Disney CEO Bob Iger recently made it public that Pixar is working on The Incredibles 2 and Cars 3, an announcement that is likely to divide Pixar fans right down the middle.
Why? Because they essentially combined “probably good news” with “bad news.” Cars may make tons of money in merchandising and box office totals, but it’s still Pixar’s weakest link in terms of audience reception.
In other words, most of us don’t really care about Cars. We just don’t.
But The Incredibles is a vastly different story. Considered to be one of the top-tier Pixar films, this movie could actually be akin to Toy Story 2, rather than Cars 2.
Unfortunately, my best guess is that we’re getting another Monsters University, a decent, even good, movie that lives up to the original, but doesn’t come close to surpassing it.
Pixar sequels are tricky business. Toy Story is really one of the few franchises in film history that actually improved with each sequel, so it makes sense that the executives at Disney have faith in milking their Pixar properties during the coming decade. Even the best studios need time to rest, after all.
So I’m going to be cautiously optimistic about The Incredibles 2, if only because the great Brad Bird is once again behind the film, and I have faith in his ability to evolve simple concepts into fantastic narratives (see The Iron Giant, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Ratatouille and oh, the first Incredibles).
If you recall, the world of The Incredibles is rich and ready to be further explored. The film excellently combined vastly different aesthetics: the retro-future technology in an alternate 1960s mixed with superheroes and even James Bond references.
And it would be great to see what happens to the Parr family as a superhero team, a dynamic we actually didn’t see until the third act of the movie. There’s plenty to see here, so a sequel really does make a lot of sense.
What do you think? Will The Incredibles 2 break the Pixar sequel “curse,” or do we have another excellent Pixar trilogy on our hands?
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I didn’t understand all the hate towards Cars, since I don’t really care about The Incredibles. But even I have to say: they should’ve stopped in the first one; they should’ve released the second a long time ago. I had enough of talking cars at the fisrt movie, but I grew interested in the family’s future because of the baby… However, the kids love Cars; I take it from my little brother, who watched it a lot. Plus: Disney still want to sell, so they do what they can.
Also – two words: THE UNDERMINER
When I watched The Incredibles with my family, age 6, the ending was basically screaming out “make me a sequel”. You should’ve seen my mum dance around the house when she heard they were making a sequel!
The Underminer was basically a joke to show that the Parrs are back in business. I really don’t think he’ll have a big role, or even any role at all. He’s just not a good villain. But I totally agree with you on everything else. I can’t WAIT to see the Parr family back in action!! This better be a good movie, or I’ll be disappointed. Fingers crossed! 😊
I know this post is old. I came here for reading about your pixar’s theory, you are doing an amazing job. Let me tell you one thing. There is a sequel to this movie already is a video game called: ‘The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer’. I haven’t played it yet and I don’t know if your theory also applies to video games.
Keep up the good work!
In answer to your final question, I would say both.