Here’s a positive update on Andrew Stanton’s “In the Blink of an Eye”: The film has received an MPA rating of PG-13 for sexual content, thematic material, and some bloody images. This means post-production has officially wrapped on the film.
Stanton, the Oscar-winning filmmaker known for Pixar classics “WALL-E” and “Finding Nemo,” is directing “In the Blink of Eye,” a sci-fi drama for Searchlight Pictures. The film completed principal photography in April 2024.
Last year, a Disney listing had the film potentially going straight to HULU; The film had been included in the studio’s 2024-2025 television preview and dubbed as a “HULU original.”
Thomas Newman, who previously collaborated with Stanton on Pixar’s “Finding Nemo” and “Wall-E,” composed the score. Written by Colby Day, ‘Blink of an Eye’ sounds like one of the most ambitious big studio projects in recent years, seeking to explore no less than the entire history of the world and tackle the nature of life, love, hope and connection.
The film, which stars Kate McKinnon, Rashida Jones, Daveed Diggs, Jorge Vargas, Tanaya Beatty and Skywalker Hughes, follows three storylines “spanning thousands of years, intersecting and reflecting on hope, connection and the circle of life.”
Call it Stanton’s “The Tree of Life,” if you will, but he seems to be borrowing from other films as well. In 2022, when the project had first been announced, THR reported that “In the Blink of An Eye” was said to have been inspired by “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Interstellar,” and “Magnolia”. Talk about ambition.
Although primarily known for his Pixar creations, Stanton’s live-action debut was 2012’s “John Carter”, which became one of the biggest box-office bombs in movie history. Reviews were not good either.
THR reassessed the film on its tenth anniversary by saying, “This was the moment Disney became the servant of sure bets, and Hollywood realized star power was truly gone. That was when we entered the age of name recognition, where familiar characters and concepts—Jedi, superheroes—became worth more than any actor's name."
There were a series of canceled “John Carter” sequels after Disney lost close to $200M on the original film, but — an unexpected silver lining — the film has managed to amass a curiously passionate cult following in recent years. There are a few petitions out there asking Disney to revive development on the sequel, but that's clearly never going to happen.