Finding Dory is an upcoming 3D computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a sequel to the 2003 Pixar film Finding Nemo. Andrew Stanton, who directed the original film, will return as writer and director, alongside Angus MacLane as the co-director. The film is scheduled to be released on June 17, 2016. It has also been confirmed that characters from the first film will appear in the sequel, including Dory, Nemo, Marlin and the "Tank Gang".
Plot
Finding Dory will be focused on the amnesiac character Dory, and will explore the idea of her being reunited with her family. The film will take place one year after the events of Finding Nemo and will be set off the coast of California.
Cast
- Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, a Pacific regal blue tang
- Albert Brooks as Marlin, a clownfish, Nemo's father
- Diane Keaton as Jenny, Dory's mother
- Eugene Levy as Charlie, Dory's father
- Ty Burrell as Bailey, a beluga whale
- Willem Dafoe as Gill, a moorish idol who was one of Nemo's fellow tank inhabitants in the first film
- Vicki Lewis as Deb (and her sister, "Flo", Deb's reflection), a four-striped damselfish who was one of Nemo's fellow tank inhabitants in the first film
- Kaitlin Olson as Dory's adopted sister, a killer whale
- Dominic West
- Idris Elba
It was also announced that Nemo and the rest of the "Tank Gang" would return, as well as many of the other original characters from Nemo, in addition to several new ones that have yet to be announced. It is unknown if Jacques will reappear for the sequel because his voice actor, Joe Ranft, died in a car accident on August 16, 2005 during production of Cars. It is also unknown if Nemo's voice actor Alexander Gould, who was nine years old at the time the first film was made, will be voicing the character again, as his voice has deepened with age.
Production
In 2005, after disagreements between Disney's Michael Eisner and Pixar's Steve Jobs over the distribution of Pixar's films, Disney announced that they would be creating a new animation studio, Circle 7 Animation, to make sequels to the seven Disney-owned Pixar films (which consisted of the films released between 1995 and 2006). The studio had put Toy Story 3 and Monsters, Inc. 2 into development, and had also hired screenwriter Laurie Craig to write a draft for Finding Nemo 2. Circle 7 was subsequently shut down after Robert Iger replaced Eisner as CEO of Disney and arranged the acquisition of Pixar.
In July 2012, it was reported that Andrew Stanton was developing a sequel to Finding Nemo, with Victoria Strouse writing the script and a schedule to be released in 2016. However, the same day the news of a potential sequel broke, director Andrew Stanton posted a message on his personal Twitter calling into question the accuracy of these reports. The message said, "Didn't you all learn from Chicken Little? Everyone calm down. Don't believe everything you read. Nothing to see here now. #skyisnotfalling" According to the report by The Hollywood Reporter published in August 2012, Ellen DeGeneres was in negotiations to reprise her role of Dory. In September 2012, it was confirmed by Stanton saying: "What was immediately on the list was writing a second Carter movie. When that went away, everything slid up. I know I'll be accused by more sarcastic people that it's a reaction to Carter not doing well, but only in its timing, but not in its conceit." In February 2013, it was confirmed by the press that Albert Brooks would reprise the role of Marlin in the sequel.
In April 2013, Disney announced the sequel, Finding Dory, for November 25, 2015, confirming that Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks would be reprising their roles as Dory and Marlin, respectively. Following a long campaign for a sequel on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, DeGeneres stated:
I have waited for this day for a long, long, long, long, long, long time. I'm not mad it took this long. I know the people at Pixar were busy creating Toy Story 16. But the time they took was worth it. The script is fantastic. And it has everything I loved about the first one: It's got a lot of heart, it's really funny, and the best part isâ€"it's got a lot more Dory.
In a Los Angeles Times interview, Stanton talked about the sequel's origin: "There was polite inquiry from Disney [about a Finding Nemo sequel]. I was always 'No sequels, no sequels.' But I had to get on board from a VP standpoint. (Sequels) are part of the necessity of our staying afloat, but we don't want to have to go there for those reasons. We want to go there creatively, so we said (to Disney), 'Can you give us the timeline about when we release them? Because we'd like to release something we actually want to make, and we might not come up with it the year you want it.'"
The film's ending was revised after Pixar executives viewed Blackfish, a 2013 documentary film which focuses on dangers of keeping orca whales in captivity. Initially, some of the characters would end up in a SeaWorld-like marine park, but the revision gave them an option to leave. On September 18, 2013, it was announced that the film would be pushed back to a June 17, 2016 release. Pixar's The Good Dinosaur was moved to the November 25, 2015 slot to allow more time for production of the film.
In June 2014, it was revealed through Stanton's Twitter that the film will be co-directed by Angus MacLane.
Release
Finding Dory is scheduled to be released on June 17, 2016.
See also
References
External links
- Finding Dory at the Internet Movie Database
- Finding Dory at the Big Cartoon DataBase
