'Toy Story 4' Slated for 2017 Premiere
The Walt Disney Company has announced during an earnings call earlier this week that Disney/Pixar is confirmed to go ahead with the production of "Toy Story 4." The film will be directed by John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.
Rumors about a fourth "Toy Story" film began circulating not long after "Toy Story 3" earned its reviews as well as two Academy Awards during the 2011 Oscar ceremony. Now, WDC chairman Bob Iger issued a statement regarding the confirmation of the film's development.
"John created Toy Story and directed the first two films, and it's great to have him back directing one of our most valuable properties," Iger stated.
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Lasseter is an Oscar-award winning animation filmmaker who created the first two "Toy Story" titles and served as the co-director of "A Bug's Life" as well as the two "Cars" movies.
"Toy Story 4" is scheduled for a June 16, 2017 premiere and is among other upcoming animated films.
DreamWorks' "How to Train Your Dragon 3" and Illumination Entertainment's "Despicable Me 3" are also scheduled for a 2017 release.
Pixar is also busy with a number of animated film sequels incuding "Finding Dory," "The Incredibles 2," and "Cars 3." It is still unclear when these sequels will be premiering but it's confirmed that these are already under development. Pixar will also be releasing a pair of animated features "Inside Out," and "The Good Dinosaur" for 2015.
The list of sequels is a challenge which has been called upon by Pixar president Ed Catmull. On the average, Pixar releases one film every year. Now, they have plans to increase that number to three movies every two years.
"We love these characters so much; they are like family to use. We don't want to do anything with them unless it lives up to or surpasses what's gone before," Lasseter says. "'Toy Story 3' ended Woody and Buzz's story with Andy so perfectly that for a long time, we never even talked about doing another 'Toy Story' movie."
