D23, the Disney fan event held every two years, is going on this weekend in Anaheim and first to the stage was John Lasseter, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer.
Lasseter updated the world on the various Pixar projects and filled in some blanks, including casting details for the Finding Nemo sequel Finding Dory, introduced the voice cast of The Good Dinosaur and Pete Docter’s Inside Out, teased the new special Toy Story of Terror and showed off the Monsters University short that will appear with The Good Dinosaur when it hits theaters.
We know that Finding Dory will of course feature Ellen DeGeneres returning to a role that she made unforgettable. We now know a few others that will be joining her in the voice booth for the Finding Nemo sequel. Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy signed on to be Dory’s parents Jenny and Charlie and Modern Family star Ty Burrell will be voicing a beluga whale who goes by the moniker of Bailey.
The audience was then treated to an introduction into the world of Pete Docter’s Inside Out. It is the most unique of ideas as it tells the story of a little girl named Riley… from inside her head! She has had to move to San Francisco away from all her friends. The lead actors will each be playing the five different emotions that exert her feelings inside her noggin. Few were surprised that Lewis Black was cast as Anger, Mindy Kaling tackles Disgust, Bill Hader is Fear, Amy Poehler is charged with finding Joy and Phyllis Smith (The Office) embodies Sadness.
The Pixar film The Good Dinosaur imagines a world where that asteroid missed the planet and they continued living here and never became extinct. Lasseter introduced his voice cast that will include Lucas Neff (Raising Hope) as the main character Arlo, John Lithgow as Poppa dinosaur, Bill Hader and Neil Patrick Harris as Arlo’s best friends, Frances McDormand as Momma and Judy Greer as Arlo’s sister Ivy. The Good Dinosaur will open May 30, 2014.
Before Good Dinosaurs' opening credits, a new Monsters University short will premiere. It features the return of Billy Crystal and John Goodman and follows the frat OZ as they try to throw a party… to disastrous results. When they raid a neighbor’s party… the fun really starts!
Lastly, Pixar announced that the gang from Toy Story will be back for a Halloween special airing October 16 at 8 p.m. on ABC. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen return in Toy Story of Terror and we can only imagine the “horrors” the toys will experience. The synopsis for Toy Story of Terror was also released:
“What starts out as a fun road trip for the Toy Story gang takes an unexpected turn for the worse when the trip detours to a roadside motel. After one of the toys goes missing, the others find themselves caught up in a mysterious sequence of events that must be solved before they all suffer the same fate in this Toy Story of Terror! "