A new Pixar film is on the horizon – Finding Dory, due out next month – which really means that two Pixar films are on the horizon. Every film from the animation studio traditionally comes with a separate short film, shown before the main feature, as a way of championing new talent, and also just because they can. Piper is set to be the studio’s next 6-minute ditty, and the first images have been revealed.
According to Pixar, Piper “tells the story of a hungry sandpiper hatchling who ventures from her nest for the first time to dig for food by the shoreline”. The quite evidently adorable Piper has to square up with “scary waves” in order to get a decent meal.
That’s about all we know of the new short, though Pixar have said that it is being directed by Alan Barillaro, a Pixar veteran who makes his directing debut here. Barillaro has been with the company almost since the beginning, starting out as an animator on A Bug’s Life way back in 1998, and most recently working as a supervising animator on Brave. With nearly two decades in the game, it’s safe to assume he ‘gets’ the Pixar approach.
Finding Dory (the sequel to Finding Nemo, naturally) arrives in UK cinemas on July 29. With Piper attached to every copy, that’s something extra to look forward to.