'Lightyear' Full Trailer Blasts Off Into Uncharted Space
This summer Pixar will treat us to a brand new adventure for one of their most beloved characters- as you've never seen them before. Lightyear is the studio's first spin-off and features not the Buzz Lightyear we know from the Toy Story films but is a full-blown sci-fi adventure starring the 'real' Space Ranger. The film has prompted a lot of overthinking from fans, determined to try and work out how it fits into the Toy Story world, but you'll be better off if you just go with it: not everything has to be interconnected like a Marvel film.
Following up the very impressive and mood-setting teaser, the first full-length trailer gives us a closer look. Pixar describes it as "the definitive origin story for Buzz Lightyear" and will follow Buzz ( now voiced by Chris Evans) on an epic journey into uncharted space.
Joining Evans in the voice cast are Keke Palmer, Dale Soules and Taika Waititi as a group of Buzz's fellow ranger recruits. Pixar director Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur) will voice Sox, Buzz's robotic feline companion. The cast will also include the voices of Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Director Angus MacLane explains how he came up with the idea for Lightyear. " In Toy Story, there seemed to be this incredible backstory to him being a Space Ranger that’s only touched upon, and I always wanted to explore that world further," he said. " So my Lightyear pitch was, 'What was the movie that Andy saw that made him want a Buzz Lightyear toy?’ I wanted to see that movie. And now I’m lucky enough to get to make it.”
Visually, the film looks stunning, with a slightly more realistic- although still stylised- design approach that is a long way from the likes of Luca and the upcoming Turning Red. As Pixar's first sci-fi movie since Wall-E, this is looking very exciting.
It's sure to sound great too, as it has been announced that Michael Giacchino will be scoring the film. This will be the latest in a long history of collaborations between Giacchino and Pixar, with him having previously composed the scores for Up, both Incredibles films, Inside Out and Coco, among others.
The film is due to release on June 17. Notably, it does not specify where that release will be, whether it will be released in cinemas or follow the last three Pixar features straight to Disney Plus. Disney's recent decision to switch next month's Turning Red to their streaming platform could be seen to be from an abundance of caution relating to the unpredictable spread of the Omicron variant. However, others suspect that the studio may be planning on releasing all Pixar films that way from now on, a strategy that has many critics, not least the filmmakers at Pixar themselves.
As things stand, Lightyear is still set for a theatrical release, but whether this is set to change remains to be seen. Check out the brand new trailer below. A new poster was also released, that you can see above.
