Pixar CCO Pete Docter Talks Returning to Headquarters and What He Hopes Audiences Get Out of ‘Inside Out 2’
After a rough couple of years, Pixar is back on top of the animation world with Inside Out 2.
The highly-anticipated sequel to 2015’s Inside Out dominated the box office last weekend, shattering records on its way to a $295 million debut.
For Pixar’s Pete Docter, the moment has to be especially rewarding. Docter has been open about the fact that he believes that Pixar’s films need to be seen in theaters.
“I think the way to see this movie is in theaters because of that spectacle. The way I look at it is “What’s the purpose of movies? Why do we go watch these flickering images?” I think it’s because we want to feel something right,” he explains.
“And the difference between seeing something medium sized with kind of a tinny sound versus going to the theater, it’s just much more immersive. It’s bigger, It’s it makes you feel more.”
Pixar Is Back on Top
Still, over the last few years, the box office has not always been kind to Pixar. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated that the studio release Soul, Luca, and Turning Red straight to Disney+.
Then, when Pixar finally returned to theaters with 2022’s Lightyear, the film was bombed.
Analyzing the wreckage of Lightyear, Docter and his team determined that by releasing films straight to Disney+, they had trained their audience to wait for films to come to streaming.
To draw audiances back to theaters, Pixar returned to the world of Inside Out.
“Inside Out came out in 2015, and it has continued to be part of the conversation. We hear from people saying, ‘This movie changed the way I think about parenting,’ or ‘The way I understand my own existence,'” Docter explained.
“And like, whoa, that’s pretty heavy for a cartoon — Maybe there’s more to be done with this world? So we tapped Kelsey Mann, who directed Inside Out 2, to think along the lines of the first movie, but in a different direction.”
“I Hope They’re Just Entertained”
So, what does Docter hope that the audience gets from the film?
“Most importantly, I hope they’re just entertained, that they have a good time. There’s a lot of funny stuff. There’s slapstick and jokes, but there’s also stuff that’s funny because you go “Oh, I know that I’ve been there, I’ve seen that before,” and those are the best earned jokes,” he explaned.
“I think younger audiences, if the first film is any guide, will walk away with some new tools to be able to visualize some of these very abstract ideas. “How do memories work? What is anger? What is joy, and what is the purpose of disgust?” All these things we try to talk about and show in an interesting way.”
Inside Out 2 is in theaters now.
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