Pixar’s plan: ‘Día de los muertos’ film
A woman prays in front of a grave of a relative at the cemetery of San Gregorio Atlapulco, in Mexico City, November 2, 2006, during the Day of the Dead celebrations.
Pixar has announced plans for a movie entitled "Día de los Muertos" about the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday, Entertainment Weekly reported.
The director will be Lee Unkrich, the creative force behind Pixar's Toy Story 3, a massive box office success that grossed over $1 billion, according to Mojo, and was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award.
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EW noted that Unkrich "is one of the foremost experts on The Shining, so his bona fides as an aficionado of the sinister and mysterious are without question."
The Guardian writes that Pixar, which had dominated the animated films category of the Academy Awards, stumbled with its recent "Cars" films, which received unenthusiastic reviews. No Pixar films were nominated for the 2011 Oscars, though the company won the "Best Animated Feature" category from 2007 to 2010.
The paper wrote that the holiday "is celebrated in Mexico, Brazil and Spain, as well as many Asian and African countries, around the same time Anglo-Saxon cultures enjoy Halloween." There is a strong presence of skull and skeleton motifs, suggesting the film may be gothic in style.
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He announced his new project in a Tweet:
So excited to finally reveal my next movie at Pixar: a story set in the world of the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos.
— Lee Unkrich (@leeunkrich) April 25, 2012