(Source: jimhillmedia.com)
I tend to take Jim Hill's pronouncements with a fair-sized slab of salt but he does occasionally get behind the steel curtain of the Mouse House and dig up some serious news about what Disney and its affiliates are up to. Which makes his stories interesting to read, even if they turn out to be complete and utter hokum.
However, Jim managed to score a big coup from a Pixar insider who's buzzed about Andrew Stanton's upcoming flick, Wall-E, coming in the summer of 2008. FYI, Andrew Stanton helped write some of Pixar's best movies, and he also directed Pixar's most profitable flick, 2003's Finding Nemo.
Stanton's been quiet since pulling off that little coup, which means there's a lot of buzz surrounding his next project. And if the rumours are true, this flick could be a real doozy. Translation: Wall-E could be the gutsiest movie Pixar has produced so far.
Here's the plot synopsis (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!):
The year is 2700. Planet Earth is one giant trash heap, and an incompetent corporation called Buynlarge has the contract to clean up the mess. Buynlarge sent thousands of robots, called Waste Allocation Load Lifters - Earth Class, to do the job but unfortunately they all broke down over the past 700 years. Save for one.
The last robot has developed a few bugs of his own. This Wall-E became self-aware and curious about humans. He, along with his pet cockroach Spot, has amassed a bizarre collection of human artifacts including a VCR and a VHS tape of Hello Dolly!, which he watches incessantly. Wall-E toils away at his thankless (and endless) job until another robot, named Eve, suddenly arrives. Wall-E follows this new robot around like a little puppy and, when she finally leaves Earth, he finds a way to tag along. Which is where the real fun starts.
There are several things that potentially make Wall-E more amibitious than all other Pixar flicks. First is the obvious environmental message: humans ruined their planet and they've gotten no better since then. Now they're gigantic blobs of flesh who travel in floating chairs.
Second, the movie apparently features the brilliant Fred Willard (Best In Show, Monster House), playing Buynlarge's president. However, Willard doesn't just voice the character: he actually appears on screen. This will be the first time the first time a human performer appears in a Pixar movie. But wait, it gets even better.
According to Jim Hill, the first third of Wall-E will feature no dialogue. None whatsoever. Wall-E and Eve only communicate through beeps, bloops and snippets from Hello Dolly! Nothing else.
You can pick your jaw off the floor now.
Can Andrew Stanton make it work? Certainly he's done enough for Pixar and Disney that Lasseter and Catmull should allow Stanton to follow his muse and make the movie that he wants to make. And if he can pull it off, Wall-E could be a very good movie, if not an instant classic.
Of course, a great movie doesn't necessarily mean great box office. But whether Wall-E becomes Pixar's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves or its Fantasia, this movie will probably be the gutsiest product a mainstream North American studio will put out in 2008, if not this entire decade. Colour me impressed.
You can find out more about Wall-E over here.
