Coco fans, prepare to go un poco loco — we're heading back to the Land of the Dead! Yes, forgoing the kind of pomp and ceremony that would ordinarily herald a new Pixar film announcement, Disney CEO Bob Iger used the company's annual shareholder meeting earlier today as a platform to reveal that Coco 2 is in early development, with directors Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina both on board for a return to the Pixarified world of Alebrijes and singing skeletons. Check out the official title treatment for the film below;
“While the film is just in the initial stages, we know it will be full of humor, heart and adventure,” said Iger on the call with the House of Mouse's benefactors, revealing a tentative 2029 release window for the animated follow-up. Now, as you'd imagine, with almost half a decade standing between now and our return to the _Coco_verse (as nobody is calling it), we've no idea at this point how Unkrich and Molina will continue Miguel's story — or, indeed, whether it is Miguel whose journey the sequel will follow. In fact, given the poignance of the original Oscar winning film's touching denouement, we wouldn't be surprised to see the directorial duo broaden their afterlife horizons second time around; the intricately detailed world that the first film built certainly has the scope and scale to be explored from new angles with fresh faces. At the same time, a reunion with Miguel and the Land of the Dead's goodest xoloitzcuintle Dante wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, either. After all, a sequel's gotta sequel!
Shareholder calls and quarterly financial meetings have become a sort of corporate mini Comic-Con for Disney in recent years, with Toy Story 5, Zootropolis 2, and Frozen 3 all having been first confirmed by Iger as part of the CEO's continuing efforts to keep his entertainment empire's investors on the hook. But while the addition of a Coco sequel to Pixar's increasingly existing IP orientated slate is sure to raise some eyebrows and stir up another round of social media discourse, we live in hope that Coco 2 will hit all the right notes — and not land with a thud like the bell that felled Ernesto de la Cruz. Watch this space!