This year’s D23 Expo had one impressive line up. Those in attendance were hosted to a smorgasbord of unveilings and news that the Pixar plate looked to be booked solid for the next few years. One of the hi-lights was the long awaited (and worked on apparently) follow up, err prequel to 2001’s Monsters Inc. Going in the way back machine, this “before the fact” story will again follow Mike Wazowski and James P Sullivan but this time showing them in their college days. Pretty exciting to say the least right? Yeah I thought so too. There’s more on the story and its development after the jump…
The Pixar gang has actually been thinking about a MI sequel going all the way back to 2008 (which you can tell from the tiny scribble at the bottom right of the photo above). For those of you who, like myself, missed the Expo he’s a couple more shots showing how Pixar is turning back the clock on Mike and Sulley.
Despite what we’ve come to know from MI, Monsters University will show us that Mike and Sulley weren’t exactly the best of friends back in the day; so we can probably expect a Toy Story level of rivalry between them both. And as far as regulars, Steve Buscemi and Jennifer Tilly will be back (as Randall and Celia respectively) with some new faces to be voiced by Dave Foley, Julia Sweeney, Joel Murray and Peter Sohn.
I have to say I was at first pessimistic about this (when rumors surfaced years ago) but going the prequel route sounds like a winning formula. Being Pixar it was safe to bet that they wouldn’t even try and mess with that amazing ending. Whew right? For more info from the day’s events check out the great write up at FirstShowing.
Finally, don’t you worry MI fans. Even though Pete Docter won’t be back at the helm this time around he isn’t necessarily leaving us high and dry. Not at all. Dan Scanlon will be directing but credits for the story (well characters at least) go to Docter and Andrew Stanton. Also for you fans of the “Doc”, Pete’s hard at work on another film that will be out after Monsters University. I can’t wait to see how that develops even though he’ll no doubt be missed in the Monsters universe.
That said, Pixar and Disney have slated Monsters University for release on June 21st 2013. I’m so down for this, but I’ll ask you…What do you think Pixar fans? Excited for this at all??
2 Comments
MarkusWelby1
I see a disturbing trend with Pixar of late. Too many sequels and not enough original material. I did enjoy Toy Story 3, but I’d much rather have more unique pieces like Up….or Wall-E. They’re milking the cash cows tits now. Nothing wrong with making money, but I just think they’ve lost a step creatively.
MarcC
I understand your concern but I think you have nothing to worry about. Pixar will still make new films because that’s their passion. The reason for the TS sequel (well the first anyway) was that they stepped in to fix a terrible DTV sequel that Disney alone was going to release…good thing they did. WHile 2 turned out very fine, I thought going back to the well for the third was excessive but the finished product was so well done. We probably won’t see another one but who knows, those characters have such staying power so who knows.
I’d like to skip talking about Cars and focus on Monsters. Even though a sequel (or prequel) may not be entirely original the characters, like any Pixar film, are very much so. There’s so much behind each character that it is almost a disservice to the creative team if they aren’t explored for more than 90 minutes or so. In that case, a sequel (which is an original story based on existing material) is all right by me because it let’s you see growth in the characters you love and allows for a longer arc. Needless to say I’m totally excited and wouldn’t worry if I were you Markus. Take a look at the whole D23 Pixar line up and they’ve got a lot of original ideas planned.