After the massive critical and monetary success of Incredibles 2, which grossed $180 million on its opening weekend, Brad Bird discussed the possibility of a third Incredibles film being in the works.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bird, the director of The Incredibles films, went into detail about the Parr family’s future on screen, referring to the vague idiom “never say never.” If a third Incredibles film were to be made, Bird also explored the possibility of adding characters that were written for The Incredibles sequel, but never made it into the final version.
“We storyboarded, and we designed characters, and they’re really good! Some of them were really funny and cool and explored certain things. You know, you never say never, because there might be an opportunity to use it. Maybe the idea shows up in a different film. There was an idea I had for an animated version of The Spirit that I ended up using in The Iron Giant. You never know how these things are going to get repurposed. There were a lot of ideas that we had on this film that could be [used]… whether it’s another Incredibles film, or something else.”
Because Pixar moved the release date up for Incredibles 2, switching it with the release date for Toy Story 4, the animated super-hero film lost a year of production time and, with it, a lot of the planning was scrapped. According to Bird, Incredibles 2 had a crazy production schedule and, because of this, adjustments had to be made to the film.
“It’s like the episode of I Love Lucy when she’s got the candies piling up on the conveyer belt. This film was like that. They took a year off our schedule, so if an idea didn’t work quickly, you had to just kill the darling and move onto the next. And I killed like a city full of darlings.”
While a third Incredibles film hasn’t been officially announced, theories have been circulating and exploring what a third Incredibles movie would look like, including one suggestion by Samuel L. Jackson, who voices Frozone in The Incredibles films. Instead of a film that chronologically follows the sequel, Jackson explored the idea of a prequel that explains how Mr. Incredible and Frozone met.
“That would be cool, to know why Lucius is this lovable uncle figure, and how long he and Bob have known each other and what kind of things did they get into? Did they meet because they were superheroes? Did they meet one night by accident? Or did they just meet naturally and come to find out, "Oh, you’re a hero, too!”
Even if a third film hasn’t been officially green lit by Pixar, with this past record-breaking weekend, it’s safe to say we may be expecting an announcement soon.
Incredibles 2 is now playing in theaters!