Inside Out 2 became one of the biggest hits of 2024 and is now proving why Pixar is reversing its stance on sequels. As is tradition for the studio, Pixar continues to release at least one film per year, and 2024 saw the long-awaited release of Inside Out 2. Directed by Kelsey Mann, Inside Out 2 brought the audience together with Riley Andersen (voiced by Kensington Tallman), now 13 years old, and the emotions that control everything at Headquarters in his head: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Liza Lapira), Fear ( Tony Hale) and Anger (Lewis Black).
Inside Out 2 follows Riley as she enters puberty and attends a weekend hockey camp with her best friends, who tell her they won’t be attending the same school. To complicate things even further for Riley, a group of new emotions arrive at Headquarters: Anxiety, Envy, Boredom and Embarrassment. Anxiety takes over and Riley experiences new and complex emotions that soon spiral out of control. Inside Out 2 was a huge critical and commercial successproving why Pixar is changing its mind about sequels and why Disney should follow suit.
Inside Out 2’s success proves Disney sequels can work
Inside Out 2 was a huge box office success
From the inside out is one of Pixar’s most popular and praised works, thanks to its originality and the way it approached complex themes in a light and fun way. Unlike other studios, Pixar doesn’t make many sequels, the only ones being Toy Story saga, the Cars film series, Finding Dory, The Incredibles 2and now Inside Out 2but the studio recently changed its stance on sequels. In May 2024 it was revealed that Pixar is considering a reboot with some franchises eyeing new projects beyond the development of Toy Story 5.
Following Inside Out 2success, Pixar is more than likely to continue with its plan to produce more sequelswhich should be a great lesson for Disney. In addition to its 90% critic score and 95% audience rating on Rotten tomatoes, Inside Out 2 it grossed US$1.697 billion against a budget of US$200 million, breaking many box office records and becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Inside Out 2 proved that sequels can work (with the right story, of course), which should be enough evidence for Disney to choose sequels over remakes.
Disney has been riding the wave of live-action remakes for a long time, to the point of exhaustion, but they still have more in development. However, it seems Disney may have noticed Inside Out 2the successlike a new Frozen The film was released during D23 2024, but it is not yet known whether there will be more sequels in Disney’s future and fewer remakes.
Why Disney’s Focus on Original Films Over Sequels Didn’t Last Long
Disney has struggled lately to find exciting stories
In recent years, Disney planned to focus on original films rather than sequelsalthough he continued to expand the Frozen franchise. Disney has had some recent successes with original films, such as Charmbut others, like To wishwere a great disappointment and failure. Seeing the success of Pixar’s sequels may have given Disney a hint that there is still interest in expanding well-known, successful stories, leading the studio to refocus on sequels and leave the original films behind for a while.
Inside Out 2The huge success of will certainly be an example for Disney and other studios as well, especially at a time when trends like reboots and legacy sequels are at their peak. Of course, not all films need sequelsbut Disney has a deep catalog of films that could benefit from a sequel rather than a remake.