Disney unveils concept art and the release date for their next Pixar film, Elemental, directed by The Good Dinosaur’s Peter Sohn.
Disney has released the first look at Pixar’s next feature, Elemental.
Directed by Peter Sohn, who previously helmed the 2009 short Partly Cloudy and 2015 feature The Good Dinosaur, and produced by Denise Ream, Elemental is set to release on June 16, 2023. The film follows elemental beings Ember and Wade, who reside “in a city where fire, water, land and air residents live together. The fiery young woman and the go-with-the-flow guy are about to discover something elemental: how much they actually have in common.” Along with the announcement, Disney shared concept art featuring Ember and Wade walking together, with land and air citizens visible behind them.
Sohn said Elemental was inspired by his childhood in New York. “My parents emigrated from Korea in the early 1970s and built a bustling grocery store in the Bronx,” he explained. “We were among many families who ventured to a new land with hopes and dreams—all of us mixing into one big salad bowl of cultures, languages and beautiful little neighborhoods. That’s what led me to Elemental.” He added, “Our story is based on the classic elements—fire, water, land and air. Some elements mix with each other, and some don’t. What if these elements were alive?”
The next Pixar feature on the horizon is Lightyear, which will explore the backstory and motivation of Toy Story‘s famous Space Ranger (and also feature Sohn as the voice of Sox the robot cat). Explaining the genesis of the spinoff feature, Lightyear director and co-writer Angus McLane said he was curious about where Buzz came from and why Andy Davis was so elated to get an action figure of him for his birthday. “I’ve always wondered what movie was Buzz from, you know?” McLane said. “Why couldn’t we just make that movie? So that’s what we did. Presenting Lightyear, the movie that Andy saw that changed his life. Andy’s Star Wars. A sci-fi epic designed to inspire a new generation.”
In addition to movies, Pixar has recently expanded into television projects. The studio is currently working on two spinoffs to its films: Cars on the Road, which will follow Cars‘ Lightning McQueen and Mater the Tow Truck on a cross-country road trip, and the second season of Monsters at Work, which explores the world of Monsters, Inc. in the aftermath of the original movie. Additionally, Pixar is developing the standalone series Win or Lose about a middle school softball team, set to release in Fall 2023.
Elemental hits theaters on June 16, 2023.
Source: Disney
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