Monsters University

In 2010, a sequel (or rather a 'sequel prequel' as Billy Crystal puts it) to Pixar's smash hit Monsters Inc. was announced to hit theaters in November 2012. The film is entitled Monster University and divulges into Mike & Sulley's glory days at college where they went from rivals to the unstoppable duo that we know and love. Billy Crystal and John Goodman have eargerly agreed to reprise their roles as Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan (Sulley). Steve Buscemi will also be returning as Randall Boggs (though I'm not entirely sure how his role will be worked into the movie) and new voices to join the cast include Dave Foley (Flick in A Bug's Life), Julia Sweeney, Joel Murray, and Peter Sohn (Emile in Ratatouille). However, in order to avoid competition with the release of yet another movie of the Twlight Saga, the release date was pushed back to June 2013.

Not much was released about the film other than it's wildly appropriate logo (below) until August of this year, when director, Dan Scanlon and animator, Ricky Nierva hosted a panel at the Disney Expo that revealed more images of how exactly creators were going to make a giant eyeball and a furry monster look 18 years old.

According to creators, Mike is "slightly smaller, has less freckles and wrinkles" while also supporting a retainer that he will apparently be loosing quite a bit throughout the movie.

Sulley is thinner and scruiffer, his hair resembles somewhat of a mullet and his brow doesn't seem as defined.

I personally think a prequel is a great idea for a movie that already has a large fan base because I am not a big fan of sequels and how much pressure they have to live up to (though if anyone can pull them off, Pixar can). In a prequel, as long as the story is developed properly, you can almost do anything with these characters because the audience is familiar with who they become, they know and love the "end product," now all creators have to do is have a good time getting them there. This journey can be really anything, because everyone (including our favorite monsters) goes through personality change after personality change to get to where they are at any given point in their lives. College especially is a great time to focus on because literally anything can happen. It also seems that the animators have been having fun de-aging the characters, so I look forward to seeing what else lies ahead (or behind) for Mike & Sulley. For more information on the the prequel, click here.

Below, director Dan Scanlon discusses the possibilities of a monster college, Pixar's animation process, and the research that went into making college buildings both believable and monstery: