As the Oscars quickly approach, all eyes will be on the five films competing for the gold: How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Boxtrolls, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Song of the Sea, and, of course, Big Hero 6.
The first Disney-animated film based (very loosely) on a Marvel property, the news surrounding the possibility of a sequel has been making its rounds for a while. This news is not particularly surprising, given that Disney has entertained the possibility of sequels to films like Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen. When previously approached about the idea of a sequel, Directors Don Hall and Chris Williams weren’t very forthcoming. But now, a recent news report has revealed that, while they remain tight-lipped on the issue, they have cracked the door open just a little wider on the prospect.
According to an article by Screen Rant (and stemming from an interview by Creative Screenwriting), when once again approached with the idea of another Big Hero 6 film, the filmmakers typically shrugged it off. This time, however, Chris Williams emphasized just how exhausting the process of making the first film was:
“[Laughs] We’ll see. We just finished this one, and the truth is, we’re exhausted from the ordeal of making it. It was really fun, but it was long hours, and it was pretty intense. It’s a pretty emotional time for us. These are characters that we’ve grown to know very well, now it’s time to let go of them, and they’re going into the world without us. We’re in the middle of that phase. So we haven’t talked about or thought about any sequels or anything like that. Having said that, of course, we love these characters, and the thought of working with them again some day definitely has its appeal.”
Don Hall later added to Williams’ comment, bringing up John Lasseter’s philosophy regarding sequels:
“[Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter’s] very supportive of the directors, and he won’t force them to put out a sequel unless they have a story their really excited about. It has to feel like a story that really has to be told, or deserves to be told. It can’t just be cashing in on the success of a previous film.”
Compare this to the discussions that were happening for the proposed sequel to Wreck-It Ralph. Of course, even those discussions seem to have slowed to a crawl. If sequel negotiations are indeed happening for Big Hero 6, they make take their sweet time as well.
That said, it’s not like we won’t be exploring the world of Big Hero 6 again in other forms of media. Joe Books announced last year that he was developing a line of comic books and novels set in the world of the film. Assuming the comic books and novels will start rolling out within the year, fans of the film should be sure to keep an eye out for them.
Big Hero 6 will be available for DVD/Blu-ray and all digital platforms on February 24.
What do you think? Any ideas on how a Big Hero 6 sequel should go?
Edited by: Hannah Wilkes
