Twenty-five years after Monsters, Inc. hit theaters, two of its original sequel writers are lobbying Disney and Pixar to dust off a script that never made it past development.
Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir wrote a follow-up to the 2001 film years before Monsters University ever existed. Titled Lost in Scaradise, their version of Monsters, Inc. 2 would have seen Mike Wazowski getting married, Sulley earning a promotion at the company, and an older Boo returning to reconnect with the monsters who once protected her. Speaking with TheWrap, the pair said they still stand firmly behind the work.
“We stand by that script, we’re very proud of it,” Muir said. “It’s one of those things where, when we were writing it, everything was falling into place. It was a labor of love and we were very passionate about it. We wanted to make sure we stuck with the Pixar brand. Our goal was, when somebody read the script, to not know if we were influenced by Pixar or not.”
Why the Script Got Shelved
The timing of Hilgenberg and Muir’s script placed it in the middle of a rocky stretch between Disney and Pixar, back when the two were still separate companies. Steve Jobs, then running Pixar, reportedly clashed with Disney CEO Michael Eisner over Eisner’s claim that sequels didn’t count toward the studios’ distribution agreement. Pixar needed additional films to satisfy its side of the deal, while Disney viewed demands from creatives like chief creative officer John Lasseter as unworkable.
That standoff led Eisner to greenlight Circle 7, a Disney-owned animation studio built to produce sequels to the Disney-Pixar films without Pixar’s involvement. Hilgenberg and Muir were brought on to write both Monsters, Inc. 2 and Toy Story 3 for Circle 7. But once Disney acquired Pixar outright, the Circle 7 plan collapsed, Pixar’s own take on Toy Story 3 moved forward instead, and the writers’ Monsters, Inc. script was set aside indefinitely.
More than two decades later, Hilgenberg and Muir haven’t given up hope. “Call Pixar, tell them to make our version,” Hilgenberg said. “Show up with signs, Bob and Rob’s draft!”
Where a Monsters, Inc. Follow-Up Stands Today
The renewed push comes roughly four months after reports surfaced that Pixar was quietly developing a third Monsters, Inc. film, though the studio has not confirmed those reports. As of now, Pixar’s only officially announced upcoming releases are Gatto in 2027 and Incredibles 3 in 2028.
The world of Monsters, Inc. has continued on screen in the meantime through Monsters at Work, the Disney+ series that ran for 20 episodes across two seasons starting in 2021. That show, produced by Disney Television Animation rather than Pixar, picks up with Mike and Sulley running the company as it shifts from scream power to laughter power. If a third theatrical film does move forward, whether built from Hilgenberg and Muir’s script or an entirely new one, it remains unclear whether Monsters at Work would factor into the story at all.
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