Pixar CCO Pete Docter Reveals He Directed Part of ‘Inside Out 2′; Previews “Elio’
Leading up to the release of Inside Out 2, Pixar found itself at a crossroads. For over two decades, the studio had been viewed as the gold standard in animation, eventually creating a canon that was unparalleled in its quality.
Movies like Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up would prove to be both financial successes and critical darlings. Everything that Pixar touched turned to gold.
The studio’s success continued into its second decade of releasing films, with Inside Out, Finding Dory, and Coco, among other films.
Pixar Logo
Then, it all came crashing down.
COVID Changed Everything
Pixar’s Onward had just hit theaters when the COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest. Suddenly, the world had radically changed.
Photo: Disney +
With movie theaters around the country shut down, Disney and Pixar had a decision to make: How would they release their films? While some studios opted to delay their films until theaters reopened, Disney turned to streaming.
When Soul landed on Disney+ on December 25, 2020, it marked the first time that a Pixar film had not received a theatrical release. Eventually, Luca and Turning Red would also go direct-to-streaming.
Photo: Pixar
Pixar would finally return to theaters with 2022’s Lightyear, only for the film to bomb. When 2023’s Elemental got off to a slow start at the box office, panic began to ensue. Had Pixar lost its Midas touch?
‘Inside Out 2’
In the lead-up to the release of Inside Out 2, Pixar CCO Pete Docter admitted that the film was a make-or-break moment for the studio.
“I can’t imagine having a better chance at a big box office than this because it’s a known movie and characters that meant something to people and a really funny cast—and hopefully something meaty at the heart of it that you can take home as well,” he said.
Image: Pixar
“So if this doesn’t do well at the theater, I think it just means we’re going to have to think even more radically about how we run our business. So far Pixar has built a business around pretty large budgets. It allows us to make a lot of mistakes and take risks, and if it doesn’t work, we can still go back and fix it.”
Docter Returned to the Director’s Chair
Knowing how much was riding on Inside Out 2, Pixar took an all-hands-on-deck approach to the film.
As it turns out, that meant that Docter got a chance to return to directing.
Photo: Artella
“I got to direct a little bit on ‘Inside Out 2’ By the time the actors strike broke, we had had an audience preview, and it didn’t go as well as we wanted, so we did major rewrites very late, and the scope of people working on it was just too much. And so I was asked to come in and help Kelsey with certain areas, working with animators. It was great to just get back in there. And, it’s a world I know, so it’s a lot of fun,” he explained in an interview with IndieWire.
Looking Ahead
In the end, Pixar’s faith in Inside Out 2 paid off. The film was not only a return to form for the studio but would eventually become the highest-grossing animated film of all time.
Image: Pixar
Now back on its perch atop the animation heap, Pixar is ready for its next adventure. That honor will fall to Elio, which is slated to hit theaters this year.
Photo: Disney
“‘Elio’ talks about loneliness. In the world where we’re around people on our phones constantly, there’s epidemic levels of people just being alone. And this film speaks to that connection that is there.”
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