The Future of Pixar Includes Ghosts, a Musical, & ‘Monsters Inc 3’

As audiences flock to see Hoppers, Pixar is already looking at what’s next on its pretty big plate.

Late Friday night, the Wall Street Journal published a report on the studio’s tumultuous 2020s, including several films like Turning Red and Luca going straight to Disney+, and theatrical duds like Lightyear and Elio. After a tough couple of years, the studio seemed to got its groove back with audiences thanks to 2024’s Inside Out 2, which made $1.7 billion. Now that it’s back to making movies with a more intentionally broad appeal, Pixar’s trying to find the right balance between going back to its old playbook and introducing some new tricks so it can still be “useful” to Disney, to quote CCO Pete Docter.

To that end, the WSJ reported several new projects that’ve yet to be announced by the studio. For fans of originals, you can look forward to Ono Ghost Market, said to be inspired by Asian myths about supernatural bazaars that let the living and dead hang out. (According to the Journal, this was first a TV series before getting boosted up to feature-length status.) Also in the supposed mix is the studio’s first-ever (and currently untitled) musical, which’ll be directed by Turning Red’s Domee Shi. Both will release after the previously announced Gatto, which is due in March 2027.

And for the old? The Journal revealed Pixar is also working on a third Monsters Inc. movie. Monsters University came out in 2013, but the franchise recently made a small comeback with the Disney+/Disney Channel series Monsters at Work, which ran for two seasons before wrapping in 2024. If we’re getting another Toy Story and Incredibles, then it only makes sense another Monsters is on the horizon…but it sounds like it’ll come after Coco 2 in 2029.

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