Until recently, Pixar had been betting big on sequels. In fact between 2016-2019, the company only released one original (“Coco”) amidst five films altogether.
That changed this year with the release of two originals with “Onward” and “Soul” and continues on into the near future with “Luca” and “Turning Red”.
Reccently Pixar’s new Chief Creative Officer, Pete Docter, explained to THR that sequels are a necessity for success even as they are more focused on original ideas at present:
“In the past we had a big run of sequels, too many in a row. Now we have a lot of original stuff, which I’m personally excited about, but for financial safety, we probably should have a few more sequels in there. Sometimes it’s tough, because the creative projects have a life of their own, and they either take off or they don’t.”
He also confirmed that Pixar is going to produce more content than ever before with some of it going directly to Disney+ in the near future: “We were asked early this year to up our game and produce more. So we stepped up and we’re basically doing as much for streaming as we are in theatrical release.”
The next Pixar project will be the theatrical release “Luca” due in June next year.
