Pixar Looking Dry in 2014

For the first time since 2005, Pixar will not have a feature film release in a calendar year. Disney has just announced that the troubled production The Good Dinosaur has been pushed back to a 2015 release date, leapfrogging over Inside Out. This is the second release date roll back for the film, originally intended for this holiday season. Disney’s Frozen took that slot.

It was just last month that The Good Dinosaur lost its original director and producer. Bob Peterson, who also wrote the film, was pulled as director. Producer John Walker was also replaced at the same time by Denise Ream. Two days later, Ed Catmull, Pixar’s president, confirmed to Los Angeles Times, saying: “All directors get really deep in their film. Sometimes you just need a different perspective to get the idea out. Sometimes directors … are so deeply embedded in their ideas it actually takes someone else to finish it up.”

The Good Dinosaur’s delay from May 30, 2014 to November 25, 2015 leaves a gaping, nearly two-year long hole in the Pixar schedule. Catmull went on to explain, “Nobody ever remembers the fact that you slipped a film, but they will remember a bad film. Our conclusion was that we were going to give the [dinosaur] film some more time.”

This also pushes back the rest of the Pixar films. Finding Nemo sequel Finding Dory is now looking at a June 17, 2016 release date. Inside Out’s release date of June 19, 2015 remains unchanged at this point, though it, too was once on the slate for 2014.

That means the 2015 animation awards may have some real competition for once! (Particularly the Oscars.)

Additionally, while "Inside Out" sounds promising, "The Good Dinosaur" sounds like it'll be another DreamWorks-esque talking animal movie. Maybe that one would be by Pixar's "B" unit or something. (A unit: stuff like "Wall-E," "Up," "Ratatouille," "Toy Story 3"; B unit: the "Cars" films, "Monster University.")
Having network TV specials and more sequels is steering the company into even more of a DreamWorks-esque direction. But unlike DreamWorks, I can't see Pixar ever having a box-office bomb, unlike DreamWorks and their "Turbo"...