Pixar has produced 14 movies to date. of the first ten, 9 were original. Of the most recent four, 3 were based on existing material. I love me some Pixar but you can count me as one of the folks who prefer their original works to their sequels, mostly because I almost always prefer original works to sequels.
In an interview with Buzzfeed Pixar president Ed Catmull has now announced that they are going to focus on original pictures rather than sequels.
[Germain Lussier writing at Slashfilm](http://www.slashfilm.com/finding-nemo-sequel-officially-called-finding-dory-releases-november-25-2015/):
> Andrew Stanton‘s rumored return to Pixar is now official. He’ll return with the sequel to Finding Nemo, called Finding Dory. The film will be released by Disney and Pixar on November 25, 2015. It takes place about a full year after the events of Finding Nemo and sees the return of Ellen DeGeneres as the title character. Albert Brooks is also expected to return, and we’ll see a slew of new characters including Dory’s family, who will be at the center of the story.
Not sure how I feel about this.
Says Ellen DeGeneres:
> “I have waited for this day for a long, long, long, long, long, long time,” said DeGeneres. “I’m not mad it took this long. I know the people at Pixar were busy creating ‘Toy Story 16.’ But the time they took was worth it. The script is fantastic. And it has everything I loved about the first one: It’s got a lot of heart, it’s really funny, and the best part is—it’s got a lot more Dory.”
Still not sure how I feel about this.
Says Andrew Stanton:
> One thing we couldn’t stop thinking about was why she was all alone in the ocean on the day she met Marlin. In ‘Finding Dory,’ she will be reunited with her loved ones, learning a few things about the meaning of family along the way.”
Ok so basically I feel like this is actually a really good set up for a sequel to Finding Nemo but at the same time I really wish Pixar would get back to putting out new stuff rather than sequels to old stuff. I kind of wonder if the schedule set by Disney is running them ragged or if they’re just running out of ideas.
Although I would love another Brad Bird directed Incredibles movie. That would indeed be incredible.
Still, more new stuff please Pixar.
I was about to write that it’s not that often that Pixar revisits material, but then I remembered Toy Story 2 and 3, and now Monsters University.
A lot of people I know still count _Monsters Inc_ as their favourite Pixar film but I am not one of them (it comes in th middle of the pack for myself, with _Up!_ and _The Incredibles_ alternately at the top of the list). One of the things I really did like about it though was how self contained of a film it is. There’s really no room to make a sequel to it.
So they went ahead a prequel. I’d love to say I’m excited but to be honest I’m kind of worried. Prequels so rarely work out in my mind because I never feel like I need to know the back story, and often the back stories that are produced are nowhere near as cool as I’d imagined them to be.
Still, this is Pixar so it’s definitely worth giving them the benefit of the doubt. Are you excited for Monsters University?
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