Pixar Director Rob Gibbs Passed Away At The Age of 55
It is with a heavy heart that we here at MickeyBlog share the news that beloved director and storyboard artist Rob Gibbs has passed away at the age of 55. Though Disney has not officially commented on Gibbs passing, friends and colleagues have taken to social media to commemorate the artist.
According to Comicbook.com, Gibbs was currently working on Monsters At Work the new Monster’s Inc project coming to Disney+. The series is slated to be a reunion of sorts with the original cast coming together for the series slated to arrive at Disney’s streaming network in the Spring of 2021.
Gibbs worked on the original Monsters Inc. films for Pixar and his daughter Mary even played the voice of young “Boo.”
One of the best and FUN times I ever had @Pixar was working on #TokyoMater with Director, #RobGibbs. Heartbroken over the news of his passing away. He was a tremendous talent, super funny and just a great guy! My condolences to your family. Miss you man. pic.twitter.com/OIQc4lNFuz
— Bobby Alcid Rubio (@Bobby_Rubio) April 24, 2020
According to a piece in Animation Magazine, Gibbs first got his start on story and writing duties from projects including Pocahontas and Fantasia 2000 before he moved over to Pixar. At Pixar, he worked as a story artist on projects including Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and UP. His directing credits include Tokyo Mater, as well as several episodes of Maters Tall Tales and Tales from Radiator Springs.
Heartbroken over the loss of Rob Gibbs. If you or your kids have seen any Pixar CarsToons shorts, Rob directed most of 'em. His daughter was the voice of Boo in Monsters, Inc. He was such a positive, hilarious, and heartfelt guy, who cared a lot for his crew. Will miss him. pic.twitter.com/EefgQrHNRr
— Daniel Chong (@threebarebears) April 24, 2020
At the time of his death, Gibbs was working as a co-director of a film called Hump a production, not with Pixar but rather a collaboration between studios in Germany, Belgium and Canada. This was meant to be Gibbs feature directorial debut and the film, according to a piece in Cartoon Brew, was currently in post-production. The film tells the story of a camel named Rami who journey’s across the Arabian Desert to reunite with his owner and best-friend Omar who is 10.
Hump’s production team posted the following heartfelt message for Gibbs:
https://www.facebook.com/MovieBratsPictures/posts/882291565516047
Our condolences go out to co-workers, friends and family.