‘Monsters, Inc. 3’ Is Coming: Everything We Know About Mike and Sully's Long-Awaited Return
Pixar is developing a third Monsters, Inc. film, nearly 25 years after the original introduced audiences to Sully, Mike Wazowski and Boo, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The studio has not made any official statement about the project. No release date has been announced, and the studio has not confirmed where in the franchise timeline the story will take place.
If it moves forward, the film would mark the first theatrical sequel to the 2001 original.
The franchise’s second movie, Monsters University (2013), was a prequel that took audiences back to the college days of Mike and Sully — not a continuation of the original story.
Will Boo Finally Return to the Franchise?
The announcement raises an obvious question for longtime fans: Will we finally learn what happened to Boo, the little girl at the heart of the original film?
Director Pete Docter addressed a potential third film in a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly. “You never say never — who knows what will happen?” Docter said.
“We purposely went with a prequel for Monsters University because we didn’t want to answer some of the questions about what happens to Boo, and how does she grow up, and things like that,” he added at the time. “It would have to be really compelling, which is hopefully the benchmark for all of our sequels, anyway.”
Docter also revealed that a Boo-focused sequel was part of the franchise’s earliest pitches but was ultimately scrapped.
“Part of that idea was like a Peter Pan-type thing, where [Wendy] had been visited by Peter Pan as a kid and had sort of half-forgotten who he was,” Docter told EW in 2016.
Whether the new film will finally tackle Boo’s story remains unknown.
The ‘Monsters, Inc.’ Franchise So Far
The original Monsters, Inc. was directed by Docter, who now serves as Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer.
The film stars John Goodman as Sully and Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski, two monsters who help a human girl nicknamed “Boo” return to the human world.
It was made on a budget of approximately $115 million and earned $579 million at the box office.
The film was notably nominated for the first-ever Best Animated Feature Oscar, though it lost to Shrek. It won the Oscar for Best Original Song for “If I Didn’t Have You” by Randy Newman, and received additional nominations for Best Original Score and Best Sound Editing.
Monsters University showed how Mike and Sully first met in college. Made on a budget of approximately $200 million, it earned $743 million at the box office — a bigger hit than the original.
The franchise expanded beyond the big screen with the TV series Monsters at Work, which premiered on Disney+ in 2021, with Season 2 airing on Disney Channel in 2024. Goodman and Crystal reprised their roles, and Ben Feldman joined as a new character, Tylor Tuskmon.
The Monsters, Inc. brand also has a significant presence in Disney theme parks, with attractions at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, Magic Kingdom in Orlando, and Tokyo Disneyland.
A full Monsters, Inc.-themed land is coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, replacing the Muppet*Vision 3D area.
A Busy Slate for Pixar
The new Monsters, Inc. film joins several other franchise continuations in Pixar’s pipeline. Incredibles 3 has been previously announced and is expected in 2028. Coco 2 is expected in 2029.
Pixar is also working on original projects.
Ono Ghost Market is a new film inspired by Asian myths about supernatural marketplaces, originally developed as a streaming series before being reworked as a feature.
The studio is also developing an untitled musical — Pixar’s first ever — directed by Domee Shi, the filmmaker behind Turning Red. Shi also recently took over co-direction of Elio after Adrian Molina departed the project.
Box Office Momentum
The new projects come as Pixar has returned to box office dominance with its newest film, Hoppers, which was No. 1 at the domestic box office over the weekend with about $46 million in ticket sales, per The New York Times.
That commercial momentum could bode well for the studio’s ambitious lineup of sequels and new films.
BOTTOM LINE: Fans will have to wait for Pixar to make an official announcement about the third Monsters, Inc. film, including details about its story, cast and release date — none of which have been confirmed.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
