The Incredibles (franchise)
The Incredibles is an American media franchise created by Pixar Animation Studios. Brad Bird wrote and directed both films, and Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell and Samuel L. Jackson are part of the cast. The first film, "The Incredibles", was released in November 2004 and received acclaim from critics, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The second film, "Incredibles 2", was released in June 2018, received mostly positive reviews and set the record for best opening weekend for an animated film with $183 million. The series has grossed a combined $1.876 billion worldwide.
The Incredibles
He imagined it as a homage to the 1960s comic books and spy films from his boyhood and he initially tried to develop it as a 2D cel animation. When "The Iron Giant" became a box office bomb, he reconnected with old friend John Lasseter at Pixar in March 2000 and pitched his story idea to him. Bird and Lasseter knew each other from their college years at CalArts in the 1970s. Lasseter was sold on the idea and convinced Bird to come to Pixar, where the film would be done in computer animation. The studio announced a multi-film contract with Bird on May 4, 2000. "The Incredibles" was written and directed solely by Brad Bird, a departure from previous Pixar productions which typically had two or three directors and as many screenwriters with a history of working for the company. In addition, it would be the company's first film in which all characters are human.
Bird came to Pixar with the lineup of the story's family members worked out: a mom and dad, both suffering through the dad's midlife crisis; a shy teenage girl; a cocky ten-year-old boy; and a baby. Bird had based their powers on family archetypes. During production, Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli visited Pixar and saw the film's story reels. When Bird asked if the reels made any sense or if they were just "American nonsense," Miyazaki replied, through an interpreter, "I think it's a very adventurous thing you are trying to do in an American film."