Last summer at Disney's D23 event, Pixar unveiled two new movies to their future roster: an untitled Peter Docter ("Up") project that would "go inside the human mind" (of a young girl it was later revealed), and another, an untitled effort about humans living alongside dinosaurs. This evening at CinemaCon (and via press release), the secretive company dropped some small, but key and previously-unrevealed details on the already announced films, plus another nugget – the announcement of a third new Pixar film.
First up, let's start with Peter Docter's project. His film, once presumed to be one of the already-dated 2013 and 2014 Pixar films, and described as "wildly ambitious," will now be set for the far-off release of June 19, 2015 (it must be ambitious!). Known as "The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind," the film will be shepherded by "Up" producer Jonas Rivera. And that's all that's revealed there, although we know that Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt has been working on the screenplay for Docter (none of the press releases specify screenwriters, so we imagine that Arndt might have been shuttling around the different productions).
Due May 30, 2014 (a little less than a year after Pixar's "Monsters, Inc." prequel "Monster University"), the untitled dinosaur film is now known as "The Good Dinosaur" (great title) and will be co-directed by Bob Peterson (co-director/writer, “Up;” writer, “Finding Nemo,” voice of Dug the Dog) and Peter Sohn, one of Pixar's in-house animators and storyboard artists on projects like "WALL·E," "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles" (he also directed the wonderful "Partly Cloudy" short that appeared in front of "Up") and produced by John Walker (“The Incredibles,” “The Iron Giant”). The inner-child-summoning synopsis? What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? The project is also described as "hilarious and heartfelt."
Lastly, we have details on Lee Unkrich's Pixar project, which is untitled, but shall be known until further notice as "The Untitled Pixar Movie about The Día de los Muertos" (the vibrant Mexican holiday that celebrates loved ones who have passed on). The Oscar-winning director of "Toy Story 3," Unkrich will be joined by producer Darla K. Anderson (“A Bug’s Life,” “Monsters,Inc.” and “Cars”) and we have a feeling the mythical aspects of the Day of the Dead will be emphasized (we're already conjuring up the production/character design in our minds – all those colors!). It seems like a concept ripe for an animated film, especially since there will be no less than three major horror-themed animated films being released this year alone (Laika's "ParaNorman," Sony's "Hotel Transylvania" and Disney's "Frankenweenie"). As for that left over November 27, 2013 date? Well, that's actually occupied by Chris Buck 's "Frozen" featuring the voice of Kristen Bell. Disney was being cagey as to whether or not "Frozen," based on the "Snow Queen" fairy tale, would be traditionally animated or computer animated, but we have confirmed that it will be a CGI affair, with all further plans for traditional animation shuttered, for the time being at least (sad, we know). We assume this means Unkrich's film will be no sooner than 2015, like Docter's, but nothing's confirmed for sure.
While these are just small teaser details so far, it's a good day to be a Pixar fanatic. Mark 'em on your calendar, folks.
