The Hollywood trades are reporting the announcements that Disney made for investors on Tuesday outlining the Mouse House's animated releases through 2012. Nearly two years after the merger with Pixar and with Pixar's John Lasseter and Ed Catmull in charge of all facets of Disney animation, the studio now has a clear road map through the next four years. Each summer Pixar will debut a film with the Disney Animation unit following with a winter holiday release except for 2011, when Pixar will take both spots.
Starting with Bolt, which is due out in November, all Disney/Pixar films will be released in digital 3-D (glasses required) with the exception of the Disney Animation-produced The Princess and the Frog, which will be produced in the traditional 2-D, cel animation mode.
The previously announced 2008 releases include Pixar's Wall-E and Disney's Bolt. In 2009, Pixar's release, which is set for May 29th, will be Up, the first Pixar feature that will be produced in 3-D. All Pixar films have been computer animated, but Up will be the first film that will be released in 3-D (glasses required). After Up all Pixar releases will be in 3-D and Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be re-released in 3-D versions in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
The other 2009 release will be the 2-D cel-animated The Princess and the Frog, which John Musker and Ron Clements (the team behind Aladdin and The Little Mermaid) will direct.
Toy Story 3, the long-awaited sequel to the hugely popular Pixar series, will debut on June 18th, 2010. Buzz and Woody's owner Andy is heading off to college in this film, which introduces a new toy -- the Ken doll. The Disney Animation offering for 2010 is a computer animated version of Rapunzel directed by Dean Wellins and Glen Keane.
Pixar will have two releases
for 2011, Newt, a romantic comedy
directed by Gary Rydstrom and The Bear
and the Bow, the first Pixar film directed by a woman, Brenda Chapman. A fantasy set in
Cars 2 will be Pixar's 2012 film. While the first Cars film has not had the same box office success as other recent Pixar hits such as Ratatouille ($462 million worldwide versus $621 million), Cars has been a licensing bonanza. The Disney release for 2012 is King of the Elves, which is based on a short story by science fiction maestro Philip K. Dick.
