Monkey
Back when Pixar was still a part of Lucasfilm in 1985, it started pre-production on a film called Monkey. After Pixar spun off as a new company in 1986, however, it was still working on it. In the end, Pixar abandoned the project due to technical limitations.[30][31][32]
The Yellow Car
In 1995, Jorgen Klubien started writing a script for a film titled The Yellow Car. He wrote the first draft of the script with Joe Ranft. Then in 1998, the film was scrapped in favor of Toy Story 2 (1999). In 2001, The Yellow Car would eventually be reworked into Cars (2006).[33][34]
1906
In 2005, Pixar began collaborating with Disney and Warner Bros. Pictures on a live-action film adaptation of James Dalessandro's novel 1906, with Brad Bird announced as the director.[35] It would have marked Pixar's first involvement in a live-action production and its first collaboration with a major production company other than Disney. Disney and Pixar left the project due to script problems and an estimated budget of $200 million, and it is in limbo at Warner Bros.[36] However, in June 2018, Bird mentioned the possibility of adapting the novel as a TV series, and the earthquake sequence as a live-action feature film.[37]
Newt
A Pixar film titled Newt (which would have been Gary Rydstrom's feature directorial debut) was announced in April 2008, with a release date in 2011.[38] Its release was later pushed out to 2012,[39] and by early 2010 was canceled.[40][41] John Lasseter noted that the film's proposed plot line was similar to another film, Blue Sky Studios' Rio (2011).[42] In a March 2014 interview, Pixar's then-president Edwin Catmull said that Newt was an idea that was not working in pre-production. When the project was passed to Pete Docter, the director of Monsters, Inc. and Up, he pitched a completely different idea that Pixar thought was better, and that concept became Inside Out.[43]
ShadeMaker
In 2010, Henry Selick formed a joint venture with Pixar called Cinderbiter Productions,[45][46] which was to exclusively produce stop-motion films.[47][48] Its first project under the deal, a film titled ShadeMaker was set to be released on October 4, 2013,[49] but was canceled in August 2012 due to creative differences.[49][50] Selick was given the option to shop ShadeMaker (now titled The Shadow King) to other studios.[51]
The Graveyard Book
In April 2012, Walt Disney Pictures acquired the rights and hired Henry Selick, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and the film adaptation of Gaiman's novel Coraline, to direct The Graveyard Book.[54] The film was moved to Pixar as a stop-motion production, which would have been the company's first adapted work.[55] After the studio and Selick parted ways over scheduling and development, it was announced in January 2013 that Ron Howard would direct the film.[56][57][58]
In July 2022, it was announced that Marc Forster would direct the adaptation with a screenplay by David Magee under Walt Disney Studios
Blade
Following the release of Brave, director Mark Andrews was developing an unannounced original film titled Blade. Described as an "big action-adventure fantasy epic" that would utilize motion capture versus story boarding for pre-visualization, the project was cancelled in 2018 and Andrews left Pixar shortly after.[62][63][64][65]
BeFri
Purl director Kristen Lester was developing an unannounced original film titled BeFri by November 2019.[66][22][63][67] Based on Lester's childhood experience with a platonic breakup, the film was specifically about "two teenage girls who were once besties but find themselves drifting apart after learning that their favorite, Sailor Moon-style TV show is real and that they need to set out on a universe-spanning quest to save humanity." The screenplay was co-written by Blaise Hemingway and the film was being edited by Nicholas C. Smith; it went through four iterations but was ultimately cancelled in 2023 because it was too female-skewing and didn't appeal to boys enough. Lester would leave Pixar the following year.[63][68][69]
Circle Seven Animation projects
In addition, when the now-defunct Circle Seven Animation was open, there were plans for sequels to Finding Nemo (for which Pixar made its own sequel, Finding Dory) and Monsters, Inc. (for which Pixar made a prequel, Monsters University), as well as a different version of Toy Story 3.[70] The Monsters, Inc. sequel would have been Monsters, Inc. 2: Lost in Scaradise and follow Mike and Sulley as they arrive to the human world through Boo's old door, only to find she has moved.[71] Pixar's later sequels had no basis in Circle Seven's projects, and were created completely separately.
Other cancelled projects
Teddy Newton, Bob Peterson, Brian Fee, Lee Unkrich, and Dan Scanlon worked on untitled original films that were shelved before their announcement. The screenplay for Newton's film was written by Derek Connolly.[72] Unkrich, Fee, and Scanlon left Pixar in 2019,[77] 2023,[78] and 2024,[79][80][81] respectively, although Unkrich later returned to Pixar by 2025 to helm Coco 2.[82]
