‘Monsters University’ Helmer Dan Scanlon Will Not Direct Pixar’s ‘Cars 3’ [UPDATED]
UPDATE:Disney has reached out to let us know that its blog has made an error, and that Scanlon isnotdirectingCars 3. No director has been announced for the Pixar sequel. Original story follows.
You won’t find many Pixar fanatics who cite the twoCarsmovies as their favorites from the studio. The firstCarswasn’t bad, but it was a disappointment coming in the middle of Pixar’s impeccable early run, and the secondCarsis still the only Pixar movie ever to get a “Rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s safe to say a lot of adult fans wouldn’t mind if Lightning McQueen and his friends just drove off into the sunset for good.
ButCarsis absolutely huge with kids, and as a result this franchise draws in money by the truckload. Box office and home video sales are just the start of it. There are also toys, theme park attractions, and tons of other tie-in merchandise. So of course Pixar’s going to keep this thing running as long as they can. The studio announced aCars 3in 2014, and now they’ve finally revealed who’s behind the wheel:Monsters UniversitydirectorDan Scanlon.
Disney hasn’t issued a formal announcement touting Scanlon as the newCars 3director. However,Pixar Planetnoticed that arecent Disney Blog postabout Pixar people on Twitter describes Scanlon as the “Monsters UniversityandCars 3director.” Interestingly, IMDb lists Scanlon as a “co-director” onCars 3but doesn’t name any other directors. IMDb is pretty reliable about completed projects but can be iffy about developing ones, so make of that what you will. In any case, it seems pretty clear Scanlon is involved withCars 3in some directorial capacity.
UDPATE:Since we ran our story, Disney has corrected its blog post and now just describes Scanlon as the “Monsters Universitydirector.”
Scanlon has been with Pixar since 2001. In his time there, he’s worked as a story artist onCarsandToy Story 3, and directed theCarsshortMater and the Ghostlight. He got his first Pixar feature directing credit on 2013’sMonsters University.Cars 3may not be high on any grow-up Pixar lover’s most-anticipated list, but maybe Scanlon can be the one to turn it around. The firstCarswas directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft, and the second one by Lasseter and Brad Lewis.
Cars 3is outJune 16, 2017. Details onCars 3are pretty scarce at the moment, but with release a little over a year away, we can probably expect more information in the not-too-distant future.
