AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Variety

Schedule includes ‘Toy Story 3,’ ‘Cars 2′

After years of relative reticence, the Mouse House is strutting over its animation slate once again.
With Disney chief exec Robert Iger and the investment community looking on in Gotham Tuesday, John Lasseter presented an uncharacteristically detailed road map of the next four years of Pixar and Disney animation.

Two years after the pair’s $7.4 billion merger, the Mouse House is eager to tout the lineup and keep Pixar’s momentum going after “Ratatouille” and “Cars.” Studio is also looking to pump up the fortunes of Disney’s own animation unit, now under the control of Lasseter and former Pixar prexy Ed Catmull after suffering a string of disappointments, including last year’s “Meet the Robinsons.”

Lineup includes a Pixar film every summer and a Disney Animation Studios toon every holiday season, save for 2011, when Pixar is releasing two films and Disney Animation Studios will take a breather. All of the films starting with this November’s “Bolt” will be released in digital 3-D, except for 2009 Disney toon “The Princess and the Frog,” the only pic being made in traditional 2-D.

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