Sadly, Cars 3 is one of them.
Man, production companies are looking so far ahead recently and I can’t even decide what I’m wearing tonight. Anyway, if you haven’t gleaned it from the title, Disney-Pixar just updated the release dates for all their films up until 2019, and boy is it a reminder of how sequel-saturated Hollywood has become. Here’s a nice graphic Pixar released on Twitter that conveys the new info:
Finding Dory, Cars 3 (yuck), Toy Story 4, and The Incredibles 2(FINALLY) are all sequels, as we know already, and only two titles are original, The Good Dinosaur and Coco. Although the initial trailers for The Good Dinosaur have been well received, it went through a train-wreck of a production; the original director, producer, and multiple voice actors all left the film, with even John Lithgow (who was eventually removed as well) saying that the production had been “dismantled and completely reimagined” . Whether this “reimagining” is for the better we can only guess, but if this film does tank, that means Pixar’s next four years of production rest almost completely on the shoulders of their existing franchises. Will that in turn mean that Pixar will release less original material altogether? I absolutely adored Inside Out, and I think that its success stemmed mainly from how novel and original that idea was; if these sequels are that well received and make the company money, will that lead to less original ideas like Inside Out? Don’t get me wrong, I’m as hyped for The Incredibles 2 as the next guy (and a little sad that Toy Story 4 got pushed back a year), but I think Pixar’s recent successes have come from a mixture of continuing and original material, and the next four years seem a bit one-sided.
Another recent bit of Disney-related news is concerning Marvel; that is, their announcement of the sequel to Ant-Man, titled Ant-Man and the Wasp. The sequel will hit theaters on July 6, 2018, fitting right into Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; this news also means that Black Panther, originally scheduled for a July 8, 2018 release, is now being pushed to February 16, 2018, which makes it the earliest a Marvel film has ever debuted. I’m not sure about everyone else, but I was way more excited for Black Panther than a possible Ant-Man sequel, but I guess more Paul Rudd is never a bad thing (add some more Michael Pena into that mix and baby, you’ve got a stew going).
Because no article is complete without an Arrested Development reference.
I just reread that and realized how much I sound like a crotchety old man, so enough of that; what did you guys think of Disney’s recent announcements? Feel free to tell me how wrong I am in the comments below.