Pixar to do WALL-E as Nemo 2?

Will 2008 see Director Andrew Stanton release this before a sequel t

Aug 10, 2006 Dominic von Riedemann

The Interweb rumour mill goes into high gear about Pixar's next animated feature.

(Source: Animated News)

I'm not usually one to delve into rumours (since Ye Olde Interweb is full of them) but some sources are claiming that Pixar's next CG animated feature (after next summer's Ratatouille) will be a project called WALL-E.

A single, unattributed line in Laughing Place claims that Pixar's 2008 movie will be WALL-E, and not a Monsters Inc. sequel or the rumoured Toy Story 3. Adding fuel to the fire is a Newsarama interview with Bruce Zick of The Anubis Tapestry who says, "I've currently worked on a Disney movie, Rapunzel, a Pixar movie, WALL-E, and now a Blue Sky movie, The Leafmen."

Needless to say, this has sent minor shockwaves through the animated community, with some wondering if this is writer/director Andrew Stanton's long-awaited follow-up to his 2003 feature Finding Nemo. Stanton kept a low profile after unleashing that hit flick, only voicing Fred in this year's Cars.

So is this a genuine scoop, or just another Web hoax? I'm inclined to believe the latter. Disney is having problems, despite producing two of the biggest films of the summer: Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. They recently laid off 20% of their studio staff, and severely cut back film production. My hunch is that Disney brass will pressure Pixar to bring out a sequel to a proven hit, instead of creating a new story. Toy Story is a proven franchise, with the 1999 sequel making more money than the original flick. Besides, director John Lasseter and actor Tim Allen have already signed up for Toy Story 3 (see here for proof) and it looks like Tom Hanks is interested as well.

Monsters Inc. is less of a sure thing, but there's definite room for a sequel there. So, even if there is something to this somewhat sketchy rumour, I'd guess that WALL-E will be well behind Ratatouille in Pixar's to-do list.

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