Get ready to head back to Monstropolis.
Pixar is developing a third Monsters, Inc. film, according to The Wall Street Journal, joining Incredibles 3 and Coco 2 on an increasingly packed lineup.
No release date has been announced, and Pixar hasn’t made any official statement — the WSJ report is the sole public indication the project exists.
The new film would be the first theatrical sequel to the 2001 original. Monsters University (2013) was a prequel.
Pixar hasn’t confirmed where in the franchise timeline this story will land, so whether we’ll pick up after the events of the first movie or head somewhere else entirely remains a mystery.
‘Monsters, Inc.’ Has Been a Money-Maker From the Start
The original Monsters, Inc., directed by Pete Docter (now Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer), was produced on a budget of approximately $115 million and earned $579 million at the global box office.
It picked up Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Editing, and won Best Original Song for Randy Newman’s “If I Didn’t Have You.”
The Best Animated Feature nod was part of the category’s first-ever year — though it lost to Shrek.
Monsters University went even bigger. With a budget of approximately $200 million, it grossed $743 million worldwide.
John Goodman (Sully) and Billy Crystal (Mike Wazowski) starred in both films and reprised their roles for Monsters at Work, a TV series that premiered its first season on Disney+ in 2021 and aired its second season on Disney Channel in 2024.
That series also brought in Ben Feldman as new character Tylor Tuskmon.
The Monsters brand stretches into the theme parks, too. Attractions already exist at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, Magic Kingdom in Orlando, and Tokyo Disneyland.
A full Monsters, Inc.-themed land is coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, replacing the Muppet*Vision 3D area.
Pete Docter Once Teased the Idea of a Boo Storyline
Back in 2016, Docter talked about a potential third film with Entertainment Weekly.
“You never say never — who knows what will happen?” Docter said. “We purposely went with a prequel for Monsters University because we didn’t want to answer some of the questions about what happens to Boo, and how does she grow up, and things like that.
“It would have to be really compelling, which is hopefully the benchmark for all of our sequels, anyway,” he added.
He also revealed that a Boo-focused sequel had been among the franchise’s earliest pitches before being scrapped.
Boo, of course, is the human girl at the center of the original film’s plot, in which two monsters help return her to the human world.
“Part of that idea was like a Peter Pan-type thing, where [Wendy] had been visited by Peter Pan as a kid and had sort of half-forgotten who he was,” Docter told EW at the time.
Whether the current development revisits that Boo-centric concept? No one outside Pixar knows yet.
Pixar’s Lineup is Packed With Familiar Titles
Monsters, Inc. 3 joins a development slate heavy on franchise names:
- Incredibles 3 — expected in theaters in 2028
- Coco 2 — a sequel to the 2017 film, expected in 2029
- Ono Ghost Market — a new original film inspired by Asian myths about supernatural marketplaces, originally developed as a streaming series before being reworked as a feature
- An untitled musical — Pixar’s first-ever musical, directed by Domee Shi (Turning Red); Shi also recently took over co-direction of Elio after Adrian Molina departed
That breaks down to three franchise sequels and two original concepts.
Ono Ghost Market stands out as the biggest swing at new IP, especially with the wrinkle that it started as a streaming project and got elevated to theatrical — a shift that says something about how the studio’s internal priorities are changing.
The New Slate Arrives on the Heels of a Box Office Win
The timing of all these announcements tracks with a strong run at the box office.
Pixar’s newest film, Hoppers, was No. 1 at the domestic box office over the weekend with about $46 million in ticket sales, per The New York Times.
That $46 million opening for an original title gives the studio a strong hand. A Pixar that can still debut an original film at the top of the domestic charts has room to justify balancing franchise sequels with untested properties.
The sequel titles bring financial predictability. The originals like Ono Ghost Market and the untitled musical are creative bets of the kind that built Pixar’s reputation in the first place.
How that balance plays out as these films move through production will be one of animation’s most watched storylines over the next few years.
And for fans who’ve been waiting since 2001 to find out what happened to Boo after that closet door closed? There might finally be an answer on the way.
