Pixar is developing a third Monsters Inc movie.
Pixar developing Monsters Inc 3
The original 2001 movie, directed by Pete Docter and featuring the voices of John Goodman and Billy Crystal, was a huge hit at the box office but was outperformed by its 2013 prequel Monsters University.
And, it has now been revealed that the animation studio is planning a third film in the franchise.
Docter – who is now Pixar chief creative officer – confirmed the news in a new Wall Street Journal profile.
While he directed the first movie and Dan Scanlon helmed the sequel, there is no word on who will take charge of the third.
No plot details have been released.
The original Monsters Inc featured the voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, and Mary Gibbs.
It tells the story of two monsters, James P. ‘Sulley’ Sullivan (Goodman) and his one-eyed partner and best friend Mike Wazowski (Crystal), who work at the energy-producing factory Monsters, Inc., which generates power by scaring human children.
When a little human girl, Boo (Gibbs), sneaks into the factory, the pair must safely return her home before she is discovered.
Goodman and Crystal previously spoke about the bond between their characters with Goodman telling Collider: “I think the reason they work so well together is that they complete each other, in a way. I think Sulley really, really needs Mike Wazowski. It makes him complete, and it lets the air out of him, a little bit. Especially in this film, when they’re not completely formed monsters yet, they learn from each other. They learn how to adapt, and how to let go of their pre-conceived notions of themselves and of the world. They’re good for each other.”
Crystal added: “For me, Mike is fearless. I had really missed [playing him]. And then, [John] Lasseter came to me, at his 50th birthday party, and said, ‘We have the idea. It’s a sequel, but it’s a prequel. They’re in college.’ And then, he just walked away. But, he left an idea, and I went, ‘Oh, this is gonna be great!’ It was so fun to revisit them, at this time in their lives. It was such a brilliant idea to put them in that time period, where they’re about to become who they’re gonna become.
“That’s what was so interesting to me. I love playing this guy, and playing him with John is phenomenal because we work together in the studio and we can act together. We’re not just reading line. We’re performing them and playing them, and we feel them. I think that’s why their relationship, on screen, is really great. It’s a real thing.”
Meanwhile, Pixar is planning more sequels with Toy Story 5 in June, the Incredibles 3 in 2028 and a Coco sequel in the works for 2029.