Inside Out 2

Inside Out 2 is scheduled for release on 14 June 2024. Have a look at the latest teaser:

Inside Out 2, directed by Kelsey Mann, takes place just about a year after the events of the original Inside Out, and will see freshly teenage Riley having to learn how to cope with new emotions. Brand new emotion Anxiety will be played by Maya Hawke, and June Squibb has been cast as an as yet undisclosed character.

Anxiety (above) is portrayed as a bright orange, frazzled emotion with big, worried eyes. Other emotions will include: Ennui, Envy, and Embarrassment. Ah, the joys of being a young teenager.

Soul, Turning Red & Luca Come To Theatres!

Theatre release dates for these movies vary slightly worldwide. In the US, Soul came to cinemas for the first time ever from 12 January (originally released in 2020 straight to Disney+), Turning Red is out now (from 9 February), and Luca follows just a month later from 22 March.

UK release dates are just about a month behind: Turning Red from 9 February, Soul from 8 March, and Luca from 5 April. And you’d better believe I’m going to see them all, at least once.

What’s even more exciting is that each of these films is being released alongside a Pixar short! A fan favourite tradition – we’re hoping this means Pixar are going back to pairing their feature length movies with shorts again going forward. The pairings are as follows (two of which have only ever been available on Disney+):

Turning Red: Kitbull
Soul: Burrow
Luca: For the Birds

Personally, when I watched these Pixar films at home, I would make my own choice of short to watch beforehand. La Luna was my choice for Luca – both directed by Enrico Casarosa, it was wonderful to see similarities in the art style and how far he’d come since then. But For the Birds is a classic, directed by the late and brilliant Ralph Eggleston.

It must be so exciting for all these filmmakers to see their work finally come to theatres – all three of these movies felt like they would have looked magical on a cinema screen.

Other Pixar Releases To Look Forward To

Here’s a quick rundown of other dates to mark on your calendar and count down the days to:

Inside Out 2: 14 June 2024

Win Or Lose: Coming to Disney+ TBC 2024. Pixar’s first original 8 episode series. More announcements to come soon!

Elio: Pushed back to June 2025.

The post Inside Out 2 News, and Theatrical Releases appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

Watching Luca is like eating my favorite pasta or spaghetti every day – I don’t get sick of it.

On my third viewing, I’ve discovered a lot more that makes me laugh, that moves me, and that makes me think. Luca is an adorable movie. It’s charming, childlike and totally wacky. Look beyond the surface however, and you’ll discover something deeply meaningful.

I don’t mind the low stakes in Luca. In fact, that’s one of the things I enjoy most about it! I’m not quite sure why people always expect (or demand) Pixar’s stories to be intricately complex. People still think animated movies are exclusively for children and express shock that these films could ever impart any meaning to adults. Luca is maybe the most “kid friendly” Pixar movie since The Good Dinosaur, because like that film, the protagonists are young children. And even though there are moments of peril in both (Ercole attempts to murder Luca and Alberto during their sea monster reveal in the triathlon), these kids aren’t burdened by the anxieties typically explored in Pixar’s stories. (Poor Arlo still has to confront death and fear in The Good Dinosaur).

I also think Luca is so kid friendly because of its silly humor. “What’s wrong with you, stupido!” just doesn’t delight an adult the way it does a child. And I love that. I’m really watching Luca with the eyes of a child.

Luca also recaptured the magic of my childhood summers. I may not have grown up in an idyllic seaside town, but this movie transports me back to those carefree, seemingly limitless days. Working full time, I don’t get a summer vacation anymore. (This bums out my nephew too). I don’t feel that same thrill of escape in the summertime as I used to, but Luca does make me feel close to that little girl whose biggest priorities were watching A Bug’s Life and making up new dinosaur games.

Then of course are the moments of childlike wonder, when Luca’s imagination takes flight. Riding a Vespa in midair; soaring alongside glowing fish and stars; walking on Saturn. These moments take firm hold of my own imagination. And I’m so enamored with Luca’s wide eyed awe of the world around him when he ventures to the surface. If only we could always see life this way! (That was also a message in Soul).

Luca’s childlike appeal is also found in Ercole’s long overdue comeuppance. At first I thought it was a bit trite, his humiliation and even the rejection by his friends. But then I realized: this isn’t for me. This is for little kids to see that bullies don’t go unpunished.

Like all good children’s stories, there’s a theme in Luca that the youngest viewers won’t pick up on, and it’s this: childhood isn’t forever. But this theme is handled so gently in the film. Luca and Alberto’s dream of riding their Vespa all over the stinkin’ world is full of childish bravado. Even shape shifting sea monsters can’t live on their own when they’re this young. That dream doesn’t come true because it wasn’t what either of them actually needed. They each found something better instead.

Alberto, abandoned by his father, finds a father in Massimo who will never make him question if he’s worthy of his love. And Luca got him off the island too. It’s crystal clear that this friendship transforms them both.

Luca goes to human school with his parents’ blessing; he’s able to see the world as he’s always longed to without running away from them forever. Daniela and Alberto insist that they know what’s best for Luca. “I know you,” Daniela tells her son. “I’m his friend, I know what he needs,” Alberto tells Giulia. They both mean well, but it’s Luca who has to figure that out for himself. He boards that train alone, leaving Alberto and his family behind.

Luca is a coming of age tale that takes away the sting of growing up. It’s still bittersweet and that’s okay. Like the tranquil and glittering sea that surrounds Portorosso, this movie suggests a world of depth just below the surface.

The post Beyond Luca’s Shining, Shimmering Surface appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

Based on what we learned about the making of Luca, Enrico Casarosa and his crew were directly inspired by the films of Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica. Fellini’s La Strada (1954) is just one classic movie poster to be found in Portorosso’s piazza. Additionally, Marcello Mastroianni, one of Italy’s biggest movie stars, even has a cameo.

Besides the similarities mentioned above, Luca actually shares so much more with Roman Holiday. This is just my personal interpretation. Some spoilers follow for both films, but they won’t spoil your enjoyment of either if you haven’t watched them.

Vespa Trio

Rebelling and Running Away

Luca dreams of a life beyond the confines of his undersea home. His parents have forbidden him from ever journeying to the world above. “I never go anywhere. I just dream about it,” he wistfully reveals.

Likewise, Princess Ann in Roman Holiday is trapped within the confines of royal life. She can’t do anything or go anywhere without being supervised. She’s visiting Rome, one of the most beautiful and exciting cities in the world, and she’s not even allowed to experience it. She can’t experience anything that deviates from her rigidly controlled and scheduled life.

When Luca’s parents devise a punishment that involves him living with his, ah…eccentric Uncle Ugo in The Deep, he runs away. Ann does the same after she has a breakdown. Luca can disguise himself as a human on land (very similar to the eponymous heroine of Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo). Ann disguises herself as a commoner when she makes the daring escape from her country’s Roman embassy.

I would even argue that both films function as “fish out of water” stories. Roman Holiday is just as literal too. Luca, unsteady on his human legs, flops around on land at first. Ann is unsteady too because she was given a sedative to make her sleep. And who comes to the rescue of these sheltered and helpless creatures? A charming loner who disguises his own loneliness. Alberto Scorfano, meet Joe Bradley.

Enchantment in The Ordinary

“I’d like to do just whatever I like, the whole day long,” Ann tells her Mr. Bradley. She gets a haircut, eats gelato, sits in a sidewalk cafe, dances on the boat she watched longingly from the window, and of course, goes on a madcap Vespa ride through the streets of Rome. Although Roman Holiday was released in 1953, it has a timeless quality. It’s the only fairy tale, to the best of my knowledge, that doesn’t require fairies, talking animals, or other traditional devices of the genre to be magical. The magic of it is in the romance and simple joys of life that we can sometimes take for granted.

Luca does differ from Roman Holiday in that regard because magic takes the form of shape shifting sea monsters. But that isn’t what makes Luca so remarkable to me. It’s those simple joys Luca and Alberto experience in summertime’s carefree days. “Everything good is above the surface,” Alberto says. Air, gravity (falling), the sky, clouds, the sun. What a great reminder for us land dwellers. The magic also lives in the boys’ intense, life altering friendship, which can be read as a romance. But isn’t friendship a kind of romance anyway?

Freedom

Along with the aforementioned La Strada, other classic movie posters in Portorosso’s town square include 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Creature from the Black Lagoon (both 1954), An Affair to Remember (1957), and Roman Holiday!

This is the poster that gets the most screentime, actually. Each cut to Giulia in this scene happens during a conversation she has with the boys about them competing on her team in Portorosso’s triathlon.

“My family was gonna send me somewhere horrible, away from everything I love. But if we win this race, we can be free.”

Ann and Luca each attain their freedom by taking a risk. They discover new worlds, love, and friendship. Both films have such bittersweet endings where they leave Joe and Alberto behind. (It’s not the last the boys will see of each other, however).

I’m so happy that I finally got Audrey Hepburn in a Pixar movie. And I’m even happier that I can return to Luca again and again with the same awe and joy that Roman Holiday inspires in me.

The post Luca: Pixar’s animated Roman Holiday appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

This is the first of many similarities Luca has to Studio Ghibli’s movies. Japan’s Ghibli movies have always struck differently compared to American animation. They focus more on moments than on plot, often dwelling on the beauty of nature or interactions between characters, instead of story-driven sequences or action scenes.

It’s clear that many filmmakers at Pixar have been inspired by the works of Ghibli, but have found it difficult to fit these influences into the world of western animation. It’s wonderful that Luca is the first to have really mastered this, all while having a style of its own.

Luca might be the most Ghibli-esque Pixar movie to date, and I hope this means we can expect more diversion from the ‘norm’ as we move towards the releases of their upcoming movies Turning Red and Lightyear.

First up: Porco Rosso is a clear influence here. The town is called Portorosso, an Italian coastal town. Also, Ghibli is the name of an Italian aircraft (Hayao Miyazaki is a big fan of aircrafts). The innocent childhood friendship by the sea story is also very Ponyo. But here are some other parallels I picked up on.

Luxuriating on moments

Kemp Powers, co-director of Soul, hit upon a great phrase during a virtual conference earlier this year – “luxuriating on moments.” It’s a difficult thing to do in animation. You really need to have the bravery to commit to a long scene that doesn’t necessarily add to the story. Ghibli movies are filled with these moments – so many of their movies have beautiful long stretches of just appreciating the scenery. Soul had some of these moments (think of the busker scene), and I’d argue that Luca has even more: Luca seeing the ‘above water’ world for the first time; Giulia and Massimo making pasta; the birdsong (listen out for the swifts – the soundtrack to the height of summer in lots of European countries); and the imagination scenes! Those might be my favourite thing about the whole movie.

The imagination scenes include Luca’s daydream where he’s riding a Vespa up to the moon/fish in the sky and the fantasy scene where he learns about space, aircrafts and cities. These things could have been captured with dialogue, but taking the time to show it through these magical sequences made it so much more impactful. My Neighbours the Yamadas and Only Yesterday had a lot of this (both directed by the late Isao Takahata).

Art style

It could just be that Pixar are trying out a new style in general, but I loved the flexibility this new style created: the slightly more stylised look gave lots of comedic opportunities. The mouth shapes were just so sweet and emotive. Again – very My Neighbours the Yamadas.

The plot isn’t the focus

The plot isn’t the focus – the characters are. This gives the film some Kiki’s Delivery Service/My Neighbour Totoro/Porco Rosso vibes. It’s not that any of these films didn’t have a plot (they did), but the simple storytelling allows for a bigger focus to be put on the relationships between the cast. This really worked in Luca.

The credits sequence alone is an absolute joy, and it’s similar to what Kiki’s Delivery Service and My Neighbour Totoro did. It’s almost like the film itself was introducing this world to us, and the illustrations during the credits helped us start to imagine the rest. This way, the characters live on in our hearts forever!

I want a whole series of books about Luca attending school with Giulia, but equally, I’m so happy imagining it. Nicolle Castro did such an amazing job at creating all these illustrations for the credits.

The food

And finally, the food. It’s a well-known fact that animated food is often more delicious looking than any real-world food. Ghibli is famous for its food scenes – the ramen in Ponyo, the cooked breakfast in Howl’s Moving Castle, everything in Spirited Away… Spending time on food scenes definitely dips into the “luxuriating on moments” theme.

With pasta playing an important role in Luca, not just because of the Portorosso Cup, but also because of its cultural significance in Italy, it must have felt very important to get the look of the pasta just right. And they definitely excelled. I’m excited for Pixar to gradually add to their delicious food scene repertoire.

Luca is now streaming on Disney+, and it’s the perfect summer movie. Here’s hoping a theatrical release will eventually follow – I’d be first in the queue if Pixar decided to go down that route!

The post Luca Might Be Pixar’s Most Ghibli-Inspired Movie appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

First, we have this absolutely adorable clip titled ‘Pasta Grannies.’ At this point, most of us have watched the Luca trailer more than once (or two times or three, but who’s counting?). It’s worth watching one more time in the company of the Italian nonnas best known from the Pasta Grannies YouTube channel. Their delight while reacting to Luca‘s small details and animation is sure to put a huge grin on your face.

Next, here’s a preview of the end credits song for Luca’s Japanese release. The song is actually a cover of a well-known and beloved classic, ‘Shounen Jidai’ (Boyhood Days). The original song, written by Inoue Yosui, was featured in the film Childhood Days, based on the manga of the same name. As director Enrico Casarosa notes, the song evokes nostalgic summers and is a perfect fit for a story celebrating youth. We wonder if other language releases will have covers playing over their end credits as well.

Speaking of Japan, here’s a fun interaction between Casarosa and the official Studio Ghibli twitter account. Luca, Giulia, and Totoro make for a wonderful surprise trio!

Lastly, Pixar has shared some footage of the Luca team visiting Italy. Casarosa with his best friend Alberto, along with producer Andrea Warren, attended a special premiere held for Italian audiences. They also appear to have visited many of the sites Luca‘s research team toured for visual inspiration and reference. We hope a full, uncut look at the Italian premiere, as well as more footage of the sights that inspired Luca‘s landscapes, will be made available soon!

Luca will be available to watch on Disney+ for all subscribers tomorrow, Friday the 18^th.

The post The Last Previews Before Luca’s Feature Presentation appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

Pixar is known for breathing life and authenticity into magical and imagined worlds. Luca, however, is based on the Italian seaside towns director Enrico Casarosa has known and loved since childhood. The Pixar team dedicated themselves to capturing all the real life details of these very real places. Though their attention to even the smallest details might have landed them in the “odd tourist” group, the Luca production team clearly did their homework well. The research trip to Italian locales gave us the “postcard you can jump into” dream destination of Portorosso.

Casarosa was intent on capturing specific details in his film, like a hanging line of laundry and kids eating watermelon. There’s so much charm in these images of childhood summers.

In the clip, producer Andrea Warren mentions her appreciation for Casarosa’s eye for capturing the beauty around us. Casarosa expresses similar sentiments when he talks about one of his biggest inspirations, master director Hayao Miyazaki. With Miyazaki’s work being a clear influence, we can’t wait to see up close all of the details, colors, and textures in Luca.

Here are a few stills from the new clip (and some context for a standout moment teased in the earlier ‘Friendship Featurette’):

As Casarosa puts it: in the world of Luca, summer isn’t just a season, it’s a state of mind. In just a few more days, we’ll have the chance to visit this summer escape!

The post A Closer Look at Luca’s Idyllic Portorosso appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

Check out the new posters that were just unveiled today of the three friends:

These posters do a great job of showing the sea monster identity of the two boys. Half in/half out of the water also points to the ability they have to live in both worlds, though their fishy origins are kept a secret.

Giulia’s is the most adorable to me. She’s wearing her beanie even in the ocean. The scuba mask is a brilliant touch too. She may not have gills like Luca and Alberto, but she can still breathe underwater.

The post Pixar Releases Three New Charming Character Posters for Luca appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

First up: look at this gorgeous new Japanese Luca poster!

It looks like the Japanese title for Luca is more along the lines of “Luca’s Summer“.

While we’re on the subject of Pixar in Japan, did anyone else spot this tweet from the official Studio Ghibli Twitter account?

There are all sorts of theories going around now that a Ghibli/Pixar collaboration might be happening, but to us it just looks like a lovely piece of crossover art. Ghibli and Pixar have an ongoing relationship anyway, evidenced by Totoro’s appearance in Toy Story 3.

And finally, we received our first teaser for Monsters At Work last week. It’s releasing on Disney+ on July 2nd. We’ll follow our main protagonist Tylor Tuskmon through the realisation that his dream of working at Monsters Inc. may not be exactly what he had mind.

This spin-off series takes place immediately after the events of Monsters Inc. – it looks like Mike and Sulley will be taking over from Henry Waternoose (if you look closely, you can see his photo on the desk. Did that guy seriously have a photo of himself in his office?)

The post New Luca Poster, Monsters At Work Teaser, And Ghibli Crossovers appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

Like many Pixar stories, Luca was sparked from real life experience and memory. In the featurette, director Enrico Casarosa mentions how influential the bond between him and real life best friend Alberto has been to his life story. The friendship didn’t just inspire this particular film, but also was instrumental in pushing Casarosa towards his dreams of working in animation.

The featurette has voice actors Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Maya Rudolph, and Jim Gaffigan sharing their thoughts on innocence, summer, and friendship as well. We get to see several new clips of the trio bonding, with the boys wondering at Giulia’s human style of swimming and a few bike rides around the town. Speaking of the town, here are new shots of the gorgeous Portorosso:

There are a few moments too where we catch Luca’s vivid imagination coming to life and Giulia coming along for a glide:

Friendships featuring a pair of opposites are a Pixar staple: Woody-Buzz, Marlin-Dory, Mike-Sulley, Lightning McQueen-Mater — the list goes on. However, exploring the formative friendships between children is new territory for Pixar. Hesitant and cautious Luca and bursting with confidence Alberto’s dynamic is an immediate heart-warmer.

But it’s also fun to see how this time, we have a trio of friends. There’s more Giulia in the featurette and her synergy with the boys is incredibly wholesome. It will be exciting to see her how she figures in Luca’s journey to embrace adventure.

It’s hard to believe we got our first ever look at Luca almost a year ago. When the project was first announced, director Enrico Casarosa stated, “at the core of this film is a celebration of friendship.” Coming of age stories oftentimes focus on romance or dramatic life events. It’s refreshing to see this story focus on the seemingly ordinary friendships in youth that radically change your life for the better. Luckily, it won’t be long now until we all finally get to join Luca, Alberto, and Giulia on their summer adventure!

Luca will be available and free to stream for all subscribers only on Disney+ June 18^th.

The post New Look at the Friendships in Luca appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

If you saw the teaser trailer, you may be familiar with new characters like Giulia Marcavaldo (voiced by Emma Berman) who acts like a guide – both literally and figuratively – to friends, Luca Paguro (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) and Alberto Scorfano (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer), two sea monsters hiding their identities on a trip to the Italian Riviera. 

We also discover the name of the presumed villain, named Ercolé (voiced by Saverio Raimondo), and it is quite clear that he thinks something is “fishy” with Luca and Alberto and he’s on the hunt to find out what they’re hiding. 

From the beginning, we were so impressed by the character design and it was a treat to witness their personalities on-screen! As we learned from the virtual press event, Enrico Casarosa, director of Luca, was directly inspired by his own childhood friendship and the adventures that they had together in Italy. His mission was to illustrate that friendships could be “transformative” and we are truly excited to see his vision come to life this summer.

Okay, time for details!  

The environment sets of Luca truly stand out and at times, we caught ourselves pausing to look at the various textures and details. It really adds to the playful and idyllic nature of the film. How gorgeous! As always, Pixar knows exactly how to transport us to a different time, a different city. It leaves us wanting more of the Italian Riviera! We can’t be the only ones completely enamored with the lighting of these stills, can we?

We also couldn’t help but focus on the character designs and we had to include one… or four beautiful stills from the trailer! If this is a snippet of the world of Luca, who knows what else is in store for us? Luca and Alberto’s expressions range from wonder to mischief and we’re so excited to get to know them better. “Silenzio, Bruno!”

Luca is exclusively premiering on Disney+ on June 18th.

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