Pixar is already working on a live action movie for Disney, in the sci-fi film John Cater of Mars. Now word is that they may apply their computer animation talents to something a little different too. Comic Artist Brendan McCarthy says the people behind Toy Story 3 are contemplating making a CGI movie out of Doctor Strange.
In an interview with Bad Librarianship he reveals: “I was over in Hollywood earlier this year mooching about, and I had a meeting at Disney and the conversation drifted around to Pixar animating a Dr. Strange movie.” Alright, that’s pretty vague. How serious was this conversation? He doesn’t say. We know that Marvel has indeed hired writers to work on a Dr. Strange script, but exactly how it will be used (though at one point Patrick Dempsey was rumored to be playing the character. Could it be for Pixar? Now that Disney and Marvel are partnered up it’s entirely possible that they’d be exploring something like this.
Dr. Strange is a superhero character and of course Pixar has done that before. Actually you might even say they’ve done the definitive superhero movie. I’d be hard pressed to name one better than The Incredibles. But unlike The Incredibles, Dr. Strange doesn’t lend himself to fitting into their family friendly, bringing all people together world. He’s intrinsically more of a PG-13, teenagers and older character. He’s also different from most superheroes in that his powers are pretty clearly based in magic. He’s a magician, he deals in the occult. He battles mystical foes. That’s somewhere Pixar’s never really gone.
Pixar’s track record is spotless, they’ve never made a bad movie, but it could be argued that they’ve also never really stepped outside their comfort zone. Maybe they’ve never made a bad movie because they’ve pretty much stuck with the same thing that always works: heartwarming family movies involving lovable characters learning important, relatable life lessons. Each of Pixar’s movies finds something incredibly new and meaningful and valid within that box, but it’s still the same box. It’s worked, but it won’t work forever. This summer they released what may be their best film so far in Toy Story 3. It’s Pixar at its peak. Hard to imagine them doing anything better using the current Pixar model. Perhaps that makes this the perfect time to get a little bit experimental? Maybe this is the perfect time for Pixar to do Dr. Strange.
