I’m hardly a “Pixar fanboy” (I’m more just a “good movie fanboy”) but I have enjoyed almost all of Pixar’s entries. I say “almost all” because I did have a hard time really connecting with CARS. It was okaaay but it certainly wasn’t a great movie and certainly wasn’t something I thought ever deserved a sequel. But when the director of your film is also the Chief Creative Officer at Disney, you tend to get a little leeway.
I don’t want to insinuate that CARS 2 was greenlit simply because of Lasseter’s status at Disney/Pixar – the movie was a huge hit financially (it’s one of the few Pixar films that has really cleaned up in the toy market). I understand the decision from a business point-of-view but it’s just the least interested I’ve been in a Pixar film in a long time. I guess the good news that they’re taking their time to make sure it won’t just be a boring retread of the first film.
CARS 2 was originally announced with a 2012 date but was moved up to June, 2011. Turns out that might have been too ambitious. Pixar has pushed the film back to December, 2011 the first time a Pixar film has been released outside of the summer since 2004’s THE INCREDIBLES. But the new CARS date would conflict with THE BEAR AND THE BOW, which was already scheduled for a 2011 date. Will that be ready earlier or will it be pushed back to 2012. And a delay to 2012 could impact that year’s film NEWT… Stay tuned as it all shakes out.