(Source: National Ledger)
Toy Story 3 is a go, according to Buzz Lightyear voice actor Tim Allen, and he's excited about the whole thing.
"We have John Lasseter, the original director," he says, "and I believe Tom (Hanks) is on board."
The Toy Story franchise was one of Disney's few animated success stories during the 1990's. Directed by John Lasseter (Cars), the two-film story of rivals-turned-best-friends Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) was an instant hit with audiences, and made over $400 million at American box offices.
Despite such runaway success, the films poisoned Disney and Pixar's working relationship during their initial distribution deal. When Pixar submitted Toy Story 2 in 1999, Disney informed Pixar that sequels weren't included in the 7-picture agreement. In response, Pixar refused to produce any more sequels to their highly-successful animated films, which included 2001's Monsters Inc., 2003's Finding Nemo and 2004's The Incredibles.
During Disney and Pixar's year-long feud in 2005, Disney tried to put together Toy Story 3 under their Circle 7 Studios banner. However, when Disney bought Pixar last April, Lasseter became Disney's Chief Creative Officer. He immediately disbanded Circle 7 and rewrote Toy Story 3's script himself.
Allen says Lasseter's new script is "stronger" than the old one.
"I don't like doing them too much," he says of voicing animated films. "It's not my favorite gig, working alone in dark studios. But I love the end result. My daughter, at 16, still plays the Toy Story DVDs with her friends."
Toy Story 3 is tentatively scheduled for a 2008 release.
