'The Incredibles 2' and 'Toy Story 4' Swap Release Dates

This is a good news / bad news situation: Pixar has announced that the planned release dates for Toy Story 4 and The Incredibles 2 have been swapped. The sequel to The Incredibles will now be released on 15 June, 2018 in the US, and the fourth installment in the Toy Story franchise will be released on 21 June, 2019.

D23 Expo: What the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Revealed

Once every two year, Disney is holding a big event, where they announce and tease upcoming projects. And luckily for us, it's happening this year - more precisely, this very weekend. See what the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar have in store in the upcoming few years after the break.

Josh Cooley to Direct an 'Inside Out' Short - Co-Direct 'Toy Story 4'

Josh Cooley

Stitch Kingdom noticed that a Variety post called '10 Animators to Watch' spilled the beans on some upcoming Pixar projects; the animator to watch in Pixar seems to be Josh Cooley, as he apparently just finished directing a short film set in the world of Inside Out, and will be co-director on Toy Story 4.

Pixar Announce Toy Story 4! John Lasseter Directing, Rashida Jones Writing, Out 2017

Well damn. I genuinely did not see this one coming. Yesterday, Pixar shook the entire Internet with the surprise announcement that they will be releasing a fourth film in the Toy Story series! Toy Story 4 (not, as some have suggested, called Toy Story: The Fours Awakens, sadly...) in June 2017 - meaning the film has presumably been in the works for a few years. More on this, who's involved, the general reaction - and ours - below.

Ed Catmull Promises Fewer Pixar Sequels, "An Original Film a Year"

Pixar have been getting quite the reputation as sequel-mongers as of late; the bad rep comes from the fact that for 14 years they produced only one sequel, but have released a subsequent three follow-ups in the last 3 years. And of course Cars 2 didn't help matters (I very much liked the film, but it is unquestionably not as stellar as the studio's classics like WALL-E or Toy Story - a sign to many that quality was slipping over in Emeryville). While Brave has been the lone original film sandwiched between a sequel and a prequel in recent years, Pixar president Ed Catmull promises - as if their almost entirely original upcoming slate wasn't indication enough - that the studio is reining back on sequels again, but that they are still part of the plan going forward.

Rumour Overload: Toy Story 4 Confirmed For 2015? [UPDATED: No, it's not.]

Treat this one as a rumour until strongly indicated otherwise: some Colombian news outlets are reporting that Disney and Pixar have officially announced the long rumoured Toy Story 4 for 2015!

5 New Toy Story Films Coming Soon!

Calm down, it's not what it sounds like. It also seems that those rumours about Toy Story 4 have been quieted for now, as Mike from Big Screen Animation just broke some huge Toy Story news!

A Disney e-catalogue tells us that - following Hawaiian Vacation and Small Fry, which were attached to Cars 2 and The  Muppets respectively - Pixar are developing three brand-new Toy Story Toons. Also, and somewhat more excitingly, "two new 22-minute TV specials are in the works for October 2013 and Spring 2014." This is very exciting news and corroborates what Pixar and Disney Animation President, Ed Catmull, said a while back about the role of Pixar Canada.

Look for these shorts and the TV specials to air on Disney Channel sometime over the next two years.

I assume some Cars TV specials will follow soon, and I'm hoping we hear of some other properties being given this treatment soon - A Bug's Life, Nemo or Up particularly seem like great choices!

Thanks to Big Screen Animation for this huge story.

Marvel to Publish Toy Story Comic Books

Via IGN, we get the exciting news that the comic giants, Marvel (owned by Disney, remember), will be publishing a series of comic books based on Pixar's Toy Story franchise to take place between the first and second films.

The 4 issue series, another way of continuing the insanely popular film saga, will tell the story of Andy's dog Buster's introduction into the household and how the toys bonded with him.

IGN also caught a few words off Marvel's Editor-in-Chief on the subject:

"Everyone loves Toy Story, so we're excited to team with our friends at Disney-Pixar to bring readers all new stories of our favourite characters from these blockbuster films," said Axel Alonso, Marvel's Editor-in-Chief. "Toy Story allows us to bring great new material to the market that's not only perfect for kids, but also a great read for fans of all ages. What's next for Woody and Buzz in these stories? We can't wait for you to find out!"

This, to me, sounds like a wonderful idea! It's a brilliant way of expanding on the canon, without, hopefully, leading to a fourth film - which would just be unnecessary. Toy Story is the pinnacle of cinema and animation, so this should be fantastic news to any Toy Story, Pixar, Disney, film or comic fans!

Read the full article over at IGN.

New Lee Unkrich Film Underway at Pixar

Following on from the D23 announcements of two new Pixar movies - The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs and The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind - we now get a sniff of yet another Pixar movie in the works in Emeryville. As it turns out that Lee Unkrich, the director of the Best Picture nominated Toy Story 3, has just begun directing a new film.

Lee, an avid Twitter user, Tweeted on Thursday night "Tomorrow is a big day that may determine the next four years of my life. Wish me luck.", now, given that the creative cycle of an animated film at Pixar usually takes about four years, this would certainly point towards Lee pitching a new film to the Brain Trust.

The Pixar Times then tells us that he later Tweeted, before removing the Tweet, "Weekend: Relax. Monday: Get started on a new movie.”, so it appears as if the helmer of the highest-grossing animated film of all time's next project has been greenlit and I certainly can't wait to here more about it.

However, given that we have just passed D23 and the huge slab of news unveiled there, it is unlikely we will be finding out any substantial details about the film any time soon; other than the fact that, given an average of a four year production timeframe, the film will probably be released late 2015, or maybe pushed back to 2016 to allow more time. In my opinion, with Lee already being the director of the latest installment of the Toy Story franchise, it is highly likely that this film could be the ambiguously rumoured Toy Story 4, hinted at by Tom Hanks and John Lasseter. Hanks said he believed Pixar were working on it, he could have meant that Lee Unkrich was working on an idea for it, which has now been approved.

Now, I have often expressed my uneasiness about a fourth chapter in the Toy Story franchise, however many expressed similar concerns about Toy Story 3, and Lee did a stellar job with that, and I have no doubt he'd do the same with a fourth!

I'm Back - A Collection of Things You May Have Missed

Apologies for the hiatus, I've been on holiday for the past few weeks, so - while I have been able to keep up to date on the latest animation news - I have been unable to post about the large slab of news that has been coming out (thankfully, though, I am back in time to cover all that happens at D23, starting today). So, to avoid spamming you with post after post, I'm compiling all of the news over the past couple of weeks into one big post here for you.

Firstly, news surfaced over a week ago (via The Hollywood Reporter and Box Office Mojo) that we can expect another Pixar film in 2014. Following only a few weeks after the announcement of a, as of yet unnamed, new Pixar feature coming on November 27, 2013, we were told that the 2013 film would be an original concept, so not a sequel; no such thing has been said of this 2014 release, giving credibility to the belief that this 2014 film could be the rumoured Toy Story 4.

Pixar, seemingly, are being a lot more secretive with their upcoming slate as of late, announcing less details about further off films, this could likely be to avoid another scenario like what we saw with Newt, where early announcements led to Pixar losing some face by having to cancel the project due to perceived similarities with Rio and Alpha & Omega. But we may get details on this, and the 2013 film, from D23.

This new Pixar film is scheduled for release on May 30, 2014.

But that's only a little bit of the news that I haven't covered over the past few weeks, read the rest after the jump break.

Lasseter Hints at Toy Story 4

The growing mountain of speculation grows, insisting that we will be seeing a Toy Story 4. Today, the hints come from the pioneer of Toy Story, John Lasseter.

Lasseter was on BBC Breakfast this morning (watch the snippet here), promoting the release of Cars 2 in the UK (it opens this Friday), the presenters then broached the subject of Toy Story 4. Namely, they asked about Tom Hanks' comments on the show last month.

Rather than flatly denying the rumours (fuelled this past week by IMDB), Lasseter merely said "yeah, I found that really interesting too", followed by a sly smile, some nodding and "we haven't announced anything", before switching the subject back to Cars 2.

If previous hints were easily dismissible as just rumours, this seems a lot more substantial.

I'm beginning to warm to the idea of a Toy Story 4, but only if I have to, I'd rather they leave it as it is, as the best trilogy of all time! I've no doubt Pixar would make a great film, but why bother? The third film tied everything off with a poignant, emotional and pitch perfect bow. Why risk ruining it?

I guess only time will tell.

More on Toy Story 4



Uh oh!

Following on from Tom Hanks' worrying interviews last month, where he said that Pixar is currently making Toy Story 4, we now get more to fuel the fire and the speculation. IMDB is listing Toy Story 4 for a 2015 release date.

This doesn't mean that it is definitely going to happen, however, in addition to Hanks' comments, it's certainly a big hint. A big worrying hint.

Pixar has never let us down before, and people reacted in much the same way to the announcement of Toy Story 3, however, I believe we have cause to be worried. Pixar ended the trilogy perfectly with Toy Story 3, and I don't think they could reach the emotional poignancy and perfection of 3, so why try? They're getting dangerously close to Shrek territory.

I guess only time will tell, I know I'd certainly pay to see Toy Story 4, but I'm sceptical.

Golden Streak Continues - Cars 2

Amongst all the news today about upcoming Pixar projects, what with the Brave trailer and the possibility of Toy Story 4, we needn't forget the current Pixar film, Cars 2. Whilst Cars 2 is by no means the critical success we have come to expect from Pixar (currently holding 33% on Rotten Tomatoes), it seems people don't mind. As Cars 2 is Pixar's 12th consecutive No. 1 Box Office Opener.

Cars 2 opened to a brilliant opening day revenue of $25.7 million as people went in their droves to see the latest Pixar feature. Estimates suggest that Cars 2 has far exceeded its predictions, at a current estimate of around $68 million for the opening weekend.

As Martin of Upcoming Pixar points out, if these estimates are accurate, Cars 2 could tie Up as Pixar's 4th best opener, and that an exceeding of that estimate could beat The Incredibles $70 million opening.

It seems that Pixar fans aren't put off by a few bad reviews, thus is the trust that Pixar have built up over the years.

Toy Story 4?

Is Toy Story 4 already in the works? According to Tom Hanks, the voice of Woody in the Toy Story franchise, Pixar are working on it now. Hanks appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning to promote his newest film, Larry Crowne. When asked whether we would see a Toy Story 4, Hanks responded "I think there will be. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. They’re working on it now."

This is obviously huge news, if it's true, however it's debatable as to whether it is. Last year, when Toy Story 3 came out, we were told that there was no plans for Toy Story 4, but that Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, had signed on in case Pixar decided to produce a fourth film. Don't take Hanks' word for it, as there are always ideas floating about at Pixar, it doesn't mean anything's set in stone.

However, this is still monumental. A fourth film could ruin the perfect ending of the third, but Pixar never cut corners with any Toy Story film before.

Check out the interview with Hanks here and skip to the 6 minute mark for the Toy Story news.

Thoughts?