Del. natives have projects on horizon

Following up something like, say, the recent box-office smash "Wall*E" seems like an almost impossible task. But when you're Jim Morris (TH '73), the film's producer and executive vice president of Pixar Animation, it's no sweat.

The 53-year-old New Castle native has several projects lined up into 2011, and in all of them he serves as production executive.

Next is "Up," an animated action-adventure buddy movie from Pete Docter, the man behind "Monsters Inc." The flick, which follows a 76-year-old man and a young wilderness ranger, is due out in May 2009.

"You'll come out with tears in your eyes," Morris said.

Fall 2009 begins a big run for the "Toy Story" series: A 3D version of the original film comes out in September 2009, followed by a 3D version of "Toy Story 2" in February 2010 and, finally, "Toy Story 3," which reunites all of the original cast (Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, etc.) in the summer of 2010 and even brings in some new big names.

"Everybody's back for that one," Morris said. "It's a fantastic film. I think people are going to be really gratified and satisfied with that."

And this should rev up kids' engines everywhere: Morris is already working on "Cars 2," which hits the highway in summer 2011.

By PETER BOTHUM • The News Journal • November 14, 2008
Reprinted with permission of The News Journal