During Disney’s Investor Day meeting last month, Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer, Pete Docter, shared some new information on some of the projects they are working on for Disney+ and theatrically.
One of the bright spots during Docters presentation was the official announcement of Domee Shi‘s (Bao) first feature film, Turning Red. Shi will be the studio’s first feature from a female filmmaker since Brenda Chapman, who worked on 2012’s Brave. Ever since Docter took over the CCO position from John Lasseter, he’s has been aiming to add more diversity at the storied animated studio.
In a new piece from The Hollywood Reporter titled Reanimating ‘Pixar’: How Pete Docter Steered the Studio Out of Scandal, The trade revealed that Aphton Corbin and Rosana Sullivan are currently developing feature films at the studio. While no additional details on their films were released, these projects are likely slated for 2023/2024. Pixar has Luca coming this June, as well as the Toy Story spin-off, Lightyear, and the aforementioned, Turning Red both slated for 2022.
“There are more female directors on the way: In addition to Shi, Aphton Corbin and Rosana Sullivan are female story artists who have directed short films at the studio recently and are now moving into development on features.”
Read: ‘Soul’ On Track To Unseat Incredible’s 2 as Pixar’s Second Biggest Film in China
Aphton Corbin started at Pixar in 2016 as a story artist working on Toy Story 4, she also worked on the story for the Pixar SparkShort Loop, before working on the animation for the Disney+ hit film, Soul. Corbin can also be heard voicing the office lady in the SparkShort, Purl.
Rosana Sullivan has been at Pixar since 2011, working as a storyboard artist, writer, executive producer, and director working on tentpoles titles including Monsters University, Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4, and Onward. In 2019, she wrote and directed her first animated short film, the SparkShort, Kitbull. Kitbull received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short film and currently has over 46 million views on Pixar’s official YouTube channel. You can now check out all the SparkShort’s over on Disney+.
