The Good Dinosaur

The Good Dinosaur is set to be Pixar's sixteenth movie. It will be released on November 25, 2015. It will be directed by Peter Sohn. Enrico Casarosa, director of La Luna, will be head of story and Daniel Lopez Munoz is production designer. The score will be composed by Mychael Danna. Bob Peterson was originally going to be the director, but on August 30, 2013, it was announced that he left the project due to story problems. The short film Sanjay's Super Team will be attached to the film.

Synopsis
"The Good Dinosaur asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of."

John Lasseter gave details about the film during a presentation at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. According to Lasseter, the film follows Arlo, which, after the tragic death of his father, falls in a river and ends up far away and separated from his family. On his journey to get back home, he befriends a human boy named Spot. Lasseter commented: "This is a boy and a dog story, but the roles are reversed. Arlo, the dinosaur, is the boy in the story and Spot is the dog."

The characters include T-Rexes, feathered Velociraptors with haircuts like those of famous football players, pterodactyls and a triceratops.

Lasseter also said that for this film Pixar is aiming to make environments with a higher level of realism than anything they did before.

Before Director Change
Before the director change was announced, some additional details had already been given about the film's premise. Currently, it is uncertain how much of these will be retained in the final film. According to the Los Angeles Times, Peter Sohn said: "The heart of the story remains the same. It's always been about this young dinosaur growing up. But the world itself has changed a lot. Nature has become a character." The Los Angeles Times also states that the idea from the original draft that dinosaurs are farmers has been dropped, and that nature is the film's antagonist.

In June 2012, John Lasseter said : "They [the dinosaurs] are kind of cartoony but they are dinosaurs; they are not walking around with clothes on or anything like that, they still are kind of dinosaurs. We focused on mostly the plant-eaters, not the carnivores… Their society becomes more of an agrarian society, meaning farmers. They become farmers. It’s a very funny story about a certain way of life that a young dinosaur has trouble fitting into and he ends up going on this quest. He kind of messes up and he has to put everything right by going on this quest and on that quest he meets this our character that is an outcast from his society too and so the two of them form this bond and it becomes this unique kind of story…"

At D23 Expo 2013 the film's plot was described further. Dinosaurs were the dominant species and had become farmers, using their physical characteristics to function as farm equipment. The film followed a family of apatosaurus. One of them, named Arlo and who is fascinated with bugs, discovered a large beetle that is in fact a human child, called Spot. The two of them then went on a journey through various climates.

Voice Cast

 * Raymond Ochoa: Arlo, a young Apatosaurus
 * Jack Bright: Spot, an orphan human little boy
 * Jeffrey Wright: Poppa, Arlo’s father
 * Sam Elliott: Butch, a T-Rex
 * A.J. Buckley: Nash, a T-Rex and Butch's son
 * Anna Paquin: Ramsey, a T-Rex and Butch's daughter
 * Steve Zahn: Thunderclap, a pterodactyl
 * Frances McDormand: Momma, Arlo’s mother
 * Marcus Scribner: Buck, Arlo's brother
 * TBA: Libby, Arlo's sister
 * TBA: Shaman, a Triceratops
 * John Ratzenberger: TBA

At D23 Expo 2013, the following voice cast had been announced. It can be noted only Frances McDormand retained her role in the final film.
 * Lucas Neff: Arlo
 * John Lithgow: Poppa, Arlo's father
 * Frances McDormand: Momma, Arlo's mother
 * Bill Hader: Forrest, one of Arlo's brothers
 * Neil Patrick Harris: Cliff, one of Arlo's brothers
 * Judy Greer: Ivy, Arlo's sister

Development
When a promotional video for Up called Up: B-roll 1 was released in 2009, many fans noticed 4 stand-out images in the background of sculptor Greg Dykstra's office. The top image is a clay sculpture of a sauropod dinosaur with a person standing next to it. Below it are two more images of clay sculptures of a boy. The fourth image, not clearly visible, is a drawing of the same or another Sauropod. As Up was released in May of that year, development could have started as late as early 2009.

The plot, director, co-director, producer, and other small details were announced at the D23Expo on August 20, 2011. Bob Peterson and John Walker humorously titled the film The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs and even created a logo for the mock title.

On April 24, 2012, Pixar announced that it would be entitled The Good Dinosaur. At the 2013 D23 Expo, the cast was announced and some footage and concept art was screened.

Director Change
In August 2013, Blue Sky Disney reported that due to story problems, the director and producer had been removed from the film. According to the report, the studio was looking for a new director who would put the film back on track, while still attempting to release the film in 2014. Other sites also noted Peterson's absence at D23 Expo 2013, where Sohn and producer Denise Ream presented footage from the film. A few days later, Ed Catmull, Pixar's president, confirmed to Los Angeles Times, saying: "All directors get really deep in their film. Sometimes you just need a different perspective to get the idea out. Sometimes directors ... are so deeply embedded in their ideas it actually takes someone else to finish it up." Peterson, who is remaining at Pixar, moved on to another project he is developing, while Ream replaced Walker, who left to work on Tomorrowland. John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Mark Andrews and Sohn are working on various sections of the film.

By August 2014, John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Mark Andrews, and original project co-director Pete Sohn had reworked the project to the point they felt is was ready to go ahead. Voice actor John Lithgow said that he would be completely re-recording his whole part by September 2014. Lithgow said, "They have now dismantled it [the movie] and completely reimagined it, and it is a fantastic new story. Lithgow confirmed that Frances McDormand is still a cast member. The fate of the rest of the cast is currently unknown."

Bumped-off 2013 release date
The film's first release date of November 27, 2013, was announced in June 2011.

On December 22, 2011, Disney shared upcoming release dates for its films. A mysterious film titled Frozen rested on the date of November 27, 2013, which led many to believe that The Good Dinosaur, originally scheduled for release on that date, now had the title of Frozen. However, Peter Sciretta of /Film confirmed with Disney that Frozen was not a Pixar film.

Later, at CinemaCon 2012, Pixar announced that its film would be released on May 30th, 2014.

On September 18, 2013, following the director change, it was announced that Pixar had pushed back the release date from May 30, 2014, to November 25, 2015 in order to 'give the film some more time'.

This, in turn, will bring Pixar's streak of consecutive annual releases to an end, a streak started with Cars in 2006 and ended with Monsters University in 2013.

Production
In May 2012, before the director change, the filmmakers discussed the film. They said they want to explore what dinosaurs represent today, and how they are represented in stereotypes. Bob Peterson said: "It's time to do a movie where you get to know the dinosaur, what it's really like to be a dinosaur and to be with a dinosaur". Peterson said the inspiration for the movie came from a childhood visit to the World's Fair where he was impressed by some dinosaur animatronics. The film's title might suggest that dinosaurs are evil. However, Peter Sohn warned: "The title is deceptively simple. It has more meaning than it seems."

Before the director change, in March 2013, Thomas Newman stated he was set to write the film's score. At the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, it was announced he had been replaced by Mychael Danna.