 |
| Image Credit: Disney |
Pete Docter, director of "Monsters, Inc." (2001), one of Disney & Pixar's representative works, spoke about the possibility of a sequel. What does Docter, who is now the chief creative officer (COO) of Pixar Animation Studios and the director of all Pixar works, think about it...? Set in a monster world where monsters of various shapes and forms coexist, "Monsters, Inc." was not only a worldwide hit but also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score. In 2013, a prequel film, "Monsters University," was produced, and in 2021, an animated series, "Monsters Work," which depicts the aftermath of "Monsters, Inc.", was produced, but a direct sequel to the film has not been realized.
Meanwhile, Pete Docter, director of "Monsters, Inc.", mentioned the sequel in Entertainment Weekly. "We've been looking for a sequel idea for a long time," he said, but "we haven't found anything that we can actually start working on," revealing that there are no plans at this time. Doctor, who has been the COO of Pixar Animation Studios since 2019, has been conscious of creating original stories as a creative flag bearer. On the other hand, sequel production is something that Doctor has been conscious of to break the current situation of the studio, which has been plagued by a slump in movie box office sales since the COVID-19 pandemic. He previously spoke about the importance of a sequel, saying, "If it's a sequel, people will think, 'I've seen it, I know I like it.'"
Regarding making a work into a series, Doctor said, "First of all, we have to find something that we think is valuable. It has to be something that the audience responds to." Although Doctor emphasized that "we haven't found it yet," he stated that "everything" is a possibility when it comes to making it into a series. Incidentally, "Inside Out 2," the sequel to the 2014 blockbuster "Inside Out" and the latest Disney and Pixar film, set the highest opening record of 2024. This shows once again that there is demand for a sequel for the company, but we will be keeping a close eye on future developments.