FILM 1912: COCO

FILM 1912: COCO

TRIVIA: The orange flower seen throughout the film is the Aztec marigold (known also as the Mexican marigold or the Cempasúchil). The flower is used in the tradition of Dia de Muertos in México to guide the deceased to the living.

The film contains certain themes and content which would ordinarily be banned in China. Reportedly, the Chinese censor board members were so touched by the film that they made an exception and allowed it.

This film opened in Mexico three and a half weeks before it opened in the U.S., where it surpassed Avengers Assemble (2012) as the country's highest grossing film. 

In the movie the spirit of Frida Kahlo identifies Dante as a Xolo (Xoloitzcuintli dog), which is a nice tribute to the real Frida. During the mid-20th century the Xolo breed began to decline in popularity. Frida and her husband, Diego Rivera, helped to save the breed by including the Xolo dog as part of their art. Thanks to Frida and Diego, the breed became known again to the world.

Spent more days #1 at the box office than any other animated film in the 21st century.

The Land of the Dead is shown to use a lot of antiquated technology -- for example, an 80s MacIntosh computer and walkie-talkie radios. This is fitting, as that technology is obsolete and so in a sense dead.

John Ratzenberger, long considered Pixar's good-luck charm, continues his streak of appearing in every one of the studio's feature films. In Coco (2017), he plays a ghost called Juan Ortodoncia. He is the skeleton who is allowed to cross over to the land of the living because his dentist remembers him.

The orchestra conductor for Ernesto de la Cruz's musical show "Sunrise Spectacular" is a caricature of the film's composer Michael Giacchino.

STUDIO TRADEMARK: The Pizza Planet truck, which has appeared in every Pixar movie, can be seen driving past the Rivera Shoe Shop while Elena (Miguel's grandmother) explains the "No Music" rule to Miguel.

When originally released, the film featured the short film Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017) before the film, which runs 22 minutes long. Many moviegoers thought they had wandered into the wrong film. Beginning December 7, 2017, Olaf's Frozen Adventure(2017) was withdrawn from theatrical release, and no short film was substituted in its place.

On December 5, 2017, it got enough votes to take the number 45 spot in IMDb's Top 250, surpassing WALL-E (2008) as the highest rated computer animated movie.

Ninth Pixar film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and third Pixar film to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

FILM 1883: INCREDIBLES 2

FILM 1883: INCREDIBLES 2

TRIVIA: At one hour and fifty-eight minutes, this is not only the longest Pixar movie to date, but also the longest computer-animated movie to date, breaking Cars's record as longest Pixar film, which was one hour and fifty-seven minutes.

A typo on the movie theater marquee shown towards the end of the movie reads "A113", one of the most famous recurring Easter Eggs. Several Pixar producers and animators studied at California Institute of the Arts in classroom A113 and this number appears in every Pixar film.

HIDDEN MICKEY: The spirals on Screenslaver's hypnosis machine form a slightly lopsided, but still recognizable Mickey Mouse.

In one scene, while Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) is trying to help Dash with his homework, he can be seen wrangling with "New Math", describing it as making no sense at all, and exclaiming "This is Math! Why would they change Math?" New Math was a brief, dramatic change in the way mathematics was taught in American grade schools during the 1960s (the approximate time frame of the Incredibles universe) which was highly criticized and quickly fell out of favor. The relevance of this joke evolves from the frustration modern parents (and students) occasionally experience with "Common Core" mathematics.

Made more money domestically in one weekend (one hundred eighty million dollars) than Pixar's previous summer release Cars 3 (2017) earned in its entire release of twenty weeks (one hundred fifty-three million dollars).

The fourteen-year gap between the first film and this follow-up was the longest waiting time between a Disney/Pixar movie and its sequel. (Finding Dory (2016)'s thirteen-year gap was the second longest, Monsters University (2013) was the third longest with a twelve-year gap, and Toy Story 3 (2010) was the fourth longest with an eleven-year gap.)

This was Pixar's twentieth feature film.

The background of the News Set Is an exact replica of that used in Broadcast News, which starred Holly Hunter.

FILM 1597: FINDING DORY

TRIVIA: Hank has only seven tentacles because the animators realized they could not fit eight onto his body. His backstory was rewritten to account for the missing limb. For similar reasons, in the 1955 live-action sci-fi film "It Came from Beneath the Sea" special effects genius Ray Harryhausen was only able to create a stop-motion giant octopus with six arms.

Hayden Rolence replaces Alexander Gould as the voice of Nemo, due to having outgrown his original role since Finding Nemo (2003), though Gould does have a Cameo as Passenger Carl.

The setting of the film was changed from an aquatic park to a Marine Biology Institute after the controversial documentary Blackfish (2013) was screened for the crew of Pixar.

The film is set one year after the events of Finding Nemo (2003), forgetting the 13 year gap between their releases.

The Pizza Planet Truck, a truck that is used to make delivery for "Pizza Planet" in Toy Story (1995), in a wrecked sunken state appears at the area where Dory, Marlin and Nemo encounter the Giant Squid, as well as on the Freeway, passing by the Truck heading to Cleveland.

This film marks Idris Elba's last of three Disney films in 2016, after Zootropolis (2016) and The Jungle Book (2016), in which all are voice roles of animal characters.

With over 25 million likes, Dory is the most liked character on Facebook from any Disney or Pixar film.

When Nemo and Marlin are in the tidal pool exhibit, they meet a loquacious clam, voiced by the film's Director Andrew Stanton. When they ask the clam how he is doing, he enthusiastically responds, "I'm happy." This is a gag relating to the colloquial expression, "Happy as a clam."

Sia, a good friend of Ellen DeGeneres, who voices Dory, sang the theme song named "Unforgettable."

The eyebrows on Gerald, the third Sea Lion who has no dialogue, resemble those of Baby Gerald, Maggie Simpson's archenemy from The Simpsons (1989). Many alumni of The Simpsons (1989), most notably Brad Bird, have gone on to work at Pixar.

Dominic West and Idris Elba co-starred on The Wire (2002).

FILM 1571: THE GOOD DINOSAUR

TRIVIA: This film marked the first time Pixar had released two films in one year, following the release of Inside Out (2015) in June 2015.

Arlo's movements were based on those of young elephants.

The original cast was to include John Lithgow, Judy Greer, Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris, and Lucas Neff, but they were replaced following major story changes. The only original cast member to still be a part of the film is Frances McDormand.

EASTER EGG: The Luxo Ball can be seen when Arlo and Spot are hallucinating.

As of 2016, The Good Dinosaur (2015) was the lowest-grossing Pixar movie ever to be released both domestically and worldwide.

EASTER EGG: One of the Asteroids at the start of the film resembles the Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story (1995).

EASTER EGG: "A113" is spelled out with sticks on the fence of the bird pen Arlo approaches for feeding.

This story is an alternate history, with the point of divergence coming approximately 65,000,000 years ago: the K-T Extinction Asteroid misses Earth, so the Dinosaur Age continues.

The part when Arlo and Spot eat the berries and start hallucinating is the first hallucination scene in a Disney movie since Dumbo (1941).

FILM 1390: INSIDE OUT

TRIVIA: According to director Pete Docter, each emotion is based on a shape: Joy is based on a star, Sadness is a teardrop, Anger is a fire brick, Fear is a raw nerve, and Disgust is broccoli. He noted that he likes broccoli very much, however.

Some of the memory balls in Riley's mind contain scenes from other Pixar movies, such as Carl and Ellie's wedding in Up (2009).

The writers considered up to 27 different emotions, but settled on five (Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger) to make it less complicated. Some of the major emotions that ended up being cut included Surprise, Pride, and Trust.

Psychologists and other experts were consulted so the writers could make the way Riley's mind works scientifically accurate. For example, it is believed that short-term memories made during the day are converted into long-term memories during sleep, which is what happens in Riley's mind.

In Riley's classroom (No. A113), a map at the back of the room has pins plotted at different places all over the world. They are references to where all the Pixar movies are set.

When Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera pitched the film to Mindy Kaling, she was moved to tears and said, "I think it's great that you guys are making a film that shows it's difficult to grow up and that it's okay to be sad about it." According to Pete Docter, they exclaimed, "Quick! Write that down!".

For the voice of toddler-age Riley, the producers simply recycled old dialogue of Mary Gibbs, who provided the voice of Boo in Monsters, Inc. (2001). She is even listed in the credits under additional voices.

"Yeast of Edin" is based on a bakery located near Pixar Studios. It only serves one kind of pizza each day, and broccoli is one of the toppings.

In the middle of the control console, the top three buttons form Mickey Mouse, otherwise known as a hidden Mickey.

PIZZA PLANET TRUCK: Director Pete Docter confirmed that the truck indeed appears at least three times in the film, but it is hard to find.

This film marks the fifteenth time John Ratzenberger has made an appearance in a Pixar film, and a second time as a construction worker. He also voiced a construction worker in Up (2009).

There is a scene in Dream Productions where a camera filter called the "reality distortion filter" is added. This is a direct reference to former Pixar CEO Steve Jobs, where he would do anything to convince his employees they could get the job done: they called it Steve's "reality distortion field."

The scene with the two guards discussing whose hat belongs to whom while guarding the Subconscious is a nod to the hat-swapping scene between Vladimir and Estragon from Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot".

Riley's classroom is No. A113., sharing the same number as the room at the California Institute of Arts where many animators, including John Lasseter and Brad Bird, graduated from. A113 is a common Easter egg in Pixar's films.

When Joy, Sadness and Bing Bong are in Cloudtown, A talking "memory cop" references Chinatown (1974) by saying, "Forget it Jake, it's Cloudtown".

The long-running British children's comic The Beano has, since the sixties, featured a strip called The Numskulls, which revolves around little people living inside a "real life" person, and being responsible for all his functions, both emotional and mechanical. After the release of Inside Out, The Beano issued a tongue-in-cheek reaction in which the Numskulls (inside their "host") watch the film and criticise it.

Both Riley's mother and father have brown eyes, but Riley has blue eyes. There is only a 25% chance that a baby will have blue eyes if both parents carry the recessive blue-eye gene. But if only one has a recessive blue-eye gene, and the other has two brown, dominant genes, then there is a less than 1% chance of the baby having blue eyes. Riley has her first memory shown in the film, so she was not adopted.

The memory balls are based on George Rhoads' "Kinetic ball sculptures"

One of the various aspects of Riley's mind that was cut from the film was a department called "Faces & Names". This was the department in charge of pairing up names of people Riley has met with their respective faces, but the leaders of either department dislike each other and do not speak (which explains the lapse in memory people get when they cannot remember someone's name).

As of Summer 2015, it holds the distinction of owning the largest opening weekend gross without taking the #1 spot on the box office charts. It took in a respectable $90 million its first weekend of release, falling short of the $106 million grossed by Jurassic World which set a new U.S. record the previous weekend with over $208 million in tickets sales.