‘Finding Dory’ Moved To 2016; ‘The Good Dinosaur’ Director Fired, Creative Development Pushes Release Date to 2015

The long wait gets even longer as "Finding Dory" is pushed to 2016. Creative development (or lack thereof) has pushed the Pixar offering "The Good Dinosaur" to 2015 as its director was recently removed.

This will result in Pixar not having a movie for 2014 (Nooooo!!!) as their offering "The Good Dinosaur" hit a snag when they decided to let go of Bob Peterson, who was supposed to direct the film.

This development was confirmed by Pixar president Ed Catmull. "All directors get really deep in their films." Sometimes you just need a different perspective to get the idea out. Sometimes directors ... are so deeply embedded in their ideas it actually takes someone else to finish it up. I would go so far as to argue that a lot of live-action films would be better off with that same process."

Peterson has been with Pixar since the original "Toy Story" as an animator. The news was a surprise even though Pixar has already had a history of directorial changes when the Creative Thrust is not satisfied with the outcome. No replacement has been named yet, and the development will lead to the project's further delay.

The Release sequence will now look like this: Disney is moving Maleficent up from July to May next year to plug the release gap, and Dinosaurwill waddle to the November 15, 2015 slot previously occupied by Finding Dory. Andrew Stanton's sequel, in turn, is headed to 2016.

Pixar used to release one film every year since 2006 (they had a gap in 2005). 2014 will break the streak.