“Sequels are very valuable that way”: Pixar Chief Explains Why Fans are Wrong About Sequels Who are Demanding More Original Movies

Pixar is not having the best time when it comes to turning in profits with its projects in recent years. There could be plenty of reasons why the decades-old animation studio’s attempts to create a project that will attract the kids and, by default, their parents to the theatres, are failing.

Whether it is spin-offs/sequels like Lightyear in an already-built franchise or original movies like Turning Red and Luca, the company seems to be struggling to get the audience to watch animated movies. Even so, the company’s Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter insists that sequels have more value than original movies despite fans’ demands for the latter.

Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer Peter Docter Believes Sequels Have More Value Than Original Films

Pete Doctor began working with Pixar when he was a young adult of 21 years. It did not take him long to rise through the ranks, and by 2018, he became the Chief Creative Officer of the company. Besides working on the classic Toy Story, he has also directed the movies Up, Monsters Inc., and even Inside Out. Out of the 9 Oscar nominations his works received, he has won three.

Despite all this, recent years have seen Pixar facing a critical and commercial slump. Movies inspired by the childhood stories of the company’s creators did not resonate with the audience as well as they were expected to. To add to these problems, the move to streaming on Disney+ during the pandemic has also harmed the chances of viewers going to the theaters.

While speaking to TIME for a recent interview, Docter was asked about the studio’s plan to pull the audience back into the theaters. He replied:

Part of our strategy is to try to balance our output with more sequels. It’s hard. Everybody says, ‘Why don’t they do more original stuff?’ And then when we do, people don’t see it because they’re not familiar with it. With sequels, people think, ‘Oh, I’ve seen that. I know that I like it.’ Sequels are very valuable that way. 

The strategy is basically to bank off on the stuff that the audience has well-received. However, this comes with its own difficulty as the Chief said that coming up with ideas for sequels can be challenging since they cannot repeat what has been already done.

Pete Docter on Why Lightyear Did Not Do Well Despite Being a Spin-off

Lightyear, released in 2022, is a spin-off of the Toy Story franchise even though it does not happen in the same universe. Chris Evans voiced the titular role. According to Deadline, the movie was a box-office bomb with a worldwide gross of $226.4 million against a budget of $200 million, excluding advertising charges. The company allegedly suffered a loss of $106 million. Not to mention that it is the lowest-rated movie in the franchise.

Considering Docter’s thoughts about sequels, one would wonder why the movie did not do well despite being a spin-off. He explained the reason behind its failure to TIME, saying:

We took a long moment of self-scrutiny after that didn’t deliver. I think we overestimated the audience’s nerd level of being like, ‘Oh, that kid in the first Toy Story bought a toy, and it was based on a movie. And this is that movie.’

He pointed out that maybe this idea was a little too deep for viewers to understand, and some might have wondered about the whereabouts of Woody and Mr. Potato Head since it is a Toy Story movie. That said, a sequel to Inside Out is to be released soon, and hopefully, it will perform well enough to put the studio back on track.

Lightyear is available for streaming on Disney+ and Inside Out 2 is scheduled to be released on June 14.