Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter once again took the stage after another emotionally intensified sizzle reel illustrating just how beautiful the Pixar films have been through the past 10 years. Grab your goggles as we run down some of the most exciting and tear jerker moments of the Pixar Animation Studios Panel.
After this smash hit of the year, Inside Out, the team had one more idea up their sleeve. What would it be like for the emotions inside Riley and her parent’s heads if she was asked on a date? The answer is, hilarity. This was one of the biggest surprises as the comedy illustrated here makes this short a must watch for fans of the film. Director Josh Cooley, along with “Inside Out” filmmakers Pete Docter (“Up,” “Monsters, Inc.”) and Jonas Rivera (“Up”), introduced the short, which revisits Riley, now 12, who is hanging out with her parents at home when potential trouble comes knocking. Mom’s and Dad’s Emotions find themselves forced to deal with “Riley’s First Date?”
The short will be included as a bonus feature in the digital HD & Blu-ray releases of Disney·Pixar’s “Inside Out,” which will be available digitally Oct. 13 and on Blu-ray Nov. 3, 2015.
The most emotional moments came out of early footage for ‘The Good Dinosaur’ as Pixar not only demonstrated why they are the best at tugging at our emotional heart strings, but that they can do so without the use of dialogue. Peter Sohn got on stage and gave us a rousing storyboard of how he would go to the movies with his mom and because of the language barrier, she wasn’t able to understand most American cinema. That all changed when they saw ‘Dumbo’ together and a young Peter looked over at his Mom with a tear streaming down her face, matching his own. From this point forward, Peter would learn all he could about the art of animation and it shows in his work on ‘The Good Dinosaur.’ There were three scenes showed and all of them had high emotions of either fear or tear jerking drama, which only elevated the looks of the film. Speaking of the visuals, the tools used to create the environments have advanced beyond anything we’ve ever seen and it’s glorious.
In theaters on Nov. 25, 2015, “The Good Dinosaur” features Arlo, a sheltered Apatosaurus who finds himself far from home among a host of intimidating creatures.
Taking place 6 years after ‘Finding Nemo,’ Ellen DeGeneres (“The Ellen DeGeneres Show”) is back as the voice of everyone’s favorite forgetful blue tang in ‘Finding Dory’. In the celebration of this long awaited sequel, they played for the excited crowd a few clips of unfinished animation that gave a sense of its comedy and tone. While the film never got over the hump of it being a non-needed sequel, it showed promise in a few key areas.
These were mainly due to the supporting cast joining Dory in her search to find her parents which include Ed O’Neill (“Modern Family”), who lends his voice to Hank, a cantankerous octopus; Ty Burrell (“Modern Family”), the voice of Bailey, a misguided beluga whale; and Kaitlin Olson (“Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), who voices Destiny, a kind-hearted whale shark.
Oscar®-winning director Andrew Stanton offered new details of the all-new story, which reunites Dory with friends Nemo and Marlin on a search for answers about her past. What can she remember? Who are her parents? And where did she learn to speak Whale?
Also featuring the voices of Albert Brooks, Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy, Disney·Pixar’s “Finding Dory” swims into theaters June 17, 2016.
The Untitled Pixar Movie about Dia De Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, finally has a title. Pixar revealed that the movie is officially titled ‘Coco’, after one of the major characters in the story.
Unkrich explained that the story’s inception occurred when he asked himself “What if you could meet your long dead relatives?” For research, Unkrich traveled to Mexico to see how the holiday was celebrated in different places, meeting many families and experiencing the traditions with them. The footage they showed was a lot more along than imagined, yet it had a good sense of tone and comedy. It was gratifying to find similarities between the idea presented in the footage and that of the early Silly Symphonies short, ‘The Skeleton Dance,’ adding to the importance of appreciation for the classics with everyone at Pixar. “Coco is the celebration of a lifetime, where the discovery of a generations-old mystery leads to a most extraordinary and surprising family reunion.”
Coco has not yet set a release date, though Pixar has slots reserved in November 2017 and November 2018.
Returning to the director chair is John Lasseter, director of the first two, who said he would only go back to this franchise if there was a story. It was actually his wife, Nancy who inspired the story for the fourth installment which will be written for the screen by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (“Celeste & Jesse Forever”). Toy Story 4 will take Buzz and Woody on a journey to find Bo-Peep, creating the first romantic comedy of the franchise and for the company.
Randy Newman put on a showstopping performance by playing “You’ve Got a Friend In Me” on stage as the entire panel came to a glorious close. “Toy Story 4,” which will be directed by Lasseter and produced by Susman, is slated for release on June 16, 2017.
