Incredibles 2: How the Superhero Movie Boom Affected the FIlm

CBR

How the Superhero Movie Renaissance Affected Pixar's Incredibles 2

By Albert Ching

Published Apr 16, 2018

The world changed in a big way for superhero movies between 2004 and 2018, and Brad Bird talked how that affected Incredibles 2.

When Pixar's first Incredibles movie was released in 2004, it was a different time for superhero movies. Sure, there were big hits like the X-Men films, Blade and the first Spider-Man film, but the genre had yet to dominate the way it does today, with movies like Marvel Studios' Black Panther shattering box office records.

Of course, now superheroes aren't just ubiquitous in film, but on television, as well. So with Incredibles 2 headed to theaters on June 15, audiences will have much different expectations for a superhero movie, even one with the undeniably distinct Pixar touch. At a press event earlier this month in Pixar's Emeryville, California headquarters, Incredibles 2 director and writer Brad Bird talked to outlets including CBR about how the shifting superhero landscape affected his approach to the sequel versus the 2004 original.

"On some level, it’s kind of like going out to the football field and there’s been way too many games on it," Bird told the press. "There’s just kind of this dry dirt with a few spritz of grass and everything’s kind of clunky and life doesn’t grow there anymore. So, there’s that aspect, where you feel like, 'Oh Jesus, it’s really been covered.' It kinda reminds me of the way Westerns were in the late ‘50s where if you had a television, 95 pecent of what was on was a Western. We’re in that phase a little bit, and it makes it very challenging on a story level because not only do you have every superhero under the sun and cross-promoting films and blah, blah, blah, blah, but you also have a bunch of television shows."

Unsurprisingly, though, the glut of superhero entertainment didn't ultimately deter Bird and the Incredibles 2 team, who still saw plenty of room to tell their family-centric animated superhero story.

"It’s easy to freak out and go, 'Why even try? Everybody’s got everything done to death,' but I return to what makes us unique, and it’s this idea of a family and that superheroes have to hide their abilities," Bird continued. "And those things actually are unique to us, and there’s plenty left to explore."

Producer John Walker added that even though Incredibles 2 stars a family of costumed adventurers, to strictly define it as a superhero movie may be limiting to the story that they're telling.

"When we were trying to sell the idea of the first Incredibles, one of the criticisms of it was, 'What is it? Is it a family movie, is it a spy movie, is it a superhero movie? We don’t know. What is it? You gotta pick one,'" Walker told reporters. "And I think that’s been the strength of both the films is that they are all those things and it isn’t rooted in just the superhero genre."

Directed and written by Brad Bird, Incredibles 2 is scheduled for release in theaters on June 15. Keep reading CBR for more on the film.