Pixar has always been synonymous with storytelling that was leaps and bounds ahead of what any other Hollywood animation studio has been putting out. And the thee new projects that the studio announced last night at he Las Vegas CinemaCon trade show show that that tradition will be continuing with the announcement of three new films that will be forthcoming over the next few years.
First up is The Good Dinosaur. Disney first unveiled the project back at the D23 Expo a few months back, but this is the first time that we have a title. Set on an alternate version of Earth where “the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct,” the film is a comedy from directors Bob Peterson and Peter Sohn. Peterson has been working at Pixar all the way back to the first story Toy Story film and helped work on the stories for Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and Up, which he also co-directed. It is set for a May 30, 2014 release.
The following summer, specifically June 19, 2015, will see the release of the still untitled Pete Docter (Up, Monsters Inc.) project that, according to the press release, “will take you to a place that everyone knows, but no one has ever seen: the world inside the human mind.” Joining Docter as co-director is Ronnie del Carmen, who storyboarded Ratatouille and Up. Toy Story 3 scripter Michael Arndt is writing the screenplay.
Pixar honcho John Lasseter further added about the story, “[It] takes place in a little girl’s mind and it is about her emotions as characters, and that us unlike anything you’ve ever seen.” Well, far be it fom me to second-guess John Lasseter, but the premise does sound a bit like the old Fox sitcom Herman’s Head.
Finally, Disney confirmed the existence of the film that Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich has recently been hinting at. It too is untitled but will be about the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. There is no scheduled release date for this but I would expect it sometime in 2016.
