Mixed news coming out of Disney today as the House of Mouse has confirmed that The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4 have essentially exchanged release dates, meaning Brad Bird’s sequel is now on course to release on June 15, 2018.
An accelerated production timeline for Incredibles 2 is said to be the main reason for today’s switcheroo, though it comes at the expense of Woody and the gang, as John Lasseter and Josh Cooley’s Toy Story 4 won’t be leaping onto the big screen until June 21, 2019.
As things stand, The Incredibles 2 will now open within the same vicinity as Jurassic World 2, Ocean’s Eight and Paramount’s untitled Transformers spinoff, though as The Hollywood Reporter points out, June is typically a favorable corridor for Disney-Pixar. Six years ago, Toy Story 3 stormed all the way to a record-shattering $1 billion worldwide, and the Mouse House will surely be hoping to replicate that success in across 2018 and 2019.
Little is currently known about the stories of either Toy Story 4 or The Incredibles 2, though with the latter we fully expect Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Violet, Dash, Jack Jack, Frozone and, yes, even Edna Mode to return – sans capes, of course. When asked about the direction in which he plans to steer the 2018 follow-up, Brad Bird was quoted previously as saying: “Hopefully it’s the same characters and feel, but going in a new direction. I mean, that’s the trick with a sequel. It’s repeating yourself, without repeating yourself.”
Poised to take Brad Bird’s Supers in a “new direction,” The Incredibles 2 will slam into theaters on June 15, 2018. Toy Story 4, on the other hand, is now set to arrive on June 21, 2019.