If box-office stats are what matter to a movie studio (and, let’s face it, they are), then Pixar needs some serious help. Ever since “Toy Story 4” raked in just over $1 billion worldwide, each Pixar release has either barely broken even at the box office or not done so at all. Sure, a little thing called the COVID-19 pandemic kept a couple of titles out of theaters, but this is the current Pixar story for five straight films, including this year’s “Lightyear.” Pixar needs a winner, and they need one now.
So, what’s a desperate animation studio to do? Easy, make a sequel to a critically successful box-office winner from the past ten years. In Pixar’s case, that’d be “Inside Out,” the saga about a young girl’s inner emotional life with vocal talent led by Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, and Mindy Kaling. According to Puck, Pixar has “Inside Out 2” ready for a big reveal at the D23 expo today, but it will be without some of the original film’s vocal talent. Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling have reportedly declined to return for the sequel. How come? For the same reason Pixar wants, or needs, to make “Inside Out 2”: money.
In the lead-up to production for “Inside Out 2,” Disney reportedly offered lead Poehler $5 million for her voice services, while the rest of the cast received offers of only $100k (and zero bonuses). Everyone (rightfully) balked at that number, but Disney’s improved offer still wasn’t enough for Hader and Kaling, so their characters, Fear and Disgust, won’t be in the upcoming sequel. But how do you make “Inside Out 2,” ostensibly about Riley, the same girl from the original, as she goes through adolescence without feeling Fear or Disgust? This writer has no idea, but audiences will find out soon enough.
So, what’s Disney and Pixar’s logic here? Puck mentions that Disney’s current reputation is to go super-cheap on voice talent for animated films. Puck also note that talent fees for the recent Emmy winner “Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers” were “laughably low,” with participating stars doing so as a favor to director Akiva Schaffer. Favors for friends are a kind of currency, sure, but they’re cold, hard cash. That offer to Hader, Kaling, and the rest of the supporting cast of “Inside Out 2” is laughably insulting. If the reports are true, Poehler makes fifty times the amount of money of anybody else on the cast; that’s absurd.
Maybe Disney believes that Poehler’s name is all the star power they need to promote “Inside Out 2.” But if Disney pushes the sequel for a theatrical release instead of one on Disney+ (and, let’s face it, Pixar needs a big box office success), the more vocal talent on the film, the better, right? One wonders what industry pressures dictate Disney’s decision here. After the likes of “Lightyear,” “Soul,” and “Onward,” a sequel that’s a huge financial success is just what Pixar needs, but an “Inside Out 2” with a smaller ensemble cast isn’t a good solution.
