The Good Dinosaur

The Good Dinosaur will be released on May 30, 2014. It will be directed by Bob Peterson and co-directed by Peter Sohn. Enrico Casarosa, director of La Luna, will be head of story. Thomas Newman is set to write the film's score.

Synopsis
"What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? This hilarious, heartfelt and original tale is directed by Bob Peterson (co-director/writer, Up; writer, Finding Nemo) and produced by John Walker (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant)."

John Lasseter gave additional details about the film's plot: "They 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…"

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 ("Long-neck") 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 film's first release date of November 27, 2013 was first announced in June 2011. Not long after, the plot, director & co-director, producer, and other small details were announced at the D23 Expo 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 24th, 2012, Pixar announced that it would be entitled The Good Dinosaur.

The filmmakers 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."

Bumped-off 2013 release date
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. Further, Bleeding Cool received tips that Frozen is actually an adaptation of the long-dormant Snow Queen Disney animated film. Later, Pixar announced that it would be released on May 30th, 2014.