Chris Evans is set to utter the iconic line "To Infinity and Beyond" in Pixar's latest film, Lightyear. Helmed by Angus MacLane, the Toy Story spinoff follows the fan-beloved Space Ranger's undisclosed origin story as he flees from an alien planet and goes against the villainous Emperor Zurg. Though this spinoff is undeniably thrilling, MacLane still believes that Pixar should refrain from doing spinoffs in the future.
In an interview with Gamespot, Lightyear director Angus MacLane gets candid about why Pixar should not focus on producing spinoffs in the future. According to him, it's extremely difficult to turn a side character from one franchise and make it the lead in another.
"I really wouldn't recommend it," MacLane admitted. "It's so, so hard. As a filmmaker you really have to think about what problems you want to solve. When we took on this project we ran into the problem of having to change a side character to a main character and that's a really hard thing. Having worked on [Finding Dory], that was just tremendously hard."
As much as fans would love to see more spinoffs based on beloved Pixar side characters, the exhaustive development the directors and crews have to go through to produce the film seems to be extremely challenging. Aside from that, doing spinoffs are also a huge risk at the box office. Although Andrew Stanton's spinoff to Finding Nemo with Finding Dory impressively grossed $1 Billion at the global box office in 2016, MacLane's Lightyear appears to be luckless to experience the same kind of triumph. Lightyear grossed $51m at the US box office, combined with $34.6m that rounds up a total of just $85.6 Million. Sadly, this box office receipt is significantly lower compared to other Toy Story films.
Nevertheless, Pixar might reflect on this oversight and introduce fresh characters. After all, fans would certainly love to meet new characters Pixar would develop in the future.
Lightyear is now showing in theaters worldwide.
Also read: Former Buzz Lightyear Actor Has Nothing But Praises for Chris Evans’ Casting
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