John Lasseter Previews Pixar and Disney’s Upcoming Films

Since Pixar and Disney brought Inside Out to Cannes, they also hosted a special presentation to feature several other films coming up in months ahead from the two studios. Their offerings are distinctly different in many respects; Pixar is always going to be Pixar and Disney is always going to be Disney, but both houses have benefited from recent technological advances that will truly change the way we all regard animation. In short, it is starting to look more like real life, or live action.

The most disappointing part of the event was to see that with all of their movies coming up they had not a single female director to announce. All of them were male with female producers, even for two films that have female protagonists. It is clear that they don’t trust women yet to helm these kinds of films or else it’s the kind of thing where you can only get the job if you have a previous credit.

After Jennifer Lee co-directed Frozen last year, Disney’s biggest hit of all time, you’d think they’d at least go with a co-director but nope. It’s 100% men. That bummer aside, the movies look pretty great.

Pixar reps talked about The Good Dinosaur, opening November 25, the story of a young male dino getting lost and finding a pal in a young boy human. The animation on this is going to blow the lid off the joint, as they say. Absolutely incredible atmosphere. We saw a bit of it and indeed, it’s jaw-dropping. It looks to be a very traditional Pixar story in that it is a little boy lost finding his way and saving the day. It’s sure to be a hit and will give Inside Out a run for its money for the animated feature Oscar, though I suspect The Good Dinosaur could win out because of its groundbreaking animation.

Pixar also announced two upcoming sequels, Toy Story 4 which will start a new chapter in the life of toys and won’t involve Woody and Buzz. No plot details were given on that. Finding Dory picks up where Finding Nemo left off. That looks like a great follow-up to one of their all-time best.

Disney has Zootopia coming out in 2016 and I wanted to see the whole film after watching today’s clips. It looks funny and interesting with what they’re trying to do. It gets the closer than any of these films in dealing with any sort of issue short of raising a child’s self-esteem. Next up, Moana, directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid) will feature lots of music, songs and pretty pretty animation, and will also introduce a new raven-haired Disney princess for your purchasing pleasure.

It’s exciting to watch the animation genre explode. I think women directors will eventually break in but it won’t be without a fight. Maybe they have to start their own animation studio. My daughter is about to graduate high school and has a mind to major in animation at college. I hope that by the time she does, the landscape will have changed and more women will be allowed into the club.