We’ve known for some time about Pixar’s plans for the next few years, though up until now, very little detail was divulged outside of some tentative title names, pretty concept art, and brief plot descriptions. That’s all changed following last weekend’s D23 Expo, where Walt Disney Studios unveiled exciting updates on their upcoming projects.
Casts for several of the previously announced films were revealed: Judy Greer, Bill Hader, John Lithgow, Neil Patrick Harris, and Frances McDormand will star in The Good Dinosaur, a film that imagines a world where humans and dinosaurs coexist. And in addition to returning cast members Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks, Finding Dory will feature the voices of Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy as Dory’s parents, as well as Modern Family’s Ty Burrell. (And, as the New York Times reports, its ending—set in an aquatic center—will be changed, thanks to the documentary Blackfish, which highlights the ethical dilemmas of the marine park industry.) Curiously, there are no updates on the as-yet-untitled Day of the Dead film that Pixar announced back in January.
Perhaps most exciting is the casting news for Inside Out. The movie was already brimming with potential as a stylized story that delves into the thoughts and feelings of its protagonist, á la Herman’s Head. Now that Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, and Bill Hader (again) are attached to star as Joy, Disgust, and Fear, respectively, Inside Out looks even more promising. (You can see concept art for the movie’s emotions-as-characters above.) This will be Pixar’s second film, in addition to last year’s Brave, to feature a female lead—or to be more exact, a female lead’s point of view. According to the press release from the expo, “Riley, an 11-year-old girl who recently moved with her family to San Francisco, is not the main character but the setting for the film. Moviegoers will go inside her mind to explore how memories are formed and how a mixture of five emotions—Joy, Disgust, Anger, Fear, and Sadness—defines life experiences.”
We’ll have to wait until 2015 to get inside Riley’s head, but it certainly sounds worth the wait. In the meantime, you can see art from The Good Dinosaur and Finding Dory below.
The Good Dinosaur
Finding Dory
