Pixar has just announced (via the LA Times) that The Good Dinosaur’s original May 30, 2014 release date has now been pushed to 2015. The release date for the film has been an almost consistent point of discussion since Pixar announced that Bob Peterson would no longer be Directing the film late last month.
The Good Dinosaur is now slated to be released on November 25, 2015, and if that date sound familiar that is because it was the original release date of Finding Dory. So what does that mean for the Nemo spinoff? Well, Finding Dory is now slated for an open-ended summer 2016 release date. In an effort to put people’s minds at ease, Pixar’s President, Ed Catmull noted, “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 film [The Good Dinosaur] some more time.”
Currently, the film is still listed with the directing team of Lee Unkrich, Mark Andrews, John Lasseter, and the film’s original co-director, Peter Sohn. No news was announced as to who the film’s final director will be as the film steps back to the story department. Additionally, with the release date being pushed back a year and a half from its originally slated 2014 release date, we have to assume that this will mean some major changes to the film will be coming. Will the dinosaurs still remain farmers, will the film still be set around the journey of Arlo and Spot?
So, what are your thoughts? Does this move make sense for the movie? Leave a comment below or chat about it more in-depth in the Pixar Post Forum.
If I were at Pixar I'd take full advantage of this push-back and add one thing that would really make sense in a world were sentient, intelligent species has existed for so long. Space travel. Dinonauts.
Ha! Not so sure that will make it in…but humorous nonetheless! 🙂
I don't find this too surprising. When they took both Peterson and producer John Walker off, that said to me not only did they want to work on the story, but that the timelines were not realistic. I'm also not that disappointed – the fact that they are willing to give this amount of time to the project says they think they have something very good there, and I want them to take the time to make it as perfect as possible. The only thing I'm really sad about is that there won't be a Pixar film in 2014.
Agree completely – I really feel like this was a good decision if it's what was needed for the project…and it obviously was. They're not in the business of not releasing movies for fun. I do remember that you expressed your concern over the timeline of the release as soon as the change was revealed.
Does this mean no Pixar movie in 2014?
Unfortunately, that does mean that there won't be a 2014 movie!
No!!! I was looking forward to a movie from pixar this year! However, I do like that they placed The Good Dinosaur in November… And having Finding Dory in the summer is also a smart choice. I also appreciate how they want to produce a great film! Well either way, I am looking forward to these films! It would be cool if they could do a short for this year… Anyways…Thank you for keeping us up to date! Hope to read more posts soon! Thanks 🙂
Many people feel the exact same way as you…it's a conflicted feeling of \”no Pixar film in 2014…but if they need the time to get it straightened out, it's OK\”! You're comment about the short is one that we just chatted about in our 20th episode of our podcast – what will happen to Party Central which was slated to be released ahead of The Good Dinosaur – will they delay it's release as well or will they release it ahead of time now? Also, keep in mind that at least we'll have Toy Story of Terror in a month and that's going to be 30 minutes of hilarity! :)Thanks as well for the kind words – we really appreciate it!- T.J.