The Good Dinosaur

The Good Dinosaur will be released on November 25, 2015. It will be co-directed by Peter Sohn. Enrico Casarosa, director of La Luna, will be head of story and Daniel Lopez Munoz is production designer. Thomas Newman is set to write the film's score. Bob Peterson was originally going to be the director, but on August 30, 2013, it was announced that he left the project. It is currently unknown who will take over the role.

Synopsis
"The Good Dinosaur asks the generations-old question: What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? In theaters May 30, 2014, the film is a humorous and exciting original story about Arlo, a lively 70-foot-tall teenage Apatosaurus with a big heart. After a traumatic event rattles Arlo’s tranquil community, he sets out on a quest to restore peace, gaining an unlikely companion along the way—a young human boy named Spot."

John Lasseter said about the film's premise: "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…"

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

Voice Cast

 * Lucas Neff: Arlo
 * John Lithgow: Poppa
 * Frances McDormand: Momma
 * Bill Hader: Forrest
 * Neil Patrick Harris: Cliff
 * Judy Greer: Ivy

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. At the 2013 D23 Expo, the cast was announced and some footage and concept art was screened.

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."

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 the Peterson's absence at D23 Expo, 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. According to Catmull, the release date for the film is unchanged. Until the studio finds a replacement, John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Mark Andrews and Sohn are working on various sections of the film.

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. On September 18, 2013, 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'.