Pixar’s Pete Docter Talks Sequels Vs. Original Content

Pixar had a banner 2020, with two well-received releases, and Soul, which debuted this past Christmas being particularly well-received. It was a nice change of pace for the studio, who’d released a large number of sequels prior to last year. In fact, from 2016 to 2019, Pixar released five sequels, but only one original, 2017s Coco.

Even with a seeming overreliance on established IPs recently, audiences have taken to the films and most agree that they are all worthy successors to prior entries. However, speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Pete Docter, Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer and the director of Soul, stated that the reason for all the sequels is largely financial:

In the past we had a big run of sequels, too many in a row. Now we have a lot of original stuff, which I’m personally excited about, but for financial safety, we probably should have a few more sequels in there. Sometimes it’s tough, because the creative projects have a life of their own, and they either take off or they don’t.

This makes sense, as the CG-animated movies the studio produces often come with hefty price tags and there is no guarantee that viewers will tune into original stories. Pixar showed it wasn’t immune to flops when their 2015 effort The Good Dinosaur failed to connect with audiences. The film wasn’t able to double its reported $175 million budget, ending with a worldwide total of just over $330 million and leaving it slightly in the red.

Sequels are going to continue to be a major part of overall strategy for Pixar and Docter confirms that there are several projects in-development for established IPs such as Cars and Monsters Inc., but that they’ll be more spaced out in-between original content.

He also announced that Pixar was ramping up their overall output after being asked to by Disney, stating that “We were asked early this year to up our game and produce more. So, we stepped up and we’re basically doing as much for streaming as we are in theatrical release.” It appears there will be a lot more Pixar content sooner than later, so hopefully they can maintain their standards amidst the ramp up. Their next feature, Luca, is a theatrical release that is set to come out this coming June.