Should Pixar really gamble on doing more sequels?

I like Monsters Inc! But good point.

I haven’t seen Toy Story two, mainly because the bits and pieces I did see kinda stunk. I have heard that TS3 is good. I think they should be focusing on new titles.

I don’t know if this is answers to your question, but i think all sequels, past maybe the first one, should be automatically banned, and those responsible flogged for trying to cash in without doing any actual work, besides spinning around an old concept.

Just saw Toy Story 3 tonight & it was fantastic

You answered your own question. Pixar doesn’t gamble; they just keep making great movies.

If they continue to bring in the sacred $$$$ then yeah I reckon they will/should.Way looking forward to seeing Toy Story 3 with the kids, have to wait a few weeks though living in England. Cars was class by the way, kerchow!!

Presumably it will cost more than $200 million to produce each of those movies. So, for Disney’s $400+/- gamble they will make $1 billion in worldwide gross.

Considering Cars was arguably Pixar’s 2nd least profitable movie considering ROI, it still generated nearly 4x what it cost to produce. Monsters, Inc generated over 4.5x what it cost to produce.

Why should Pixar not create sequels to tried and true successes? Nobody else in Hollywood is creating new ideas. I give you The A-Team, Predator, Nightmare on Elm Street, the list goes on, and these are not even sequels, they are simply remakes.

Sure, Pixar would do well to make new, original movies, but with two awards and $461+ million in worldwide gross, someone out there liked Cars even though you didn’t.

Pixar has a new movie, Brave, sandwiched in between the two sequels.

They have made 11 or 12 movies so far, and all of them were huge hits.
These guys know what they are doing. Trust them. If the proposed sequels weren’t up to their standards, they wouldn’t green light them.
I didn’t care for Cars either, but my grandson loved it, and it was much more successful than Toy Story.
My friend used to work at Pixar, and she always had amazing things to say about their outlook on what movies they should make.
You want an example of animated sequels that shouldn’t be made? Shrek.

I don’t Love most movies from Pixar(except the Incredibles. I don’t like it since it’s just another copy from other similar movies but just in animation). I also like cars. I don’t think Pixar should gamble on this thing,It depends on whether or not the previous sequel is succeed and the ability of Pixar team to fix previously bad sequel and enhance the next sequel. I haven’t see Toy Story 3 myself,maybe this weekend. A Bug’s Life would be my favorite from all.

Pixar is doing great job from time to time. If you compare Pixar with DreamWorks you’ll see Pixar is much better in their tight competition. DreamWorks just made a mistake last year by creating the Ice Age 3,it’s a very bad sequel of Ice age(the second is good). I can’t believe they dominate the story with old jokes and ridiculous scenes for most part of the story. It’s weird that they beat Harry Potter and got the first place In Box Office,beaten only by the Little Heroes.

Even if you say a movie is a bad movie there’s still a chance to fix that movie. Every good movies could turn bad if their next appearance proved to be disappointing. And not all good movies will get a chance to reproduce their next story. Van Helsing is good movie,but lost its chance due to the its lack of fans and public destructive criticizes. Although whether a movie is good or bad would be subjective and monopolized by the whole population.

Cars was the lowest-rated Pixar movie ever. How low? 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s still insanely popular. Sorry, but you and your fellow “Cars haters” are in the vast minority. Cars 2 will be a huge success, just like every other Pixar movie has been.

I don’t think Pixar can do much wrong. Their movies are fun to watch. They have talented writers and designers, period. They’re fantastic! I’ll watch anything from Pixar, and I know many people feel the same way. I’d say anything they bring back will be wildly successful.

Ops! I meant I don’t I love most Pixar movies. My mistake.

I really disliked Cars until my son became obsessed. We now collect the cars that go along with the movie (rare ones) they make bank still. I didn’t know their was a second, that’s so exciting! They have a Cars Land opening in 2012, so that makes sense.

Pixar is amazing. I love all their little shorts as well. I can’t wait for Toy Story 3

In a society where originality is scarce.

More power to them.

Sequels are never a gamble. A new IP is.

It’s all about the bucks, if it’s better than the first one or two stories, why not?

I will blame it on the 4am Fluther post, for some not understanding my post, seeing how, after reading, even I am a bit thrown off.

I didn’t mean to come across as saying Pixar will fail on every sequel attempt. I said it was a gamble (and a little beneath them). They have been a studio known for original titles with great story telling. The Toy Story trilogy was great (except the 2nd one was a bit off from the others) but I feel that Pixar is better than riding it’s own coat tails (when you do, you end up running in circles, never branching out) because next thing you know, we have 4 Cars movies (here’s lookin’ at you Shrek) It’s a slippery slope when a studio wants to do sequels. You find it to be comfortable & easy to do & end up in a rut creatively . Why create a whole new cast & story when you have an old one already sitting on the shelf? When Pixar does a movie, they usually do it with no intention of ever returning to it,so they wrap up each movie into a perfect bundle. Doing a sequel, to me, means you believe you didn’t end the first one properly. Pixar has even been quoted as saying they will never do a Monsters Inc. sequel, no matter what the demand is from the public. I loved when they said that. It means they stand by their movie & the perfect ending it had.

I just worry that if Pixar wants to take the route of sequels, they may never stop. Finding Nemo 2 – Darla’s Revenge, A Bugs Life 2 – Hoppers Escape from Bird Belly, Ratatouille 2 – Hell’s Kitchen, Up 2 – Helium Attacks, Incredibles 2 – Underground Mole Miners (they actually set that up themselves, but it sounds ridiculous), Wall-E 2 – (I can’t even imagine a Wall-E 2, it hurts to even think about it. Wall-E was, in my opinion, their best work.)

I believe/trust Pixar has the talent to write a great movie year after year. But for them to waste it on a sequel, I feel like they are better than that. For the next 3 years, only one original movie, Cars 2, Brave, Monsters Inc. 2… it will be interesting to see the publics reaction to this & the quality of film/story telling involved as the sequels continue. Could the next few years be the beginning of the downfall of Pixar? I don’t think so, but it has definitely changed my view of them.

I don’t think that all sequels should automatically be banned. There are a few that have come along that have been splendid, and Star Trek (and Star Wars) fans will argue forever about which movie is superior. There are stories that I wish were getting a sequel.

My beef – with all movies that come to Hollywood – is with the motive. If they’re just trying to cash in on past successes (or the success of something else, like a book or video game), then they should be shot, drawn, quartered, and boiled in oil. Not necessarily in that order.

But if they want to actually tell the story, or if they truly have something more of the story to tell, then I’m okay with it. My nephew’s first words were “Lightning McQueen.” They’ll have viewers regardless of whether it’s good or not.

But I wish that movie makers – all movie makers – would focus on the integrity of the story they’re trying to tell. Sure, we all need to make money. But if the people who are already rolling in money would focus a little less on the money they need for that diamond studded private jet, and a little more time on really moving and inspiring people, things would all be a lot better.

There are some films I’m just rabidly against, and most of that comes from the present trend in movie making. For some reason, script writers want to make the story “their own”, instead of sticking to the integrity of whatever they’re writing about. This is most obvious in the Harry Potter movies, as well as the Eragon movie. Don’t change things. Fine, the entire book won’t fit into a two hour movie, but just cut out the parts that aren’t pivotal to the story line. If anybody actually gets the rights to do any of the Dragonriders of Pern movies, there’s a likelihood I will actually go on a rampage.

Sorry. Tangent. At any rate, I don’t see any problem with a sequel of a story deserving of a sequel, where a continuation has relevance, is necessary and makes sense. Cashing in on past trends is scandalous and should be punished. Punished!

P.S. In regards to Wall-E 2 – I would love to see how the fat people dealt with the Earth the way it was, recovered, and got un-fat. I would also love to see how Wall-Es fit in to this new society – basically, I would like to see how Wall-E’s life plays out. If they throw in a little “save the Earth, it’s the only one we’ve got” message, that would be fine, too. But if it’s over-overwhelmingly tree-hugger environmentalist PSA, or if the story line doesn’t flow, I’ll be angry. Very, very angry.

Not going to read all comments, but my answer is this. Pixar has some of the greatest movie makers under its control. OF COURSE they’ll cash in on original movies. Its Hollywood for crying out loud! Its a business. Thing with Pixar is that they can tell a story while making money. And there’s also a reason for having Toy Story with the only sequels. They took the risk with TS2. It was great. So they wanted to try one more time, see how it would work out. Sounds like they’re doing good again. Pixar is now thinking, “Hey, we got two sequels out of one movie. Both really good. Can we do it with others?” That’s the mind set.

But I’m not a sequel advocate. Some are very ridiculous. My least favorite probably the Saw movies. But others do well, such as Star Wars and Harry Potter.

And to @wyrenyth. I totally agree. The script writers can be real morons. I think they do pretty good with Harry Potters. Sometimes, yeah, I’m disappointed. But over all, they do OK. (But since they’re doing the 7th book in two movies, they better do a dam good job.)
But Eragon was unacceptable! They left out an entire race! And without the ruby, I don’t think any sequels will be made, unless they start over by remaking the first movie, with different producers and writers.

It would appear that the proper formula takes advantage of the followings of already released films and the potential new market for original material. All of Pixar’s movies have been financial successes, so there will a certain group of people that can be counted upon to see the sequel. If the sequel is good, then everybody is happy (except those of you who hate sequels for sequels sake ;o)). The key is to produce a good sequel. Pixar should not just create any old film, just to skim the guaranteed revenue. There needs to be a purpose to the sequel, it needs to stand on its own as an entertaining film. These entertaining sequels, mixed in some proportion with original material, should be sustainable for Pixar. I believe that the key will be to determine just what the proportions should be. Pixar seems to be doing this pretty well for the time being, but they need to keep their collective eye on the ball.