Credit: Pixar Animation Studios
Disney has confirmed the rating for Inside Out 2 (2024), which will be released theatrically in mid-June.
The Success of Inside Out
In 2015, Disney and Pixar once again teamed up to bring fans a new story, this one taking audiences directly into the mind of a young girl.
Inside Out, directed by Pete Docter from a screenplay by himself, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley, brought Riley Andersen’s (Kaitlyn Dias) emotions to life as she and her mother and father–played by Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan, respectively–moved from Minnesota to San Francisco.
With Amy Poehler as Joy, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, Mindy Kaling as Disgust, Lewis Black as Anger, and Bill Hader as Fear, Inside Out boasted a stellar cast and captured over $850 million at the global box office.
The success of the Pixar film eventually spawned a sequel, which Poehler and Docter announced in late 2022 at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California.
Inside Out 2
Excitement has been building since the announcement. With the debut of new emotions and the confirmation that “puberty is in progress” for Riley (played by Kensington Tallman, who replaces Kaitlyn Dias in the role), the Inside Out sequel looks set to be the latest in a long–albeit turbulent–string of heartfelt storytelling.
Disney has now confirmed the rating for Inside Out 2. In an entry of Film Ratings, Inside Out 2 is rated PG for “some thematic elements.”
“Thematic elements” is a broad term, but what we already know about the Pixar sequel’s direction is that it will likely revolve around the trials and tribulations of adolescence and teenagehood.
New information surfaced recently regarding Inside Out 2. In “The Art of Disney Pixar’s Inside Out 2” (2024), Disney confirmed that Riley’s big adversary this time around would be Anxiety, played by Stranger Things and Maestro (2023) star Maya Hawke.
While Hawke’s Anxiety is not considered a villain but simply an antagonist, it suggests Pixar will follow the path the original film took nine years ago—that is, there will be no classic villain character. From the initial teaser trailer, a new character called Valentina “Val” Ortiz (Lilimar) will also join Riley at high school.
The book also revealed the cut elements from the animated sequel, including the Puberty Park location and the Shame emotion, which director Kelsey Mann previously stated made the film too heavy.
Inside Out and Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios is known for its emotional storytelling, maturity, and mindfulness. Commencing with Toy Story (1995) almost 30 years ago, Pixar has delivered some of the most applauded and awarded animated motion pictures of all time.
From Finding Nemo (2003) to The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007) to Up (2009), and Coco (2017) to Onward (2020), Pixar’s footprint in the animated field is dominant.
However, in recent years, Pixar has suffered criticism. During the pandemic, Disney opted to release its Pixar movies straight onto Disney+ but continued to do so after theaters had reopened. Luca (2021) and Turning Red (2022) were both sent directly to the streamer.
That changed in the summer of 2022 when Pixar made its big return and opened Lightyear in theaters. The Toy Story spinoff left little to be desired, becoming an enormous financial loss for the studio and garnering intense criticism from certain audiences for its inclusion of a same-sex relationship.
Related: Disney Serious About Pixar Cuts: Is ‘Toy Story 5’ in Trouble?
Elemental (2023) followed a year later with a low opening and was quick to be written off. Peter Sohn’s movie, however, became a sleeper hit and doubled its budget with $496 million in box office receipts.
Could Inside Out 2 follow this upward trajectory? Kelsey Mann’s movie already has a big, splashy predecessor to build on, and characters from the Inside Out universe still have a presence in the Disney parks, which seems to suggest that turnout will be positive.
As we have seen before, though, the content of the film could cause disruption.
Inside Out 2‘s confirmed exploration of puberty, as well as hints that Mann’s movie may deal with themes of identity and sexuality (some fans called Riley’s new emotion “lesbianism”), may cause the same viewers who took issue with Lightyear—and Turning Red, for that matter—to resent Disney and Pixar’s latest effort.
The news that Inside Out 2 will be rated PG is unsurprising, considering Disney and Pixar’s history, and will hopefully attract families to see the movie in theaters before its inevitable Disney+ debut.
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Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) will appear alongside the emotions fans already know and love. For Inside Out 2, Tony Hale and Liza Lapira replace Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling as Fear and Disgust, respectively.
Will you be heading out to see Inside Out 2 this June? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!
