Today, Disney announced release dates for Cars 3 and The Incredibles 2 as well as a new film, Coco. The news also means that they have pushed back the release date for Toy Story 4. Cars 3 will release June 16, 2017 while The Incredibles 2 will hit theaters June 21, 2019. The fourth film in the Toy Story franchise is now set to release June 15, 2018. The previously untitled Coco will release November 22, 2017.
The news is welcome, especially for Incredibles fans as they have long-clamored for a sequel, and doubly as other superhero teams like Disney’s The Avengers are now en vogue. Part of the delay has been in locking down writer/director Brad Bird (Tomorrowland) to find time to commit to the project. The director has kept busy since the first film – directing Ratatouille, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and this past spring’s Tomorrowland. Bird is also working on the conspiracy drama 1906.
Cars 3 is likely the least anticipated of the two films as the sequel was Pixar’s second lowest grossing film domestically. However, a high foreign intake and the merchandising opportunities accompanying the franchise make it a high-priority for Disney. John Lasseter (Cars 2) is returning to direct.
The one original project in the announcement, Coco, is set around a generations-old mystery that leads to an unexpected family reunion. The film will be directed by Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3). As the latter films are all part of existing properties for the animation company, it will be interesting to see how this new project fares with audiences. It will also be the second outing for Pixar at the theaters in 2017 after Cars 3. That also occurred for the company this year with the releases of Inside Out and the soon-to-be-released The Good Dinosaur.