Andrew Stanton to Direct Finding Nemo Sequel?

Michael Sellers Other Stuff

UPATE:  Andrew Stanton just tweeted this a little while ago:


 

Deadline and other outlets are reporting that John Carter director Andrew Stanton is making a return to animation with a sequel to Finding Nemo as his next project.  There’s also talk that the deal for him to direct Finding Nemo includes an agreement that he’ll get to do an unspecified live action film after he finishes Nemo 2.

Although Nikki Finke says this means Disney is giving him a “mulligan on John Carter” — it’s clear from context that this doesn’t mean that mulligan would be John Carter 2.  JC2 is probably the last thing Disney has on its mind — but if Stanton did get the assurance that Disney will support a live action next pic for him after Nemo, that’s not all bad.  A lot of people are going to advise Stanton against pushing for JC2 as that live action picture …..on the other hand he may be out to prove something and he might end up lobbying for that to be the pic.  That’s where ongoing growth of the fan movement might come into play and could play a role in any decision that might be made.  The timing lines up pretty well, in that the decision would have to be made sometime around 2 years from now, which is about when Disney’s option on the material runs out.

I don’t want to suggest that this is a great development for John Carter “sequelistas” …. just that it’s not a calamity and there could be an upside, maybe.

We’ll add more as it becomes available.  Meanwhile:  Here is the Deadline Report.

12 comments

  • I think you all are missing the point. Disney is saying you made us a billion and a billion and another billlion dollars. If you make another billion dollars you can make what ever you want. What the hell do they care if it’s a crappy movie.

    Finding Nemo was the highest grossing DVD sales of all time. Toy story 3 witten by Stanton is number 8 all time gross. That is some serious street creed. Money talks…

  • Chicken Little is a fable older than dirt Pascalahad.

    Not just a bad movie

    The point of the original story, is that the titular character essentially announces the end of the freaking world. . . because an acorn landed on his head

    the moral is basically, dont freak out until you have all the facts.

  • I don’t think his “tweet” has anything to do with Disney John Carter or sequels.

    He’s likely responding to the wave of criticism that a Finding Nemo sequel represents a creative shortfall for Pixar, that the studio has now completely abandoned their founding ideals in favor of easily lucrative franchise building. That they have begun down the road to the kind of dreck Dreamworks Animation pumps out every year. That’s a little extreme, I know, but there’s a healthy debate out there right now, whether or not the golden age of Pixar is over – with a lot of pun-riddled accusations of shark-jumping for the studio.

    Finding Nemo was a complete story well told, with no clear path (or creative demand) for a sequel… but it made 870M paper rectangles and a golden statue – a sequel would be a guaranteed financial juggernaut. Maybe his little message is partly for DJC fans, being so purposefully enigmatic, but I suspect not, and he’s addressing the much bigger reaction to the news.

    Another Original out of him would have been preferable, but one hopes that Stanton has at least found a way to move that story forward that is worth his time and talents.
    He’s more important to Pixar than anywhere else, and it’s what he’s better at.

  • That’s a tough one to decypher, especially since I haven’t seen Chicken Little! According to the story, the chicken caused panic in town and was ridiculed for that, then won a baseball game, gaining recognition, before being ridiculed again basically for the same reason as before. Of course, he is proven right at the end and saves the day!

    In that context, it could make sense!

  • I think probably the Nemo sequel thing is just a rumor . . .

    I have a theory though, that he agreed to do the nemo sequel if they gave John Carter a second chance . . . I dont know

    I think we will just have to wait and see

    I am not exactly ecstatic about a Nemo sequel, it is a pretty self-contained story . . . a prequel . . . thats a different story, I would be all over that!

  • I speculated about this on my blog so I’ll just post the link instead of rewriting it http://www.jcomreader.blogspot.com/2012/07/andrew-stanton-making-finding-nemo-2.html It was written before Stanton made his Twitter comment so take it with a grain of salt.

    With this comment it could be that Stanton is trying to reassure the fans. I do think it’s bizarre timing that following the Sequel Group’s efforts at Comic-Con that suddenly this was announced and maybe Stanton is trying to head off any sort of fan outcry for appearing to dump them in favor of Nemo 2. Or maybe Deadline did get it wrong and there is no sequel, even though you would think by now Disney and Pixar would have released a statement denying it.

    Either that or Stanton just loves making cryptic comments?

  • If Stanton’s commitment to Nemo 2 (three or four years) runs out the clock on the Disney option of JC, that puts everything in a different light. Will he lobby for JC2 while directing Nemo 2 to get Disney to renew the rights in the meantime? Who knows…

  • Deadline is usually accurate and I’m a little confused by his tweet. Not quite sure what to make of it.

  • Any further confirmation of whether or not the reports are true? I wonder why Stanton would respond to them as people saying “the sky is falling”? Is that Twitter message meant to allay concerns that this might preclude a John Carter sequel? As you say, it could go either way, if Stanton pushes to have JC2 be that follow-up live action film. (If this report is even accurate in the first place.)

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