The Disney Films That Never Were: MONSTERS, INC. 2: LOST IN SCARADISE - Warped Factor - Words in the Key of Geek.

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The Disney Films That Never Were: MONSTERS, INC. 2: LOST IN SCARADISE

Get lost in another aborted Disney picture that could've made it to the big screen.


As we looked at previously, according to the terms of Pixar's initial seven-film deal with Disney, all characters created by Pixar for their films were owned by Disney. Furthermore, Disney retained the rights to make sequels to any Pixar film, though Pixar retained the right of first refusal to work on these sequels. At no point in time had there been an area of contention over this until in 2004 when negotiations between the two companies surrounding a new/extension to their agreement made a split appear likely.

Michael Eisner, Disney chairman at the time, launched a new Disney studio called Circle 7 Animation. Circle 7 was specifically set-up with the sole intention of creating sequels to the Disney owned Pixar properties, leading rivals and animators to derisively nickname the division "Pixaren't".

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Among the scripts Circle 7 had under consideration was a third installment of Toy Story that went quite far into development, before an eventual deal was reached with Pixar. As well as that would-be direct to video outing for Woody, Buzz and the gang, Circle 7 began developing a sequel to Pixar's 2001 hit Monsters, Inc.

Titled Monsters, Inc. 2: Lost in Scaradise, screenwriters Rob Muir and Bob Hilgenberg were hired to write a script for the film, and storyboarded an early draft of it.



Set one year after the events of Monsters, Inc, the plot of this proposed sequel would have seen Mike and Sulley visiting the human world to give Boo a birthday present, only to find that she had moved and an old lady is in Boo's bedroom instead. After getting spooked by the sight of, what they initially believe to be, Boo in her senior years, they run out of the house and become trapped in the human world. Mike and Sulley would then split up after disagreeing on what to do.  Eventually coming together to find Boo's new house and deliver her birthday present.

Why didn't the film get further along in production? Well Disney's change of management in late 2005, in which Eisner was replaced by Bob Iger, led to renewed negotiations with Pixar, and in early 2006 Disney announced it had purchased the studio. The Disney-owned sequel rights were then transferred to Pixar, leading to the cancellation of Muir and Hilgenberg's version of the film and the subsequent closure of Circle 7.

It would be 2010 when a Pixar-made sequel of Monsters, Inc would finally be confirmed - Monsters University, of course, working with an entirely different story and premise and finally arriving in 2013, but it's a tantalising tease to watch the storyboard real above and think about what could've been. If that Pixar deal hadn't gone through in 2006 we may have been watching Monsters, Inc 2: Lost In Scaradise.

Previously
The 1930s & 40s Live Action Alice In Wonderland 
The 1943 Sequel To Bambi
Where The Wild Things Are
Who Framed Roger Rabbit Two
Dumbo II
The Search For Mickey Mouse
The Original Non-Pixar Toy Story 3
Rapunzel Unbraided

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