Incredibles 2’s release date was almost one of Pixar’s greatest Easter Eggs - until Toy Story 4 got in the way. It’s difficult to believe that fans of The Incredibles had to wait so long - a full fourteen years - for a sequel. However, the original plan was to make fans wait even longer, for fifteen years.

In the first film, the villain Syndrome makes a victorious gloat to Mr. Incredible where he says, “too late, fifteen years too late”. In the movie, it’s a reference to the amount of time that’s passed since the pair first met, but it could have become one of Pixar’s most involved Easter Eggs: when Incredibles 2 was first announced, it was set to release on June 21, 2019, fifteen years on from the first movie (which released November 5, 2004). Whether this was intentional or not is unknown, but - whatever the case - the egg never came to pass.

In 2016, Incredibles 2 swapped release dates with Toy Story 4, moving to its impending June 15, 2018 debut. This was done so that the script for the new Toy Story could be reworked, and meant the Easter Egg never came to pass.

Of course, a bigger concern with the release date switch is production. Animation is a notoriously time-consuming process and so losing a whole year could be very risky. Speaking to Vulture, however, director Brad Bird said it didn’t pose too many problems:

Producer John Walker did mention that the advanced timetable put everything into complete chaos, but that in the end, they are very happy with the final product. Bird attributes that to the team of people he had working with him. Early reviews for Incredibles 2 are positive and projections have the film set to be the biggest box office opening for Pixar. Fans have, after all, waited 14 long years for the sequel.

“The first thing we had to eliminate was reassurance. You do a lot of stuff to prepare for [internal] screenings that are obsolete the moment you have them, but they’re still there to reassure everybody that you’re doing well and that things make sense and you’re making progress. You put all this work into those screenings so that people won’t slow down your process or make you rethink something, and that had to go. Every moment had to be spent making the actual movie.”

Incredibles 2 picks up exactly where the first film left off, although it goes into new territory. Helen, aka Elastigirl, has gone back to work as a superhero, while Bob, aka Mr. Incredible, stays at home with the kids and has his share of Mr. Mom moments. Trailers have already shown that the movie will have the same kind of humor and action that fans expect and it’s probably likely that they will leave theaters hoping that it’s not another 14 years before they get a third movie in the franchise.

Next: Read Our Incredibles 2 Review

Source: Vulture

  • The Incredibles 2 Release Date: 2018-06-15