Pixar is all set to release Inside Out 2 in a few days, and studio chief Pete Docter has already announced that a sequel to the upcoming savior of Disney animation is not only already completed but is scheduled to come out next year.
2023 saw a number of high-profile Disney flops. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania stalled at the box office and disappointed fans with the low-energy introduction of apparent Big Bad Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). The Marvels failed to live up to the billion-dollar box office of Captain Marvel (2019) and, in fact, grossed the least amount of money of any film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Finally, Wish, the centennial anniversary film of Walt Disney Animation Studios, came and went without becoming the blockbuster or critical sensation that the company desperately needed.
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Among the various arms of the vast Disney empire, only Pixar Animation Studios managed a bonafide hit in Elemental (2023). The Peter Sohn-directed film had a lukewarm opening weekend at the box office, as many films do these days, but managed to become a sleeper hit through word of mouth and being allowed to stay in theaters past two weeks, which many films currently do not get the chance to.
It appears that the nearly $500 million box office gross of Elemental has convinced the powers that be at Disney to put their money on Pixar in the immediate future. Inside Out 2, the sequel to the beloved 2015 film, will be released in theaters on June 14 and is projected to be one of the year’s biggest hits. If all goes well, it could be the beginning of a new renaissance for Disney and its many demanding investors.
It should be no surprise, then, that Pixar already has new Inside Out projects in the pipeline. Sequel director Kelsey Mann has spoken of his ideas for a third Inside Out movie, specifically wanting to fit in “a land called Procrastination Land, and I love that land. The joke with was that it was always under construction, and it’s a coming-soon Procrastination Land.”
But before Inside Out 3 is even announced, Pixar creative chief Pete Docter has revealed that Dream Productions, a Disney+ streaming series based on the part of Inside Out protagonist Riley’s (voiced in the first movie by Kaitlyn Dias and in the sequel by Kensington Tallman) psyche that produces her dreams, is already done.
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In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Pete Docter revealed that Dream Productions was, in fact, already complete and will be streaming in 2025.
“We have finished. It’s coming out next spring. I’m not sure that there’s been a specific release date, but in the first film, remember we go to Dream Production to see how Riley’s dreams are made? It semi-explains why they’re so weird. We’ve continued the exploration of the power of dreams and how they affect us in our waking life, as well. So it’s pretty cool.”
The first Inside Out film depicted Dream Productions as a pseudo-film studio within the mind of Riley, which Joy (Amy Poehler) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) later end up visiting in their quest back to Headquarters. Dream Productions the series does not yet have an official synopsis, but based on what Docter is saying, it might get pretty weird.
It is clear that Pixar (and Disney) see Inside Out 2 as a big chance to jump back into the box office lead. Who can blame them for having a streaming sequel series already locked and loaded?
Inside Out 2 will feature the voices of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Diane Lane, and Kyle MacLachlan, with new actors Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Paul Walter Hauser, and Kensington Tallman joining the cast. It is directed by Kelsey Mann from a script by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein and a story by Mann and LeFauve.
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