Pixar Goes Sequel-Crazy: Finding
Nemo 2, Toy Story 4 in the Works?
As 'Finding
Nemo 2' and the 'Monsters Inc.' prequel get their greenlight, speculation soars
for 'Toy Story 4'
Here’s what
we know: Monsters University, a prequel to 2001′s Monsters Inc.
is coming in June 2013. Here’s what we think we know: Finding Nemo
director Andrew Stanton has signed on to direct Finding Nemo 2. And
here’s what we hope we know: based on a year-old comment from Tom Hanks to a
BBC reporter, there may—just may—be a Toy Story 4 already in the works.
Has Pixar
gone sequel-crazy? If so, it would be an easy financial decision: Toy Story
3 alone grossed more than $1 billion since its 2010 release and the
franchise, which launched in 1995, has earned almost $2 billion in gross box
office receipts. And while Toy Story 3 was Pixar’s top box-office
success, 2003′s Finding Nemo still holds the runner-up slot for the
company, bringing in $867 million so far (not yet counting a 3-D release
planned for this September).
(PHOTOS:
Behind the Scenes of Pixar’s Brave)
But first
comes Monsters Inc. 2, officially titled Monsters University—Pixar’s
only prequel to date. Directed by Dan Scanlon (Stanton and Pete Docter are
writers), the film will feature Sully (John Goodman) and Michael (Billy
Crystal) as college-going monsters, trying to hit the books and earn their way
to the Monsters Inc. headquarters.
“It’s how
Michael and Sully meet, and plan to become scarers at Monsters Inc.,” Crystal told the Los Angeles Times.
“It’s college pranks with monsters. And I wear a retainer. Mike has a
retainer.”
With a June
21, 2013, release date confirmed, clips show college pranks will abound,
filling the monster-filled halls of Monster University with attempts at more
money-making laughs for Pixar.
Along with
Goodman and Crystal, expect to see Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Tilly, Frank Oz and
John Ratzenberger all reprise their roles from the 2001 movie that grossed more
$520 million. Kelsey Grammer will replace the late James Coburn as Henry J.
Waternoose III.
And while
Pixar refuses to comment on (potentially) in-production movies, Deadline.com reported that
Stanton, the writer and director of the first Nemo (who won Oscars
for his work on both that film and Wall-E) has signed on to direct a
second installment.
For his
part, Stanton did tweet the same day: “Didn’t
you all learn from Chicken Little? Everyone calm down. Don’t believe everything
you read. Nothing to see here now. #skyisnotfalling”.
While
various media outlets report that writers and producers have joined the effort
and we could see the next Nemo in 2016, Pixar’s won’t confirm the
film—at least not yet.
And Toy
Story 4 sits squarely in rumorville, with little more than a Hanks comment
from 2011 to go on. During an interview, a reporter asked Hanks if he
expected his granddaughter would be able to watch a Toy Story 4 movie,
and Hanks said he thought another installment was “being worked on.” Of course,
there’s plenty of room in the script for another film now that Andy has buzzed
off to college and the toys have found a new home with Bonnie. Fans of Woody,
Buzz, Jessie and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head hold their collective breath…
(Of course,
Pixar has three original stories slated for 2014 to help us bide our time,
including The Good Dinosaur, directed by Up co-director and
writer Bob Peterson; an unnamed project from the Toy Story 3 team about
the holiday Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead); and a Docter-directed
(he did Up and Monsters, Inc.) untitled movie that goes inside
the human mind.)
PHOTOS: A Brief History of Pixar
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