Pixar finally releases new details with its next original film, Coco, which is set to debut in fall 2017.
The movie is Pixar's only original film for next year, as the studio gets to work on sequels of its highly-acclaimed films with Cars 3, Toy Story 4 and The Incredibles 2. Coco was first announced back in 2012 as an untitled film that centers around the Mexican holiday, Día De Los Muertos.
Coco is about Miguel, a twelve-year old boy who is persistent to follow his musical ambitions despite having music banned in his family due to an ancient drama that involves his great-great grandfather--Ernesto de la Cruz, the town's most famous musician--who walked out of the family and left his wife to follow his dreams. On the night before the holiday, Miguel gets the opportunity to roam the Land of the Dead and he soon encounters the souls of his ancestors and decides to find de la Cruz. Miguel has to meet him before his time is up and return to the Land of the Living to earn his family's blessing to perform.
Lee Unkrich, the director of Toy Story 3, will direct Coco. Unkrich was the first to pitch the concept of the film as early as 2010 and calls it as a "love letter to Mexico." Gael García Bernal and Benjamin Pratt will lead the cast, along with Renée Victor and newcomer Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel, the main character. Unkrich emphasized that it was important to have an all-Latino cast for the film.
Disney went to great lengths to ensure Coco stayed true to the culture and traditions it would represent by making a cultural consultant group for the film, asides from the research trips that Unkrich and his team made to several Mexican towns. Unkirch adds that "I'll be the first to say that going on a few research trips doesn't make us experts in anything but it would have been wrong for us not to go down." The director admits of the "enormous responsibility to tell this story right and to not lapse into cliche or stereotype."
Coco did receive backlash from the Latino community in 2013 when Disney attempted to trademark the phrase "Día De Los Muertos". Lalo Alcaraz, a Chicano artist, accused the company of trademarking culture. The backlash prompted Disney to pull the trademark request. The upside was that Pixar decided to have the critics become part of Coco, which includes Alcaraz, playwright Octavio Solís and Marcela Davison Aviles, the former CEO of the Mexican Heritage Corp., as part of the cultural consultant group. Co-writer and co-director Adrian Molina says that working with the group was important to get the movie right.
Coco promises to give something new from Pixar and it's set to be released on November 22, 2017.
