in a calendar year and one around this time. According to Cartoon Brew, Rovio is producing it in-house (they're based in Finland), but it's possible that Sony Animation could work on some of it. But come to think of it, you would've heard something early on by Sony Animation themselves...

That's a strong line-up there. The screenwritter, Jon Vitti... Well... Simpsons veteran, but he wrote the two Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. Good choice for a film like this though, because we all know it won't be anything spectacular - it'll be a diversion for the kiddies. Solid choice for the script, if there is much of a script. (A silent film would be interesting, but that probably won't happen.)

I'm not excited for it, but I'm sure a lot of kids and fans will be. That's who they are probably aiming for with this film... But will Angry Birds still be popular with young'uns three years from now?

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What do you think of Dafoe's comments on Finding Dory? What do you think of the Big Hero 6 logo? Do you think that'll be the final one? Or do you think it's just a prototype? What's your take on the Angry Birds movie? What do you think of the fact that they got those two animation veterans to direct it?

Sound off below!

The Duel

For a while, two major animated films have been slated to open on June 17, 2016...

Fox and DreamWorks claimed this date first, placing How To Train Your Dragon 3 there. That was last summer...

This past May, Walt Disney Pictures picked that same date for an untitled/undetermined Pixar film when unveiling their 2016-2018 animation slate. Until now, we presumed that it would be Lee Unkrich's "Day of the Dead" project. Due to what happened in the last few weeks with The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory is now set to open on that day - that sequel was originally scheduled for a November 25, 2015 release.

So... On the warm summer day of June 17th in the year 2016, we'll have the first major head-to-head animation battle since Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven was released by United Artists on the same day as The Little Mermaid back in 1989. It wasn't the last head-to-head animation battle, mind you. Universal released An American Tail: Fievel Goes West the same day as Beauty and the Beast in 1991, but let's face it... That was no "major" animation battle; Disney had it in the bag, plain and simple.

*Note: The whole Peanuts vs. Finding Dory thing was a big mistake on my part. A copy of Fox's animation slate had Peanuts listed for a November 25th release, so I assumed that Fox moved it to Dory's original release date to compete... The film is still - and has always been - slated to open on November 6, 2015.

So...

Finding Dory vs. How To Train Your Dragon 3...

VS.

I don't know about you, but this just can't work out. DreamWorks may have claimed the date first, but no way is Disney going to move Finding Dory (or any Pixar film for that matter) from Pixar's typical mid-June spot unless they opt for a Memorial Day weekend release. Nothing has that spot right now, so Disney can very well move the Pixar sequel to that date. Also, Finding Nemo opened on the last Friday of May in 2003, The Good Dinosaur was almost a late May release... It would make perfect sense, actually.

The question is, will they? Or do they want to go head-to-head with Fox and DreamWorks?

Would Fox and DreamWorks move the How To Train Your Dragon threequel? Maybe, but since the second film has a similar mid-June release date for next year (June 13th), they probably wouldn't move this. How To Train Your Dragon 2 is poised to be 2014's biggest animated film, box office-wise. It's possible that this sequel will soar past the original, much like how Despicable Me 2 did this summer.

If the two are to be released on the same day, what would happen?

Finding Dory is the sequel to one of Pixar's most beloved films. Finding Nemo's then-record breaking domestic gross adjusts to $459 million today. The sequel is definitely opening with more than $100 million on its opening weekend - Monsters University most likely didn't reach that threshold on opening weekend because it was a prequel. The general public will be ecstatic about the sequel, loyal fans will be, it'll probably break the record for biggest opening weekend for an animated feature.

How To Train Your Dragon 3 will undoubtedly be big if the sequel breaks out. The first film was huge because of the excellent word of mouth and lack of competition, if Dragon 2 does very well (which it should, no way this sequel should not make as much as the original), this ought to be really big. $100 million could be in the cards, actually.

The problem is, both films' grosses will be affected. I think it would be wise if one of the studios were to move their film. I think Disney should be the one to do it, because Fox really can't move Dragon 3, plus Disney would want the best possible gross from a Pixar film - especially a sequel to one of their biggest.

Disney could very well take Pixar's film and move it forward. Something like May 27, 2016 would work out quite well. Or Fox could take that date, but again, I think DreamWorks would want to stick to the mid-June date and also... They got it first.

I think the best scenario would be this (including other summer blockbusters/ big releases)...

Marvel Untitled - May 6, 2016
Some blockbuster... - May 13, 2016
Some blockbuster... - May 20, 2016
Finding Dory - May 27, 2016
Some blockbuster... - June 3, 2016
The Amazing Spider-Man 3 - June 10, 2016
How To Train Your Dragon 3 - June 17, 2016

It would give both films room to breathe in the blockbuster battlefield. Andrew Stanton and crew will still have more than enough time to fine-tune Finding Dory, since that release date is only a few weeks ahead of the current one. DreamWorks can keep their date, and their film will be successful despite any competition. (Does anyone really think that Angry Birds will take a toll on Dragon's box office performance?)

Interestingly enough, since Disney opted to release a Pixar film on the same day as Dragon, Fox retaliated by slating an animated film to open on the same day as Pixar's summer 2017 release - Disney claimed that date first. Now if this whole "duel" between Dory and Dragon 3 is canceled, and that both open on separate dates, then maybe Fox will move DreamWorks' June 2017 release to another date.

What do you think will end up happening? Sound off below and be sure to vote in the poll!

Update (10/8/13): Okay folks, here are the results!

10 of you think that Disney will have to move the Pixar sequel to another date.

21 readers think that Fox will end up moving How To Train Your Dragon 3.

12 readers say that both films will just end up opening on the same day.

Seems like many of you can see Dragon 3 being moved, and honestly, that's looking to be more plausible than Disney moving Finding Dory. Disney is an entertainment giant, and would they move a Pixar film just because a DreamWorks film had that date first? If anything, that answer will be no - I'm just surprised that no one has a move yet... But a lot of you think that it'll be DreamWorks who will end up moving their film.

It may just happen. Again, thanks for voting, people!

Moving Away

It looks like Pixar's big green brontosaurus is not stomping into theaters next summer...

Yes, in a rather shocking but inevitable move, Pixar's The Good Dinosaur has been delayed. It makes sense because no new director was announced for the project after Bob Peterson was booted off. Only a few Brain Trust members are "shepherding" it and fixing whatever problems they have with it.

So when is it opening now? November 25, 2015...

That was Finding Dory's original release date, now that sequel has been moved back... To June 17, 2016. This one will go head-to-head with How To Train Your Dragon 3, and it'll make for a very interesting animation box office battle. If I were Fox, I'd move Dragon 3 as soon as possible. Finding Dory is poised to be a box office gargantuan, and if Dragon 2 pulls a Despicable Me 2 next summer, then it'll be massive as well.

On top of that, it looks like we'll have to wait till summer 2017 at the earliest for Lee Unkrich's "Day of the Dead" project... Disney not officially announcing that his film wasn't the summer 2016 release makes a lot more sense now, ditto its absence from D23...

Inside Out is still slated for a June 19, 2015 release...

2014 will be a Pixar-less year...

It makes me wonder if Party Central - the Monsters University short that was supposed to be attached to the dinosaur film - will end up going on the Monsters University Blu-ray. That is, if they haven't produced the actual discs yet...

Pixar's higher ups can't deem that Inside Out is strong enough to enter production for the summer of 2014, there's very little time and Disney decided to fill The Good Dinosaur's original May 30th spot with tentpole/pointless fairy tale reboot Maleficent.

Could this be like the old times? When you didn't get a Pixar motion picture event every summer?

If anything, this could be a very good thing. You heard that right, a good thing...

I'd rather have a good Good Dinosaur than a rushed Good Dinosaur, and I think Lasseter & Co. are well aware of this. They've already got a bad reputation for firing directors, so it's better that they give whoever takes the throne a lot of time to sort out the problems. I just sincerely hope that this is not a Newt situation where they delay the film, only to outright cancel it. I still think that Newt isn't dead in the dirt, it's just sitting on the shelf, waiting to be re-evaluated.

Logically, nothing can really take the summer 2014 spot now, so we'll have to wait till a 2-a-year deal the following year. It's almost like Walt Disney Animation Studios' schedule, two films in 2016 and two in 2018 due to Pixar releasing two of their films in 2015 and 2017. Maybe Pixar will release two films every other year (was Ed Catmull alluding to this a couple months ago?), rather than one each year. If it ensures quality/non-rushed films, then I welcome that. It'll be abrupt, since we've been used to getting one Pixar film every year.

When Peterson was removed from the project, I speculated that Pixar's recent director-change problems were due to their one-a-year schedule and the fact that their films' release dates are set in stone a long while before they hit theaters. Maybe breaking that current one-a-year tradition will relieve the animators and directors of tremendous pressure, so they'll be able to have their stories in fine shape before production begins thus... No more director changes! That is... If it's not true that John Lasseter is an evil tyrant hellbent on tooling everything to be his way.

Anyways, see where I'm going with this?

No films are scheduled for release in 2014, thus allowing Pete Docter to perfect his film, the replacement director to perfect The Good Dinosaur, and Andrew Stanton to perfect Finding Dory. Unkrich will have more than enough time with his film, and Teddy Newton's film could very well be the autumn 2017 release rather than what a lot of people think will be the autumn 2017 release - a sequel. Give them time, I say.

We might see even more changes to the schedule, but in the mean time, I hope that The Good Dinosaur turns out to be a fine film whoever is directing it. Maybe things will start looking up, and all these troubles with director changes will be a thing of the past. A rather rough phase, if you will.

Stay optimistic...

And just watch... People think Pixar is on the decline? Well what's a better "comeback" than two great, original films being released the same year?

D23 Live

Alright, just like my CinemaCon and Comic-Con posts this year, I'll be talking about some big happenings this weekend while they are happening... You know... The D23 Expo!

Thursday, 8:06 PM Eastern

Entertainment Weekly got a piece of concept artwork from Pixar's next release, The Good Dinosaur in addition to details on what we will see at the expo! Feast your eyes on this lovely image...

Beautiful, isn't it? It's great to see our apatosaur protagonist in full color, rather than in silhouette form. Where's the boy? Well maybe we'll see more of him and other prehistoric beasts and humans over the weekend, since we may be seeing even more concept artwork!

Lasseter went on to talk about running Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar and DisneyToon and made some comments on DisneyToon going theatrical due to the sales of home media these days... Errr, I don't know how to feel about that.

Unfortunately, he also said that there are "no features on the docket for hand-drawn" but he did talk about how the studio is keeping it alive and how it's being integrated into Disney's style of computer animation... But damn it, I still want to see traditionally animated hand-drawn films. They can co-exist with the likes of Frozen and Paperman! Plus, you can make a very good-looking one for less than $100 million... C'mon... On the bright side, he also said that hand-drawn won't be a "lost art", as the interviewer puts it. In the end though, what matters is the quality of the film, of course... But of course hand-drawn shouldn't be kept away from features at the very studio that specialized in great hand-drawn classics.

Friday, 1:07 PM Eastern

Looks like Walt Disney Animation Studios will be making their presentation today... Also, have a look at this. See anything interesting on the bottom?

Yes indeed, Disney outright confirmed that Disney Animation's next film after Big Hero 6 (a new first look here, courtesy of /Film!) is in fact titled Zootopia and that it is Byron Howard's film. Yep, Honor Hunter of Blue Sky Disney was right! Also interesting to see that Jared Bush is one of the writers. His background is in television shows like All of Us, Still Standing and Who Wants To Marry My Dad? Disney and Pixar have been picking outsider (in an animation sense) writers recently, and the results have been good so far. Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee had little to no involvement with animation prior to penning Wreck-It Ralph's fresh and fantastic screenplay, and Victoria Strouse - who will be writing Finding Dory - has only worked on television shows and productions, most notably ABC's October Road. Branching out and then some.

Anyways, I'm psyched to hear about Zootopia but of course I'm looking forward to more on Frozen and Big Hero 6 (the latter especially!), though I do have my theories about Howard's film and the other secret Disney Animation projects. The ones on Zootopia may be moot by the end of the day, or maybe not. Either way, I hope for a small detail or two!

1:52 - 4:19 PM Eastern

Pixar is now up.

Some footage from Pixar's The Good Dinosaur has been teased, along with Party Central, a Monsters University short that will be attached to it in theaters. I was hoping for a short that wasn't based on a film of theirs, but this could be good...

The footage description, reports ComingSoon's writers, shows the asteroid missing Earth, even though it looked it was going to hit it. Dinosaurs watch it go by. Now, they're saying that the dinosaurs in this film are like farm equipment and they all look tired. Brontosauruses are bending down, using their heads to plow fields. Very, very interesting so far. They also apparently talk! The main bronto is named Marlow. (1:55-1:58 PM)

John Lithgow will voice Marlow's father, Frances McDormand voices the mother and Bill Hader voices the brother. Strong cast so far! (2:00 PM)

Marlow is actually in fact named Arlo, as ComingSoon made a small mistake. He'll be voiced by Lucas Neff. Judy Greer will voice his sister, Ivy. As said a little earlier, Arlo is green like the film's logo implies. (2:03 PM)

Peter Sciretta of /Film describes the footage as "almost like a segment from Fantasia." Have we got Pixar's "The Rite of Spring" on our hands here? (2:04 PM)

The dinosaurs also hate bugs, but Arlo doesn't. Outcast story, much? Color me intrigued. (2:07 PM)

Arlo comes across what he thinks is a bug, but it's actually a caveman-like boy wearing a disguise that makes him look like a bug. The boy doesn't talk and is named Spot. So talking dinosaurs, but silent cavemen-esque humans? And Pixar is losing their creativity and touch? Gimme a break. (2:08 PM)

More concept art is shown, focusing primarily on the settings, one that includes a "snowy mountaintop". That concept art, anyone? (2:11 PM)

Now it's Inside Out time!

Director Pete Docter mentioned how the concept was "wholly unique" to animation and how it will be grounded as well. The young girl's name is Riley and she is a fan of hockey and other sports, who ends up having to move to San Francisco and find new friends. Hmmm, I wonder why... Her five emotions are the following...

• Anger, a red "toad" with a white shirt and tie voiced by Lewis Black.
• Disgust, a green thing with a dress, is voiced by Mindy Kaling.
• Fear is voiced by Bill Hader (again!), ComingSoon's Silas Lesnick describes him as a "pink, non-furry Gonzo".
• Joy is voiced by Amy Poehler, who may be the lead emotion. She has blue hair and a yellow dress, interesting color scheme...
• Sadness is voiced by Phyllis Smith, and apparently looks like "a little blue Velma".

All these characters are said to be human-esque, like the human-like Muppets, as Lesnick puts it. It's only the designs that they are showing. (2:19 PM)

In a Monsters, Inc.-esque fashion, the emotions work for a headquarters that Lesnick describes as a "more colorful Minority Report base". They watch what Riley does from her point-of-view, Joy captures the memory, as it comes in the form of a ball. (2:22 PM)

The creation of her dreams is shown, as it's said to resemble a Hollywood film studio. They also show a "Train of Thought", which is an actual train. Joy and Sadness end up getting lost within Riley's mind, leaving the other three emotions to keep things going... Hmmmmmm, curioser and curioser... (2:24 PM)

Forgot this update, Neil Patrick Harris voices one of Arlo's siblings in The Good Dinosaur, Cliff. Now back to Inside Out... (2:28 PM)

We'll also be seeing what goes on inside other people's minds. Riley's mother and father have a fight, and they show how it all works inside both of their minds. (2:31 PM)

Now onto Finding Dory...

New characters are being announced... Dory's parents! Her mother Jenny is voiced by Diane Keaton and her father Charlie is voiced by Eugene Levy! There's also a beluga whale in this too, Bailey, he'll be voiced by Ty Burrell. Andrew Stanton jokingly says that Bill Hader won't be in it. Boy, Pixar seems to love Mr. Hader right now, don't they? Hader jokingly tried to get into this film on stage, boy would I love to be there right now! (2:35 PM)

After screening ten minutes of the upcoming Toy Story Halloween special Toy Story of Terror (the footage sounds amazing), now Disney is presenting DisneyToon stuff. I'll pass on this... In the mean time, I'll collect my thoughts on what was shown and revealed of the three upcoming Pixar films... (3:11 PM)

So... All of that Pixar news was inevitably exciting. The Good Dinosaur and Inside Out's footage reminds me of why I love the studio, not just for their storytelling and heart... But for their creativity. I love the idea of humans not speaking in this world, and how dinosaurs work as farmers, something that was talked about months and months ago. Our main character Arlo already seems like the outcast in his world, hence the title which implies that he may be doing something right while other dinosaurs do traditional things that may be in many cases... Well... Bad. Maybe...

Inside Out on the other hand reminds me of how well pulled off Monsters, Inc.'s concept was, especially the descriptions of the headquarters where the emotions work and how other people's inner-workings work as well. People may accuse Pixar of being formulaic now, I don't know about that... This sounds nothing like they've done in the past, and the whole plot of Joy and Sadness getting lost in the mind already piques my interest. Big time! I have a feeling that the emotional content in this film is going to be so thick that a jackhammer can't crack them... Buckets will be cried, maybe?

Other than that, I'm glad that we got some information on Finding Dory even if it wasn't more on the plot. Rumblings went around today about Pixar completely changing the film's planned ending after watching the controversial SeaWorld documentary Blackfish and speaking with the director, but since Pixar declined to comment, I think that article might be fake because it gives away both the planned ending and what they're going to do with the ending in the finished film. Massive spoilers. If those got out, I think Pixar would've seized the article or something. For now, I think the stories are rather... Fishy? Pun shamelessly intended.

While we didn't get a scrapping (yet) on "Dia De Los Muertos" or any of the other three untitled films scheduled for release between June 2017 and June 2018, it was great to hear some of the details on the three films that are next in line. Toy Story of Terror also sounds like fun, taking the toys to a spooky hotel and most likely playing off of horror movie tropes and whatnot. I was hoping the specials would branch out a bit, and it looks like they are! Party Central, I'm not too sure about that one yet, because I really want to see something original with each theatrical Pixar short, but this could work out. (3:39 PM)

Walt Disney Animation Studios is currently up! (3:58 PM)

Footage from Big Hero 6 is currently being shown... Can't wait to read about it! (4:02 PM)

Eric Vespe of AICN tweeted that it "looks kind of like Wreck-It Ralph in tone and design." Sciretta said "We might not get an Incredibles sequel anytime soon but Big Hero 6 will fill this void. Looks awesome."

Lasseter also officially announced Zootopia! Hooray! (4:09 PM)

Now we're getting details on Zootopia! According to Lesnick, it's similar to Robin Hood. It's an all-animal world with no humans, and they act and dress up like humans. Lasseter says he misses that. They also showed a wildebeest wearing a shirt saying "I'm with Gnu-pid". There are neighborhoods based on the different habitats of the animals. One of them is called Tundratown, which is all wintry and frozen... And it contains a polar bear karaoke club with seal waiters! The nightclub has a "fridgasine"... A limousine and a freezer... Man, they went all out! They also showed Sahara Square, where desert animals go at night. A fence chills the cold areas and warms the desert...

Yes that's a lot of little details and my goodness... It sounds very different and a tad bizarre. I love it! (4:14 PM)

Huh, looks like Jason Bateman is voicing a fox lead after all. His name is Nick Wilde, and he's got a rabbit friend named Lt. Hopps. Rabbits lives in Burrow Borough, and they ride a Rabbit Transit System. There's a pop musician named Gazelle with brawny white tiger back-up dancers. Wilde's wardrobe consists of a suit and sunglasses, and he also has very sharp teeth. Lesnick revealed that this puts him at odd ends with his rabbit friend. (4:18 PM)

In other words, holy smokes this all sounds very cool. Definitely creative and runs with the all-animal world ideas of Disney's Robin Hood and DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda. There is an enormous, I repeat... An enormous amount of potential in this project! (4:19 PM)

8:42 PM Eastern

In the four hours I was away, I still was able to check updates... We got concept art for all of the animated films unveiled today.

First up, a new still from Frozen that looks fine, plus some great footage that was leaked last night. The YouTube comes courtesy of The Rotoscopers!

The footage looks great, no doubt. One minor nitpick is the dialogue, since I was no fan of Tangled's rather distracting modern slang. But I still loved that film, and this looks like it'll be a fine mix of action, comedy and drama. I also love the Elsa reveal at the very end.

This Big Hero 6 piece may be minimal in its content, but it's beautiful nonetheless. The full plot was revealed. Loosely adapted from the comic, 14-year-old boy genius Hiro's developed Microbots technology is stolen by an underground force below his home city, San Fransokyo. Soon, he finds himself in a team of crime-fighters including a robot named Baymax, whom he befriends after losing his brother. Sounds like an emotional ride and a crazy action-packed experience at the same time, classic Disney with a bigger bite. Think The Incredibles, which will coincidentally turn ten years old two days before this film opens.

Zootopia... Now I love this sketch, then again I'm in love with the concept. Seriously, I already see so much in this film even though we know little about it! Anyways, does the piece give you a slight Chris Sanders' vibe? It has that unique weirdness to it, if you ask me... Anyways, just awesome. Nick Wilde is already a favorite of mine. The full plot was also revealed:

"In the animal city of Zootopia, a fast-talking fox who’s trying to make it big goes on the run when he’s framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Zootopia’s top cop, a self-righteous rabbit, is hot on his tail, but when both become targets of a conspiracy, they’re forced to team up and discover even natural enemies can become best friends."

Wow, wow and wow...

This piece of Good Dinosaur concept art shows us how the dinosaurs will really look...

Leaked concept art showed more designs, which surprisingly didn't do much for me... Yet. The dinosaurs have a sort of clay-like look, they are definitely not naturalistic in their designs but definitely very cartoony. I think they'll grow on me, though I think Arlo looks fine.

The big one... Inside Out concept art!

The designs are certainly different, and again, I'm not too, too fond of them just yet. They do have that Muppet-esque look that Lesnick mentioned. I like the designs of Anger, Disgust Fear. Joy and Sadness? They're not bad, they just seem weird... But then again, in the finished film, they all ought to look fine. That's usually the case.

This piece is actually my favorite of the bunch, believe it or not... Finding Dory! (I am in Devil's Advocate mode right now?)

Murky, dark and mysterious in a sense. Looking at it already brings the atmospheric feel of Finding Nemo back, from the great sound design to Thomas Newman's immersing score. Now let's hope the film is great... Well it should be!

What do you think of the concept artwork for these films? Do any of them excite you?

Saturday, 9:15 PM Eastern

After a panel focusing mainly on live action (Disney, Marvel and some Lucasfilm), Disney then had a panel focusing on Pixar shorts and specials.

General Manager and Executive Vice President Jim Morris jokingly said that Toy Story of Terror is the studio's "first horror film". Angus MacLane (director of Small Fry) added "We wanted to have many things from the horror genre, but also make it accessible to everyone." It's a genre that I'd certainly love to see them tackle for a feature-length film, but... We'll save that idea for another day!

Then it was announced that two more Cars Toons shorts are coming next year: Radiator Springs 500 1/2 and To Protect and Serve. Now for a while, I was thinking that the Cars Toons series should ditch the whole "Mater's Tall Tales" deal because it got tiresome, and there's so much more they can do with the world of Cars through these shorts and possibly specials. The first sounds like it'll focus on racing, which is what I kind of wanted for the next Cars Toon. Something about, you know, Lightning McQueen. He's the star of the franchise too, right? Right? Anyways, one of the problems I had with Cars 2 was that the racing aspect was mostly glossed over. I wanted to see more of McQueen's colorful competitors, but alas we got bits of the races and only three of his rivals spoke.

The latter on the other hand sounds like a plug for Planes: Fire and Rescue since that opens next summer... Yeah, let's just I'm not happy with the fact that the "should be DTV" franchise is now theatrical. Feh!

Anyways, it's good to see that Pixar can continue franchises through shorts rather than sequels. I think that's why there's more Toy Story Toons and specials being made, ditto Cars and now Monsters. Better that than sequels, right?

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A Piece to the Puzzle?

The Pixar Times put up a great article on Andrew Stanton's recent words on the follow-up to his 2003 masterpiece. Finding Dory is still on track for its fall 2015 release, but of course everything has been kept under wraps.

Stanton was against sequels for a long time, but lately he's been quietly talking about them. Last summer, he talked about how the Pixar sequels were "comfort food" for them and probably the audience. He also said that we may see more sequels in the future since the people at the studio aren't "blinded" anymore, since they are a business after all. In speaking with The Los Angeles Times, who ran a rather positive piece on sequels, Stanton stated...

"It’s more often that somebody fails at a sequel than they succeed. You don’t want it to be derivative or redundant."

All of Pixar's sequels aren't derivative or redundant. Even the dreaded Cars 2, which is certainly not anything like its predecessor. People may be disheartened by the amount of sequels Pixar has made lately, but there's one thing that the sequels don't do: Rehash what made their predecessor work. Give them props for trying a different story with each sequel.

"There was polite inquiry from Disney [about a Finding Nemo sequel]. I was always ‘No sequels, no sequels.’ But I had to get on board from a VP standpoint. [Sequels] are part of the necessity of our staying afloat, but we don’t want to have to go there for those reasons. We want to go there creatively, so we said [to Disney], ‘Can you give us the timeline about when we release them? Because we’d like to release something we actually want to make, and we might not come up with it the year you want it."

Again, I always found his comments on some of this to be a bit contradictory. Going back to the comment he made about sequels and originals last summer, the originals do bring in a boatload of cash. In fact, Up outgrossed the likes of Cars 2 and Monsters University. WALL-E, Ratatouille and several other originals grossed more than $500 million worldwide so they don't need to depend on sequels. Finding Nemo is their second highest grossing film of all time, it's an original!

That being said, at least Stanton says that they'll do a sequel when they are ready, not when Disney wants one. Of course, that's all contrary to popular belief that Pixar just wants to "churn out sequels to make money/they don't care about art anymore." Toy Story 3 turned out to be excellent, and Monsters University was damn good. We have not seen Finding Dory yet, and people are already assuming right off the bat that it's going to be a blemish. A bad film! An embarrassment to the original! Another sign of the studio's "decline"! Yep, tell me more about that crystal ball of yours...

Anyways, a good chunk of people who believe that Pixar is declining tend to point the finger at Disney, saying that they were the cause behind Cars 2, Monsters University and Finding Dory (they conveniently leave Toy Story 3 out) and the overall quality of Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University. I'm sure Disney wants sequels, being a corporation and all, but going by what I've gathered over the years - they don't seem to force Pixar to make sequels. If they did, why haven't they forced Walt Disney Animation Studios to make a sequel to something like Tangled or Wreck-It Ralph? They seem more sequel-happy with their live action stuff than with what's going on in the animated front.

For the sake of those who don't know (gotta go in broken record mode here!), Toy Story 3, Monsters University and Finding Dory exist because of the copyrighted scripts for the aborted Disney/Circle 7 sequels to Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. You know, the ones that were supposed to be made if Pixar were to break away from Disney after Cars. Pixar had to "overwrite" all three, but they did so when they wanted to. If that wasn't the case, Toy Story 3 would've been out in theaters quicker. No, they made sure that they delivered a fantastic finale to that trilogy. They pounced that right after the merger because they finally had the chance to make the finale they wanted to make, since one was brewing for a while. Finally getting the rights to their work back, it makes sense that Pixar's Toy Story 3 began pre-production in 2006. At one time, Toy Story 3 was actually scheduled for 2009... But guess what? It got moved to summer 2010! Monsters University was put into development some time in 2007 or early 2008 (some concept artwork is dated 2008, and it was hinted at back then), so they spent 5-6 years working on it. Maybe even more! Finding Dory? Well we have no idea, but I assume they waited a while to "overwrite" the Circle 7 'Finding Nemo 2', they didn't just dive right into it right after the merger. I'd say 2009 was when they started working on it, which will mean that they spent 6 years working on it. Typical timeframe for a Pixar film.

All of this, I firmly believe, explains why these sequels exist, why they all came/are coming out between 2010 and 2015, and why they came out so close to each other. Cars 2, again, is the anomaly of the bunch since there's no evidence that Circle 7 greenlit a sequel to Cars back in 2004/2005. Again, my conspiracy theory is that Bob Iger coaxed John Lasseter into making it after merchandise sales went through the roof and Lasseter agreed to make it because he's in love in with his universe. Can't blame him!

So basically, Pixar had to make Toy Story 3, a Monsters, Inc. sequel/prequel, and a Finding Nemo sequel. They went about the latter two in the best way possible, by not making them right off the bat. If Pixar only cared about churning out sequels, you'd see Monsters University and Finding Dory a lot sooner. As rushed, poorly-made films on top of that. No, originals exist and they continue to exist. Finding Dory is not coming out until late 2015. Why? Because two originals are coming first. But those two films don't exist, right? Right? Again, why would Pixar do two originals and then a sequel if all they cared about was mindlessly churning out sequels?

Unfortunately, Stanton or anyone at Pixar probably won't tell us about the Circle 7 deal. I think Stanton is giving us some sugarcoated PR talk, because Finding Dory exists for a reason. Disney "politely inquiring" about a Nemo sequel is not it. Pixar being money-hungry and just reared on numbers is definitely not it. John Carter bombing was not it, either. Finding Dory was most likely in the works before John Carter was officially put into production in 2010. The Circle 7 thing went down in 2004, so a Nemo sequel has been around before Stanton even got the opportunity to direct an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' influential stories. Pixar could've put some rookie in the director's chair to handle a Nemo sequel in 2006 after the merger and have the thing out in 2009/2010, just rush it out quickly. Nope, they waited a while. The official announcement came early this year, and the film is not out till 2015. That's nearly decade since the merger! Now compare that to another big studio (animation or not) greenlighting a sequel right after the first one does incredibly well on opening weekend, and the thing arrives 2-3 years later. Every Pixar sequel has arrived over 5 years after their respective predecessors; even the rushed cash-grab Cars 2 didn't arrive immediately.

In the end, I don't think Stanton's comments fully explain the existence of Finding Dory but they do help subdue the ever-expanding and annoying super-skepticism towards Pixar. The quality of Toy Story 3 and Monsters University more than help as well... It just goes to show, Pixar does take sequels seriously and will try to make them great or at least very good companion pieces to the originals. Also, remember what Ed Catmull had to say? Yes indeed, any sequel made after Finding Dory is one that they want to make. Not one they have to overwrite or make because Disney wants them to (well, maybe except for a third Cars, but I think the Planes franchise will make Disney happy in the meantime), so whatever sequel comes after 2015 will be one that isn't forced or one that had to be made. Plus, if Disney was really forcing sequels, we'd already see a rushed Brad Bird-less Incredibles 2 around this time. In fact, a sequel to that film is not in the cards at all. Not until Brad Bird says one will be made. Yeah, Disney is "forcing" sequels alright...

Going back to the whole "staying afloat" thing, Pixar is also a business in addition to being a studio. The originals are the foundation of the company, but a few sequels here and there (that are good, mind you) aren't necessarily a terrible thing. After this wave of four sequels/prequels, it'll be "original central" for a good while with very few sequels in between. Not bad, I'd say...

Uh Oh... Another Sequel?

Looks like Pixar might have another sequel in their pipeline... Or maybe not!

Yes, you read that right. Apparently Bleeding Cool got the word on it earlier today. The excerpt from what Disney CEO Bob Iger said during the stockholders conference that they provided seems to imply that one is indeed happening...

"On the animation front, Pixar continues to create great value for our company too. We are very excited about Monsters University which opens next month. Pixar’s slate of films for the next five years includes fantastic original stories as well as some great sequels to their previous hits. And as we recently announced, we are in production on one of those sequels, Finding Dory, featuring Ellen DeGeneres once again as the voice of Dory, one of the most beloved characters from Finding Nemo which was one of the most popular and profitable movies to date."

So... What will it be? Here, to me, are the three potential candidates.

Toy Story 4: Please no... Given how many times it's been rumored and the fact that the franchise is expanding through shorts/specials, I'm afraid this *might* happen. Unless it's a story about a whole new set of toys unrelated to the Andy's Room gang or a prequel, then I won't be interested. Not in the slightest. I know this may sound biased but... You can't top that finale, you just CAN'T. (Or as Woody would put it, "Can't, can't, caaaaaaaaan't!") It should be a Commandment - "Thou shall not maketh 'Toy Story 4'!"

The Incredibles 2: It'll only happen if Brad Bird wants to do it, and he may not in the far future since he's working hard on Tomorrowland for Disney and presumably something like 1906 afterwards. It's the one Pixar sequel that everyone wants, too. If he says one is happening, I'll be game for it. I trust Mr. Bird!

Cars 3: Very, very plausible since the franchise is huge and ever-expanding now with the DisneyToon-produced Planes series on the way. Also, it wouldn't hurt since Cars 2 got negative reception and started all this "Pixar is dead/dying/taken over by Disney" crap. A third one won't hurt since many view the second one (and the first one to some extent) in a bad light, so people will just separate it from the Pixar pool. I wouldn't mind if this one gets made, because it'll make the bean counters happy meanwhile an original film doesn't possibly get stained with a possibly bad sequel. Totally okay with a Cars 3 happening.

As for the rest of Pixar's films? Nada. A Bug's Life? Forget about it, that'll never happen. Ratatouille - like The Incredibles - was a Brad Bird film and again, a sequel will only happen if he wants to do one. WALL-E and Up? Nope, not by a long shot. Brave? Sure Mark Andrews said they'll do one if they have a good idea, that doesn't mean they'll do it. He has an original project in the works that should be out in theaters after 2017, so no Brave 2.

If it's Cars 3, I'll be fine. A Brad Bird-helmed Incredibles sequel? Also good. If it's Toy Story 4, I'll be upset unless the film gets stellar reviews and is called a masterpiece. I doubt that Pixar would make a fourth one though, because that trilogy is so special. It's also possible that Iger made a mistake, after all he did say that he didn't know of any hand-drawn films that were in development at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Maybe he thought another sequel was in production. Maybe all this will be moot in a matter of days or months, and that it turns out that no Pixar sequel is in the works at all.

What's your take? A mistake? Or is Pixar ramping up another sequel? What do you think it could be? Sound off below!

Pixar Confirms Nemo Sequel

It's official... Disney and Pixar have announced that Finding Nemo's long-rumored follow-up is now actually happening. No, it isn't Finding Nemo "2"... Instead, it's...

*cue the drumroll*

The sequel is scheduled to open on November 25, 2015. For a while, I've been wondering what that cryptic untitled Pixar project that was scheduled for release that day would turn out to be. Looks like my fifth theory came true! Will this be the first time Pixar will release two films in one year? Maybe, I can't see them moving the sequel just yet, though every time it seems like Pixar will release two films a year, it does not happen. Well, we'll see.

Set one year after its predecessor, Finding Dory will be set off of the coast of California and will be about Dory reuniting with her family. Director Andrew Stanton explained, "One thing we could not stop thinking about was why she was all alone in the ocean on the day she met Marlin. In Finding Dory she will be reunited with her loved ones, learning a few things about the meaning of family along the way."

Come to think of it, we didn't know much about Dory's beginnings in the first film or anything about her life before she met Marlin. That doesn't harm the film's story in any way, but I think her backstory is something worth diving into for a sequel. This is why I think this sequel has a lot of potential, despite what people may think. Toy Story 2 did the impossible and equalled the high quality of its predecessor, but also fleshing out characters we already came to know and love. I expect this film to do the same for Dory. I'm not saying that she needed a backstory detailed in Finding Nemo, but it is a fantastic and potentially very heartfelt idea for a sequel. No searching for someone who is lost, but rather a spiritual journey.

This is why I'm not too worried about this project. Yes, it could turn out to be a disaster but you got to give Pixar credit. All of their sequels aren't rehashes of their predecessors. Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 expanded upon the characters while taking them to new locations. Cars 2 took the Radiator Springs gang around the world and gave us a spy story. At least this isn't about finding Nemo again, I knew the folks at Pixar would not go this route for the sequel.

Of course, many will immediately freak out over this... Not in a good way, though. People will keep being pessimistic about the future of Pixar and will immediately write this sequel off as a shameless cash cow. Finding Dory exists for a reason... Not because Pixar is out of ideas. They have five original productions in the pipeline, and this is the only sequel/prequel/spin-off after Monsters University hits theaters in June. No, Finding Dory mostly exists because of the whole Circle 7 issue...

Before Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, Disney under Michael Eisner (prior to his resignation in late 2005) commissioned sequels to Pixar's films. They were to be produced by a newly-formed studio called Circle 7 Animation. At the time, it seemed likely that Pixar and Disney were going to split, and that the last Pixar film released by Disney would be Cars. Of course, they would own the rights to all the films and characters from Toy Story to Cars. Disney was also making direct-to-video sequels to their own films, only just to cash in on them. Their sequels to Pixar films were no different.

Three sequels made it into the development phase with screenplays prepared.

Toy Story 3: This is the one where Buzz Lightyear gets recalled, which evolved out of a story where the toy gang are sent to Andy's grandmother's house. This one was famous because the plot details were revealed back in the day, and it was apparent that the film would debut in 2008.

Monsters, Inc. 2: Mike and Sulley want to visit Boo after many years have passed. They go through her door to see that she has moved, so they find themselves looking for her in the human world.

Finding Nemo 2: A screenplay was written, but no details have been revealed. I assume that some will surface sometime soon.

So after Disney bought Pixar, Pixar essentially had to "overwrite" these three films that were close to actually being made. In early 2006, Circle 7 Animation was shut down and Pixar started work on their own Toy Story 3... The result was a masterpiece!

Next, they had to do a Monsters, Inc. follow-up. They went the prequel route, which is why Monsters University was made... Plus Pixar had kicked around some ideas for a follow-up for a while. We don't know whether it'll be good or bad, mediocre or average. All we know is that it's coming in two months.

Finding Dory completes this sort of trio of sequels that Pixar ultimately had to do, so after it's released they won't have to do any more. They can do a sequel if they want to or not. For example, Brad Bird can do an Incredibles follow-up if he has the desire to do one. The same goes for all the studio's other films. But we know Pixar, and we know that they wouldn't just announce millions of sequels out the wazoo. Skeptics want to believe that, but I feel that these skeptics don't know why Cars 2, Monsters University and Finding Dory happened/are happening in the first place. They may say "Pixar is out of ideas", but that's not the reason... If they are, explain those five upcoming original productions.

Any further news surrounding this film will be swamped with doubt, but a lot of general audiences are going to love the sound of "A Finding Nemo sequel is coming". Ellen DeGeneres herself is beyond excited for it, and I already see enthusiasm from the folks at Pixar. Lee Unkrich excitedly announced it, too!

It’s official! twitter.com/leeunkrich/sta…
— Lee Unkrich (@leeunkrich) April 2, 2013

Finding Dory can be a great sequel. You never know. We can be a bit skeptical... After all, the original is so great. The sequel does have a lot to live up to. But Toy Story 2 did it, and Toy Story 3 did it! Monsters University may do it too! Leave Cars 2 out of this or any of the recent production problems that surrounded that film and Brave. I'm optimistic for this sequel, though I do realize that it could be a disappointment. Again, you never know... It could be very well be another rare sequel that equals the original.