We only just recently got the first trailer for Pixar's next movie, the suburban fantasy movie Onward. However, 2020 is a strange year for Pixar Animation Studios. Not only do they have two movies set to release, but those two movies are only coming out about three months apart. The second film is scheduled for release exactly one year from today, and so Pixar has given us our first bit of information about what the film actually is.
The Pixar Twitter account has officially unveiled the movie Soul. based on the description, the story will be delving deep into the very concepts of life itself. Check out the description below.
While the description is pretty vague, the idea that the movie will be exploring some of the most important questions of life itself makes it clear that the title Soul is referring to spiritual concept of the soul, that there's something more to life than simply the physical manifestations of our bodies. These are some pretty heavy philosophical questions, but if there's any studio that has shown a deft at dealing with some pretty deep concepts, it's Pixar.
The movie will apparently take place in both New York City and in "cosmic realms." The idea that the soul might exist in some tangible form in a cosmic realm someplace makes the movie sound a little like Inside Out, the Pixar movie that turned emotions into actual characters. However, we know that none of the movies currently on Pixar's schedule are sequels, and so while there might be (or might not be) similarities between the two ideas, they are not directly related.
The other reason that Soul might be a "spiritual" sequel to Inside Out is that the two movies have the same director, Soul is being helmed by Inside Out director, and new Pixar studio head, Pete Docter. Docter also directed Up and Monsters Inc.
Beyond these details, nothing else has been revealed about Soul. We don't know who the voice cast is or anything about the characters that cast will be bringing to life.
The good news is that we'll probably get a few answers before too long. The first trailer for Onward, Pixar's next movie after Toy Story 4 drops on Friday, launched less than a month ago, and that movie is nine months away as of now. This means we're probably only a couple months away from learning more about Soul. There's going to be a bit of juggling to do as marketing for both of these movies will be happening pretty close together. We'll probably get our first look at Soul before we learn much more about Onward.
However, since Pixar is almost universally great at what they do, that's a good thing. I don't think we'd be seeing two movies from the studio coming this close together if there wasn't confidence that both were ready. While 2021 will see a single untitled Pixar movie released, in 2022 we'll go back to a schedule that looks like this, with one movie coming out in March and another set for June.
Soul will hit theaters June 19, 2020.
