Disney and Pixar, the companies behind the popular animated feature Coco, have announced a sequel. Coco 2 is in the early stages of development, announced by Disney CEO Bob Iger at the annual shareholder meeting. The plan is to have it ready for a 2029 release.
The goal is to, once again, deliver a colourful, light-hearted adventure, like the immensely successful original film, which was a hit with the critics and at the box office, grossing $800 million worldwide.
"While the film is just in the initial stages, we know it will be full of humour, heart and adventure. And we can't wait to share more soon," said Iger in an official press statement.
Lee Unkrich is returning to the director's chair with Adrian Molina, who also co-wrote and co-directed the first.
Mark Nielsen, producer of other popular Pixar titles like Toy Story 4, Cars and Inside Out 2, is backing the sequel.
The original film, which won two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, told the story of a young music-obsessed boy who idolises Ernesto de la Cruz and nurses musical aspirations, ending up in spectacular Land of the Dead, and then undertaking a journey to learn his family's roots.
Pixar has been of late focusing on sequels to successful original properties, such as Inside Out and The Incredibles, as original stories recently released didn't do expected business. For instance, the underperformance of The Good Dinosaur, Elemental and Lightyear was among the company's setbacks.
However, Pixar has a couple of upcoming original titles in the form of Elio and Hoppers. Meanwhile, the company is developing a 5th Toy Story and a third Incredibles movie.
