Celebrating Upcoming Pixar's 5th Anniversary!

Today marks a joyous and momentous occasion for everyone here at Pixar Planet.

I am proud to say that Upcoming Pixar is now five years old and counting! You don’t know how grateful I am to be part of this project, writing about the greatest studio of all time is something I love to do and hopefully you guys enjoy reading the content too. But maybe Thomas (bawpcwpn), the blog’s founder, can put all the excitement into perspective a little better than I:

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Five years ago, right around The Incredibles’ US theatrical release in November of 2004, I started a little blog called Upcoming Pixar.

I had intensely followed the release of The Incredibles (and to an extent Finding Nemo) on their official websites. I owned Monster’s Inc. on DVD and marveled at the behind the scenes featurettes showcasing Pixar’s new studios in Emeryville, CA. From then on I decided that I wanted to work for Pixar — whatever the cost. It just looks like such great fun, and so my fandom for Pixar was set in stone!

To better understand how Upcoming Pixar came about, you have to know a little bit more about me. I was 13 at the time, going on 14 in December. A young-un – a whippersnapper – a young grasshopper with much to learn. I was, and still am, very much into technology. Web startups highly interest me, and at the time I was reading Luxo, the number one Pixar blog which had been founded not too long before.

I don’t know why, but I thought, "Hey! That looks like fun!" So I created Upcoming Pixar on the Blogger platform. I initially started it just as a relaying service of news articles relating to Pixar. I guess you could say it was much like a Tumblr blog. But I quickly realized it would be better if I actually wrote my own articles, oftentimes citing information from various sources.

At that point, I was trying to make Upcoming Pixar the one stop blog for the latest news on Pixar, it’s employees, and properties. I remember looking at the visitor information for the blog and getting excited at 50 hits a day. This was probably back in 2005. Now I’m proud to say that we get thousands of hits per day depending on the month!

One thing that always set me back was the fact that I live in Australia (then on Norfolk Island), so the movie release dates were dramatically different. Only Cars had the same worldwide release. It was very exciting to see Cars at the same time (or even before) many of my US counterparts (due to time difference.) Release dates are still a problem today, even more so now that I’m back living on Norfolk Island where there are no local theatres that get films at the same time as cinemas in the US or even Australia.

I caught Up recently at the end of its run in Australia when I went on holiday which I am glad of (BRILLIANT MOVIE! And I saw it in 3D which blew my mind.) But sadly, I will miss seeing Toy Story/Toy Story 2 Double Feature in 3D when it rolls over here on December 26. It’s a pity that it will have such a limited run because, unfortunately, I’ll have to miss out on it; it was a big part of my childhood, I remember watching Toy Story countless times when I was 5. I hope to catch Toy Story 3 in 3D mid next year. Who knows, I may afford a trip to San Francisco and watch it at the closest cinema I can find to Pixar.

Anyway, Upcoming Pixar has grown hugely over the past 5 years. We had Pixar Planet come along; Dash and co. kindly took me under their wing and allowed Upcoming Pixar to be a part of the Pixar Planet Network, making Pixar Planet truly the one stop shop for anything Pixar. Lately, I’ve personally had less time for Upcoming Pixar due to holidays, finishing school and work commitments.

For keeping the blog going, I am forever thankful to Martin (martini833) who has kept on posting and bringing fresh new content to the blog each day. I am also thankful to all the other writers who have occasionally contributed to the blog. We don’t get paid here at Upcoming Pixar, and it all comes out of our own pocket, but we keep doing it because it’s a heck of a lot of fun!

Of course, the site wouldn’t be what it is today without many of our devoted and loyal readers who keep coming back, commenting and letting us know what they think. To you all, THANK YOU! The last 5 years have been a blast, and I thank everyone who has been a part of it. Here’s to another successful 5 years of Upcoming Pixar!

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…and the future of Upcoming Pixar looks brighter than ever! I’m happy to announce that the blog will get a much needed update featuring characters from WALL•E and Up very soon. Definitely keep checking back because, as Alex Billington of First Showing puts it "no one out there… covers Pixar-related stories better", and our updates should be coming in daily, as usual. I’d also like to hint at an upgrade to WordPress, more details on that when they are available.

Don’t hesitate to browse through our archives located on the bar to the left. Check out how much the blog, which Peter Sciretta from Slash Film calls "[his] first stop for Pixar news every morning", has changed (yet kept its charm) throughout the years. Also, feel free to leave us a comment with suggestions for the future or just to drop by to say Happy Birthday!

P.S. I completely forgot to make a post for Toy Story 2’s 10th Anniversary! What a bummer that we missed it this past November 24th. It’s never too late, celebrate it over here!