Disney release date shifts include The Good Dinosaur and Finding Dory

Due to the director issues Disney/Pixar's The Good Dinosaur experienced, they have chosen to shift the release date. It is now delayed over a year past the original date of May 30, 2014 to November 25, 2015. This now makes 2014 the first year since 2005 without a Pixar film.
In addition to this shift, Finding Dory has now been delayed from November 25, 2015 to June 17, 2016. This now makes the next Pixar release to be Inside Out which is slated, as of right now, for June 19, 2015.
Disney has also shifted Maleficent to the original Good Dinosaur date of May 30, 2014 instead of June 2, 2014. Now it won't have to compete with Transformers 4: Age of Extinction.


So to sum this all up... this really sucks. I do not want to wait 3 years for Finding Dory.

D23 Recap: Pixar presents The Good Dinosaur, Inside Out, and Finding Dory

The big Disney convention, D23, kicked off this weekend and we had some presentations from Pixar.

First of all, we got confirmation of who will be voicing Dory's parents in Finding Dory. Those special people will be Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton. We also got a key plot detail explaining the film's purpose is following Dory on her quest to find her parents. To be exact:

"The all-new big-screen adventure dives into theaters Nov. 25, 2015, taking moviegoers back to the extraordinary underwater world from the original film. Finding Dory reunites the friendly-but-forgetful blue tang fish with her loved ones, and everyone learns a few things about the true meaning of family along the way."

Also on board is Ty Burrell (Modern Family) who will voice a young beluga whale. We also got news that the original planned ending for Finding Dory has been changed due to controversy around a recent SeaWorld documentary titled Blackfish. The documentary focuses on the harsh environments on habitat-living aquatic animals. The ending of the Pixar flick apparently ended in a marine park, so now the fish will have the option to leave the park if they choose to do so.
Finding Dory is set to join the big party on November 25, 2015.

Aside from Finding Dory, we got some news on another upcoming film called The Good Dinosaur. The film introduces us to a group of dinosaurs who didn't die from the asteroid and live in harmony with humans. The voice cast includes Neil Patrick Harris, Bill Hader, Judy Greer, Lucas Neff, John Lithgow, and Frances McDormand. The Good Dinosaur opens next year on May 30, 2014.

 
In addition, we received news on another Pixar film called Inside Out. It tells the story within an 11-year old girl's mind as she is forced to move to San Francisco. It is directed by Peter Docter who also directed Up. Voices lined up for this one are Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Phyllis Smith, and Lewis Black. Inside Out opens on June 19, 2015, just a few months before Finding Dory.

Pixar vows to scale back on sequels

Pixar gained the reputation as the animation studio that could do no wrong. It seemed that whatever Pixar touched did well and that they would never fail. They have won and been nominated for Oscars, Golden Globes, Annie Awards, Satellite Awards, Grammys, etc.. On top of the world, right? But then Cars 2 happened.

Ever since Cars 2 it seems that Pixar has been drowning a bit and the biggest part is their propensity toward sequels. Cars 2 is by far the least successful and worst reviewed Pixar film to date and the follow-up, Brave, did better but it wasn't nearly at par with Pixar standards. At least not for the critics. Their solution? Make the next release a prequel to Monsters, Inc.
Prior to Toy Story 3, Pixar had only released one sequel (Toy Story 2) in 10 films. In the past four Pixar films released only one has been an original story (Brave) and they have noticed a significant decline in critic reviews and viewer satisfaction. To add onto this, Pixar recently announced their next film in development is yet another sequel. This time it will be the sequel to 2003's Finding Nemo promptly titled Finding Dory which is set to hit theaters in 2015. The rumors are still flying high for a Toy Story 4 and The Incredibles 2, as well.
Pixar's formula has been to try and release two films each year. They haven't stuck too well with the plan seeing that Brave was the only 2012 release and Monsters University is the only 2013 release. They're trying to turn it around, along with making more original stories, but it doesn't look like the two films per year will fully come back until 2015. The only film Pixar has slated for 2014 is The Good Dinosaur. For 2015 we have Finding Dory and Inside Out along with more untitled Pixar projects scheduled all the way through June 2018.

Pixar chief (and President of Walt Disney Animation) Ed Catmull mentioned these concerns recently while speaking with Buzzfeed:

“For artistic reasons … it’s really important that we do an original film a year. Every once in a while, we get a film where we want or people want to see something continuing in that world — which is the rationale behind the sequel. They want those characters, which means we were successful with them. But if you keep doing that, then you aren’t doing original films.”

If the plan for more original films indeed sticks, I wouldn't expect another sequel or prequel until the second 2017 release or the 2018 release. At least I hope not.
To add onto this whole topic, I think Pixar's issue is also part of the fact that they went nuts with 3D re-releases. Disney did in general. We had re-releases of Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo. In addition to the Pixar re-releases we also had The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast. We were supposed to have The Little Mermaid 3D this September, but Disney scrapped it after the box office failures of Monsters, Inc. 3D and Finding Nemo 3D. Add onto that the fact that just about every Disney and/or Pixar film is released in 3D regardless. Bottom line: This is a problem.

I hope Pixar can turn this around because it is extremely obvious what the problem is. The saddest part is that it is ridiculously easy to turn around.

Finding Dory to be released in 2015

The upcoming sequel to Finding Nemo has an official title and time frame. Disney/Pixar announced the sequel will be called Finding Dory and will take place one year after Finding Nemo. They also added the film will be released November 25, 2015. I also have no doubt this will be a 3D release.

This is one of Pixar's many sequels after Cars 2, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, and Monsters University. However, this will be after The Good Dinosaur so there will be some originality still to be had.