Lightyear has been in the works for five years. Pixar and Disney have been working on the project around the time Toy Story 4 was made. Chris Evans will be voicing the character previously voiced by Tim Allen. The movie will tell the in-universe story of Buzz Lightyear. It will be set in a way that inspires the line of toys that attracts young Andy’s attention.
Lightyear: What do we know so far?
The movie was first officially announced in Disney’s Investor Day in December 2020. At the same time, it was announced that Chris Evans will join the cast. And the movie will release on June 17, 2022. This means fans will get to Lightyear three years after they last saw Buzz in Toy Story 4.
Long production cycles are a trend for Pixar movies. WALL-E was first pitched in 1995, however, got its release in 2008. But after Lightyear‘s announcement, Evans casting, and a new trailer shows Pixar has been working on it for some time.
Angus MacLane Talks to Fandango
Talking to Fandango, the director Angus MacLane says the movie was in the works since 2016. He pitched the movie after Finding Dory and since then they have been slowly working on it. However, with the pandemic and work from home, it became difficult to keep the movie under wraps as his kids started to take notice. Here’s his full quote.
“It was after Finding Dory. I’d always been attached to Buzz since I started at the studio. I always really like animating that character. And as a huge sci-fi movie buff, I’d always wondered what is the sci-fi action-adventure version of Buzz Lightyear that would be fun and be appropriate for the character, but also be brought into three dimensions, character-wise? A straightforward sci-fi action-adventure movie that was what we all liked as kids, and still like…when they agreed that they wanted to do this pitch. So five-and-a-half-years-ago. It’s not a big deal to keep it quiet, because we’re so trained to not say anything. It was harder during COVID because my kids didn’t know what I was working on, and they’d be like, “I think I saw Buzz Lightyear! What was that?” So I was able to keep this really quiet forever.”
Pixar’s long production cycles
It is not unusual for Pixar movies to have long production cycles as this is not the first time. For example, Toy Story 4 was announced in 2014, however, the work on the movie began prior to Toy Story 3‘s release. Also, Toy Story 4 faced several problems during its production. The original writers Rashida Jones and Will McCormack had creative differences. hence they departed from Pixar. Due to multiple sexual harassment allegations, John Lasseter stepped down. And the release of Toy Story 4 was swapped with Incredibles 2.
The usual time for the development of Pixar movies is four years. However, the extra time for Lightyear’s production can be associated with the fact that Pixar prioritized the release of Toy Story 4. This was the last in a long line of sequels from Pixar. However, Lightyear is a spin-off that gives Toy Story franchise a chance to carry forward in a creative way.
Source: ScreenRant
