It didn't take long Inside out 2 to become one of the best movies on Disney Plus. Like a song stuck in your head, the film worked its way into our minds, resonating with so many of us at once across such a wide range of ages that it quickly became the biggest new film of 2024.
“I expected it to do well, but I never thought it would do so well in so many places around the world. It's incredible,” said Kelsey Mann, writer and director of Inside out 2told me. It caused such a stir when it was released in theaters on June 14, 2024 in the US and UK (June 13 for those in Australia) that it broke numerous records.
Inside out 2 Not only is it the highest-grossing animated film in the world; is the 13th highest-grossing film of all time globally, the first animation to surpass $1 billion, and the number one film on the box office charts in 2024. On the streaming front, it's also Disney's newest film Most important plus that premieres this year. , attracting 30.5 million views in its first five days.
“It's really a testament to what Pete Doctor did in the first movie, with this idea of dealing with emotions, because everyone has them,” says an overwhelmed Mann about his success. “I can't tell you how many times people have stopped me to tell me how much this movie has meant to them, whether it's to them personally or to their kids, teachers, therapists, psychologists. That's the part that really gets to me.”
Taking the reins from Pete Docter
Before Mann, it used to be like this From the inside out Fans turned to Pete Docter, the director of the first film but now chief creative officer at Pixar, to express their joy and appreciation for the film and how it had impacted their lives. His growing popularity is what, in fact, prompted Docter to talk to Mann in the first place.
“Pete said to me, 'I have no idea. [for a sequel] – go for it,' so I started exploring different ideas, and I knew one of them would be when Riley was a teenager,” Mann says, adding, “I met with a lot of experts from the first movie and asked them what happens in brain when we were teenagers and immediately started to feel like it was the right answer.
Before plotting the story for Inside out 2Mann says he first made a list of all his favorite movie sequels to try to figure out what made them successful. The best advice he received was that “the sooner you start thinking of this movie as an original, the better,” and that applied to his favorite sequels, too.
“There's a sense of originality to them, and the ones I didn't like just repeat the same story. They say, 'that worked last time, let's do the same thing again,' and it feels like I've seen it, so I wanted to do it.” something a little more original. [by making] the heart of this is personal,” Mann says, going on to explain why he decided to get involved in the project.
It has a lot of potential for drama, emotion, and grace, and those are the three things we need in any Pixar movie, especially an Inside Out movie.
– Kelsey Mann, writer and director of Inside Out 2
“I looked at myself as a teenager, what I was going through and really, a lot of it is inspired by [looking at] Some of my birthday photos when I was a child. I was like scanning them because I wanted the digital copy of all my photos, and I saw a photo of me when I was five years old. It's my birthday. I am surrounded by my family and I have the biggest smile on my face. “It almost stopped me in my tracks.”
“I'm very happy, and it's not just any day, it's a day to celebrate myself. It's my birthday, and because of that smile on my face, I was doing that 100%. And then I turned eight, 11, and 13. And you just to see that smile fade, and I'm looking at my cake when I'm 13, and the same people are singing 'Happy Birthday' to me, wishing me happy birthday, and singing that I hated being one. “I sang happy birthday to him at that age. I hated the attention. “I hated everyone looking at me.”
“If I go back to the neuroscience of what I was feeling, at this age you become very self-conscious and start comparing yourself to others. Then if I really dig deeper, I thought I'm really not worth all this. I'm going to celebrate if I go to the core of it.” what I was really feeling, so I wanted to make a movie that addressed that feeling, the feeling of not being good enough,” Mann says, adding, “that's what the studio ended up espousing.”
Needless to say, Mann's pitch was successful after going to Docter: “It has everything we want in a sequel. It has a lot of potential for drama, excitement and being funny, and those are the three things we need in any movie. Pixar, especially a From the inside out movie.”
The pressures of making a sequel
“I always tell Pete that you're the George Lucas of the From the inside out world; he knows the rules, he knows the world, so I was constantly asking him where he was; I would do it in any movie, even if it wasn't one. From the inside out movie, I would talk to him because he is the creative director of the studio and I love working with him.
“He's one of my favorite people at the studio, so having the opportunity to work closely with Pete Docter was truly a dream come true. He's a brilliant filmmaker and incredibly supportive. He allowed me to get involved in the film and gave me nothing but support from beginning to end.”
As Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Inside Out 2 made more money at the box office than the original, marking its inclusion in yet another award in the movie business and setting off another rollercoaster of success when it debuted on Disney Plus.
Using her personal experiences as a compass as she consults with Pixar and emotion experts like neuroscientist Dr. Dacher Keltner, who advised on the first From the inside out film, Mann narrowed down all his ideas for new thrills in the sequel to just four.
“The first note I received [after the first screening] was to simplify it. The reason why the four [emotions] ended up in the movie is because they are all emotions that are self-aware emotions, which goes back to what I was talking about before. “You start comparing yourself to others when you're this age and you become very self-conscious.”
“You start to think, how do I fit in? It's about that. It's about your peers. It's about how I fit in with this particular group of people. And those are the emotions that made the cut, the ones that really thrive on the console when you're a teenager,” Mann says.
That also suggests that there could be a lot left on the drawing board for another follow-up film filled with the initial thrills Mann had first considered for the sequel, but, of course, nothing about a potential movie. Inside out 3 has been discussed yet.
Instead, be sure to capture the From the inside out television spin-off dream productions on Disney Plus while we wait for more.