Disney has been an unstoppable hit machine so far in 2016, and this summer two more movies will arrive, and we’ll see if they can continue their winning streak. This weekend, Johnny Depp and co. return with the sequel “Alice Through The Looking Glass,” and advance notices are not great. But then again, the reviews for Tim Burton‘s “Alice In Wonderland” weren’t so hot either, and it still broke $1 billion. Meanwhile, the much more beloved “Finding Nemo” just came shy of the $1 billion mark when it debuted in 2003, but it says something that the 3D re-release four years ago made a staggering $411 million worldwide. If Disney had any doubts the audience would be there for a followup, that likely put those notions to bed. And so here we are with “Finding Dory,” and it has plenty of goodwill as it gears up to hit cinemas.
However, the big question surrounding the sequel is how do you make a followup to a movie that was so strong the first time out? The answer is, very, very carefully. “…it’s the burden of responsibility to make sure that this movie is worthy of ‘Nemo’ and certainly we go in with those goals on any film, but this one in particular…There’s a lot of thought as to whether or not the story feels like it needs to be told,” producer Lindsey Collins told Entertainment Monthly.
“In other words, we knew how hard it was like to make the first one, and four years of work, you have to make sure it’s something that you love telling so much that you, even when it’s not working on year three, you’re still gonna get out of bed and work on it. So we had to make sure that this idea was the same,” director Andrew Stanton added.
“Finding Dory” opens on June 17th. Watch the new trailer above and one more thing — when you see it in cinemas, be sure to stick around for the end credits.