Should Pixar Make More Spinoff Movies? Lightyear Director Responds

screenrant.com:

Lightyear director Angus MacLane shares his thoughts on whether Pixar should make more spinoff movies. Acting as the origin story of the Buzz Lightyear toy first introduced in 1995's Toy Story, Lightyear chronicles the iconic Space Ranger's attempts to escape an alien planet filled with ruthless robots after becoming marooned on a mission-gone-wrong. The film marks MacLane's second spinoff movie for Pixar, with his previous directorial effort being 2016's Finding Dory, a spinoff of Finding Nemo.

Lightyear has earned more mixed reviews than is typical for a Pixar film, although many critics have praised the movie for its impressive animation and voice work, including Chris Evans' turn as the titular Space Ranger. The film opened lower at the box office than estimates had predicted, earning $51 million in its opening weekend. Lightyear failed to outpace Jurassic World Dominion, which remains a strong draw now almost 2 weeks out from its release, with the Top Gun: Maverick box office also remaining strong. In addition to Evans, Lightyear features a talented voice cast, including Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, James Brolin, Peter Sohn, and Dale Soules.

Related: Lightyear's Zurg Twist Repeats Disney's Worst Movie Villain Cliché

In a new interview with Gamespot, MacLane explains why he doesn't think that more spinoff movies should be Pixar's future. The director says it's ultimately just really hard to do spinoff movies right, especially when it comes to turning a side character from one movie into the main character in another. Check out MacLane's full comment about whether Pixar should focus more on spinoffs below:

I really wouldn't recommend it. It's so, so hard. As a filmmaker you really have to think about what problems you