A Year Without Pixar...

Pixar's The Good Dinosaur is now scheduled for release in Fall 2015

It was bound to happen. The upcoming Pixar feature The Good Dinosaur recently lost its original director, Bob Peterson, and no new director was announced. The Pixar veteran soon took to Twitter to share a few words on how he was doing after being removed from the project:

Been a tough time, but I am good - thankful for family and hilarious friends. On to future projects. Long live TGD. It's gonna be great!

— Bob Peterson (@bob__peterson) August 31, 2013

Fortunately, Peterson is still with the studio and reportedly working on a new project, but nonetheless, the upcoming dino flick was left out in the cold without a set director and a  fast-approaching release date less than a year away. So I guess we all should have anticipated that the film would eventually end up being pushed back.

The news broke on Wednesday that The Good Dinosaur had been pushed from its original release date of May 30, 2014 all the way to November 25, 2015. The new date was previously held by Finding Dory, which has now consequently been moved to summer 2016 (boy, Ellen sure isn't going to be too happy). Pete Docter's Inside Out remains untouched and is still scheduled for release on June 19, 2015 and is now the next Pixar film that we can expect to see hit theaters.

So what does this mean? Yes, folks, there will be no Pixar film released next year. 2014 will be the first Pixar-less year since 2005. And while it all does seem very sad, I very much trust the studio's judgement. They wouldn't just push back a film many are dying to see just for the sake of it. If this decision benefits the finished product, then I think another 18 months of waiting is worth it. Pixar president Ed Catmull puts it perfectly:

"Nobody ever remembers the fact that you slipped a film, but they will remember a bad film. Our conclusion was that we were going to give the film some more time."

I think we can all agree that we'd much rather have The Good Dinosaur not come out until 2015 and have it be absolutely magnificent as opposed to seeing it this coming May but having it turn out a mediocre effort. John Lasseter once said, "Quality is the best business plan", and I think it's refreshing to see the studio sticking to that philosophy, even if it means have a Pixar-sized hole in next year's movie schedule.

So let's focus on the bright side of things, shall we? Now the studio has time to nurture all of their upcoming projects to perfection. Also, 2015 will now see the release of two original Pixar movies! That's right, two films within the same year, and two original ones no less! Pretty freaking exciting, isn't it? And if you're still bummed out that you won't be able to go on a new Pixar adventure until 2015, just think of all the other promising movies coming out next year - Disney's Big Hero 6, DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon 2, and many, many more.

Turn that frown upside down, Pixar is merely taking a quick break so that they can provide us with the best film they can give.