Bolt (Release Date: November 26, 2008)

Wasting no time, Pixar will release their next movie in time for Christmas. This one will be about Bolt, the canine star of a TV show about a super-powered pup. The dog is accidentally shipped to New York and must find his way back to L.A., a tough journey made more difficult by the fact that Bolt believes that he actually has superpowers. The premise sounds funny, but a little worryingly conventional by Pixar’s standards. Add in the fact that lackluster voice talent like John Travolta and Mily Cyrus are involved and that the original director was fired from the project and you have a film that has the potential to be the company’s first cinematic failure. Of course, a director was fired off of Ratatouille as well and look how good that turned out.

Up (Release Date: May 29, 2009)

Up is set to be Pixar’s big summer release for 2009. Directed by Peter Doctor (Monsters Inc) Bob Peterson (co-writer onFinding Nemo, this whimsical adventure is about a 78-year-old man who abandons his quiet life for a series of adventures with an 8-year-old. They travel in a flying house to a variety of exotic locals around the world and presumably some funny and exciting adventures ensue. Most of the details about this project are being kept a secret by the Pixar crew, but given the talent involved and the originality of the premise, it’s hard to imagine this one being a failure.

Toy Story 3 (Release Date: June 18, 2010)

That’s right, in two years Pixar’s flagship franchise is set to become a trilogy. Coming ten years (!) after Toy Story 2, this latest movie will see what happens to Woody, Buzz and co. after their owner grows up, goes to university, and donates his toy collection to a daycare. The themes of abandonment and aging have been with the series since the beginning and this seems like the perfect concept to both revive the franchise and take it to a logical conclusion. Normally sequels produced this long after the release of the original films are a bad idea, but with this franchise and concept the gap in time feels completely appropriate. To gear up for this latest entry the company plans to release the first two Toy Story movies in IMAX 3-D, a thrilling thought for any Pixar fan. Given the time and energy the company puts into all of their efforts, this film is sure to be a worthy conclusion to the Toy Story franchise and is already one of the most anticipated movies of 2010.