'Inside Out 2' Has Been Confirmed By Disney — And It’s About Teenagers
But Mindy Kaling and Bill Hader are reportedly not returning as Disgust and Fear.
In long awaited news, Disney and Pixar have finally confirmed that a sequel to Inside Out is happening. The news was announced at the D23 Expo event over the weekend, with reports leaking ahead of the big reveal on Friday.
The big twist about the sequel was shared by Inside Out star Amy Poehler — and it’s that the movie will "take place inside Riley's head, only this time she's a teenager,” according to Deadline.
Puck News was the first to report Inside Out 2, which is a follow-up to the 2015 animated hit starring the voices of Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black and Phyllis Smith as five anthropomorphic emotions — Joy, Fear, Disgust, Anger and Sadness, respectively. In the highly successful first film, the emotions live in the mind of a young girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) and guide her as she moves to a new city.
It’s a coming-of-age story that captivated children and parents alike, and introduced us to beloved elephant imaginary friend Bing Bong (Richard Kind).
Bing Bong is the best.
Unfortunately, due to salary demands, Hader and Kaling will reportedly not be joining the sequel. According to a report on Puck News, Amy Poehler is making $5 million for the movie, but the rest of the cast was only offered $100,000. Disney increased the offer to no avail.
No news yet on how the movie will incorporate the loss of Hader and Kaling’s voices, but we do know that Riley (and her mind’s masters) will be the main subject once again. In addition, there will be new teenaged emotions (and surely we can guess at a few of those — oh god).
A few other changes are notable about the sequel. Kelsey Mann will direct instead of Pete Docter, although Meg LeFauve will be returning as screenwriter, and Mark Nielsen will be returning as producer. Josh Cooley will not return as a screenwriter.
Docter originally said he had no plans for a sequel as he was working on Soul at the time, which was released in 2020. And in 2016, Pixar president Jim Morris also shot down any spin-offs.
"Most studios jump on doing a sequel as soon as they have a successful film, but our business model is a filmmaker model, and we don't make a sequel unless the director of the original film has an idea that they like and are willing to go forward on," Morris told Entertainment Weekly at the time. "A sequel in some regards is even harder [than the original] because you've got this defined world which, on the one hand, is a leg up, and on the other hand has expectations that you can't disappoint on."
The movie is set to release next summer.
