Yeah, sorry about that.
It’s not surprising to hear an announcement for a sequel to one of Pixar’s most successful films, nor is it surprising to hear Andrew Stanton is returning to the comfortable fold. Hearing them both at once is still worth an, “oh shit!” somehow though.
Deadline breaks the news that the studio and the director have actually been discussing a Finding Nemo 2 for some months, and now they’ve made it official with Stanton providing a concept “the studio loves.” The presumption is that Stanton will get the keys to another live-action film afterwards, though nothing is that formal or solid.
It’s a good thing Pixar has two or three (great-sounding) original films in the pipleline as this now marks the fourth of their now 10 properties to be franchised. That said, once we’re past every announced film, that will only represent five out of eighteen films- not a terrible figure considering only one of them so far isn’t a good or great movie in its own right.
As for Stanton… I’m not particularly invested. Finding Nemo is one of my least favorite Pixar films and I think John Carter is largely useless (way overrated by apologetic geeks). The opening act of Wall•E is balls out, unqequicoally brilliant, but Stanton just isn’t a filmmaker I’m going to get passionate about. That said, I wish the guy the best and hope he gets a handle on his career- it’s probably not his fault that such heavy politics were woven into that catastrophe on Mars.