‘Cars 4’ is Happening at Pixar

In 2019, Pixar swore to us that “Toy Story 4” would be their last sequel for a while as a slew of “original” projects were lined up for release.

Four years later, and that promise was mostly kept, except, under new boss Pete Docter, the toon company has been struggling creatively and commercially. Pixar dubiously seems to believe that the best solution is to go back to sequel-making.

That’s what they’re doing. “Lightyear,” was released just last year, “Toy Story 5” and “Inside Out 2” are also expected to be released in the near future. We can now add another sequel to the mix.

It has been revealed that Pixar is working on “Cars 4” and other spin-off projects related to the franchise. The ‘Cars’ franchise has considerably diminished in quality over the years (“Cars 2” might be the worst Pixar movie ever), but the franchise has made a ton of money at the box-office ($1.4 billion combined).

Pixar needs to shape up, and more ‘Cars’ won’t help. They’ve totally lost their creative mojo in recent years. This past summer, even Disney CEO Bob Iger alluded to Pixar’s “creative misses,” most likely alluding to this decade’s “Luca,” “Elemental,” “Lightyear” and “Onward.”

Gone are the days of releasing one animated classic after another, the likes of “WALL-E,” “Ratatouille,” “The Incredibles,” “Finding Nemo,” “Up!” “inside Out” and “Toy Story 3.” What’s been the best Pixar release of the last decade? I guess “Soul,” and that one doesn’t even come close to golden age Pixar.

Pixar’s upcoming slate includes “Elio,” “Inside Out 2” and “Toy Story 5” — that’s one too many sequels. They should not only focus on original content, but also get some of the old creatives back at the company. It doesn’t have to be John Lassetter, there are plenty of others from the Lassetter era who are no longer working there. Get them back!