Disney Plans Third 'Cars' Movie and Second 'Incredibles' Film

[crazy4wdw]

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Disney Plans Third 'Cars' Movie and Second 'Incredibles' Film

10:50 AM PDT 3/18/2014 by Paul Bond

UPDATED: Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger also disclosed during a shareholders meeting that the next "Star Wars" movie will take place 30 years after the events in 1983's "Return of the Jedi."

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger disclosed Tuesday that Pixar is working on a new Cars movie and a new Incredibles film. He also said Frozen is close to surpassing Toy Story 3 as the biggest animated film of all time, and that the next Star Wars movie will pick up 30 years after the events in 1983's Return of the Jedi, a timeframe that conceivably would allow Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher to play aging versions of their iconic characters, though Iger only hinted at such possibilities.

"There will be some very familiar faces along with a trio of new young leads," Iger said. "The team is well into preproduction and from the concept art that I have seen so far, Star Wars: Episode VII really looks amazing."
Iger was speaking in Portland, Ore., during Disney's annual meeting of shareholders.

As for Pixar, the Disney CEO said: "We have plans for a new Cars movie and on top of that Brad Bird is already working on a great story for a new Incredibles film."

Iger also said a fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise is in development but has not yet been greenlighted.

Prior to Tuesday's meeting, Disney avoided a clash with some shareholders who were advancing a proposal that would have allowed entities that own 3 percent of the company’s stock to nominate board members. The resolution was championed in part by the California State Teachers Retirement System, though Disney said in a filing Tuesday morning that the resolution was withdrawn and that Disney agreed to separate the roles of chairman and CEO unless "the best interests of shareholders would be otherwise better served."

Iger is currently both CEO and chairman and will remain in both positions, though because of the new policy Disney's board must do a better job of justifying the arrangement. Many of the same shareholders who supported the 3 percent rule also advocated splitting the chairmanship and CEO jobs, so dropping one plan while partially embracing the other was seen as a compromise on the part of Disney and its large shareholders.

Iger’s contract runs through June 2016, but chatter about a successor was spurred by the announcement that Anne Sweeney will step down this year as co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group.

Wall Street analysts and other observers expect the CEO job will go to either CFO James Rasulo or chairman of the theme park unit Thomas Staggs, though another name in the mix is Sheryl Sandberg, a Disney board member and COO of Facebook.

On Tuesday, Frozen's box-office cume stood at $1.027 billion worldwide; Toy Story 3, released in 2010, earned $1.063 billion, and Iger was confident the former would pass the latter very soon. Iger showed those assembled at the shareholder's meeting a new trailer for Maleficent and scenes from Captain America: The Winter Soldier and raved about both upcoming movies while speaking of "an unprecedented pipeline" that includes a live-action Cinderella in 2015 and Tomorrowland, a sci-fi film starring George Clooney.

Disney has been having a streak of luck with the timing of its shareholder meetings of late. Last year, its annual meeting was held one day after the stock hit a record high; this time around, the stock was trading just a couple of dollars shy of another record after having risen 43 percent since last year’s meeting.

Iger, in fact, began the meeting by noting that last year at this time, Disney's market capitalization was more than $100 billion, while this year it is above $140 billion. "I call that a great year," he said.

Still, a shareholder found something to gripe about and, like last year, it was alleged media bias at ABC News.

A man identifying himself as a representative of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a free-market think tank and Disney shareholder, complained that ABC News has not been adequately covering the story about the IRS allegedly targeting Tea Party groups. He also criticized ABC News for not questioning President Barack Obama's pledge that under Obamacare "you can keep your healthcare plan."

"Do you wish to say anything right now to the millions of Americans who unexpectedly lost their health insurance? Perhaps apologize for the role ABC News played in causing that harm?" asked the shareholder.

"I will pass on your comments to ABC News," Iger said. "While there are times when critics come forward and point out mistakes that they've made, overall the quality of our news is something we should be proud of."
The CEO also called ABC News "fair and balanced."

Later during the Q&A session of the meeting, a shareholder defended ABC News while another fawned over Iger -- even calling the CEO his favorite Disney character -- before saying The Lone Ranger, a box-office dud, "got a bad rap." The shareholder also lobbied for a Mulan castle at Shanghai Disney Resort but Iger promised only a Mulan "presence," not a castle.

Another shareholder said her favorite Disney movie is Aladdin and that the character Jafar "is a work of art comparable to Leonardo da Vinci." She lamented the lack of 2D, traditional animation nowadays but couldn't get Iger to commit to making a 2D animated film again. "It doesn't matter what the genre is or the type of technology we use to create or tell the story, it's about how good the story is," he said.

Iger also was called on by one man who says he is at Disneyland every Thursday to defend a policy at theme parks that limits the practice of trading collectible pins. "We've had to be careful that the pin-traders don't interrupt the normal flow of traffic and essentially reduce the quality of the experience for the other guests who are not interested in pin trading," Iger said.
Also during the meeting the shareholders re-elected all 10 members of the company's board of directors who stood for re-election, as expected, and Iger announced that the next D23 Expo, a Disney fan event, will take place Aug. 14-16 in Anaheim.

 

[rteetz]

Some big news in the shareholder meeting today. I'm excited to see what incredibles 2 will be like. Also hoping cars 3 will be better than cars 2.

 

[nkosiek]

Stop the sequels/prequels/_quels.

 

[Figmentforever24]

I could care less about Cars 3. The second one was terrible and truly the only reason they keep making them if for merchandise reasons. Ill still probably go see it though. Now Incredibles 2......that's exciting.

 

[jcnewton]

I think I'm the only person on earth that just didn't care for The Incredibles. It's always ranked near the top of people's favorites from Pixar, but the opposite for me. To each their own, I suppose.

I do wish Pixar would slow down on the sequels, though. I'm more excited about The Good Dinosaur and Inside Out!

 

[surferdave]

Pixar should be making an original, non-sequel movie 2/3 times, maybe 3/4.

But I'm dying to see what Jack-Jack can do now that he's older.

 

[flutterby3744]

I think I'm the only person on earth that just didn't care for The Incredibles. It's always ranked near the top of people's favorites from Pixar, but the opposite for me. To each their own, I suppose. I do wish Pixar would slow down on the sequels, though. I'm more excited about The Good Dinosaur and Inside Out!

You aren't the only person...count me in. I didn't care for the Incredibles or Cars for that matter. I always thought I didn't like them because I'm too girly, but my boys don't really like them either. I've never really gotten the love everyone has for these movies...to each his own I guess!

 

[nkosiek]

You aren't the only person...count me in. I didn't care for the Incredibles. I've never really gotten the love everyone has for these movies...to each his own I guess!

Ditto

 

[Disney Von Drake]

Iger is doing his best to help reinvigorate the Star Wars brand with the advent of episode VII.

 

[ilovethisplace]

I think I'm the only person on earth that just didn't care for The Incredibles.

I'll take it a step further. I liked Cars 2 better than the Incredibles

 

[ChipnDale79]

I'm surprised they are doing a Cars 3, Cars 2 was horrible. I will say that I'm excited about it though, both of my boys love the Cars movies, so anything that makes them happy, makes me happy.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

I could care less about Cars 3. The second one was terrible and truly the only reason they keep making them if for merchandise reasons. Ill still probably go see it though. Now Incredibles 2......that's exciting.

You say that, but ToyStory 2 wasn't all that great, while Toy Story 3 was awesome.

 

[wiigirl]

I could care less about Cars 3. The second one was terrible and truly the only reason they keep making them if for merchandise reasons. Ill still probably go see it though. Now Incredibles 2......that's exciting.

 

[rteetz]

You say that, but ToyStory 2 wasn't all that great, while Toy Story 3 was awesome.

that is true toy story 3 was much better than toy story 2. I did like toy story 2 better than cars 2 tho.

 

[drstrangelove]

I could care less about Cars 3. The second one was terrible and truly the only reason they keep making them if for merchandise reasons. Ill still probably go see it though. Now Incredibles 2......that's exciting.

The reason they will make it is because Cars has a HUGE audience. Cars 2 made nearly $200 million doestic and over $550 million worldwide. that is a massive profit for a series that requires very little promotion investment. Little boys LOVE McQueen and Mater. They can print money with a movie like this. They really don't care if adults without young kids skip it. They have their target audience and will strike gold again with it.

Incredibles 2 should be interesting. They are clearly in love with the characters given their use in the promotion of MBs. I liked the first film, and I am sure this one will make a mint too. I wonder if these will come from the Pixar Disney production company or Disney's Toon Studios, which did Planes. Pixar is doing Finding Dory I know.

 

[rteetz]

The reason they will make it is because Cars has a HUGE audience. Cars 2 made nearly $200 million doestic and over $550 million worldwide. that is a massive profit for a series that requires very little promotion investment. Little boys LOVE McQueen and Mater. They can print money with a movie like this. They really don't care if adults without young kids skip it. They have their target audience and will strike gold again with it. Incredibles 2 should be interesting. They are clearly in love with the characters given their use in the promotion of MBs. I liked the first film, and I am sure this one will make a mint too. I wonder if these will come from the Pixar Disney production company or Disney's Toon Studios, which did Planes. Pixar is doing Finding Dory I know.

I'm sure it's Pixar that will make these because they are sequels and not new movies like planes was.

 

[BrianL]

I ammbivalent about Pixar sequels, but as long as Brad Bird is directing Incredibles 2, than I am all for it!

 

[jeffbear]

I ammbivalent about Pixar sequels, but as long as Brad Bird is directing Incredibles 2, than I am all for it!

Agreed ... but all I've heard so far is that he's agreed to be involved in story development. C'mon Brad ... go all in, buddy.

 

[DrummerDad]

Loved The Incredibles, looking forward to another movie. Cars 3 not so much.....

 

[Twin Dad]

I liked both Cars movies. With Disney making a princess movie every 18 months I like that they are making something I can take Stretch to.