We’ve been hearing various things about “The Incredibles 2” over the last few months, including some worrying rumors about possible developments around some characters. And now, Brad Bird has finally come out to confirm that the film is in its animation stage at the moment, and it’s apparently scheduled for a release in 2019, according to an official report.
Previously, we heard that Brad Bird had been facing lots of issues trying to figure out an adequate direction for the story of the new film, and it looks like the director has finally managed to overcome that problem and knows where he wants to take the story.
According to Bird himself, the new film could also explore some new directions for the style of “The Incredibles”, and might be a bit different from the original. Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen, but it’s important to remember that fans of the first film will have grown up a bit by the time the sequel comes out, so it might indeed need a fresh coat of paint to keep it interesting for them.
Apparently, the new film will tell a more personal story, and not so much a superhero one. There will still be special abilities and everything fans came to love in the first film (or at least that’s the implication we got ourselves), but there will be a stronger focus on developing the relationships between characters, and fleshing everyone in a more believable way.
Previously, there were rumors that the new film will focus on Jack-Jack, jumping forward in time and showing him as a troubled teenager who’s trying to come to terms with his powers. According to those rumors, Jack-Jack would then find himself under the wing of a villain, following in his footsteps and becoming evil himself.
That hasn’t been confirmed or denied yet, but it could fall in line with what we’re hearing about the new direction of the film now. A story like that could be a great exposition for not only Jack-Jack, but other characters as well.
Brad Bird did specify that the team is trying to explore the idea of how people react to having superpowers, and how they put them to good (or not) use. This further gave some fans the impression that the director is planning to feature Jack-Jack in a troubled state, and we might see an interesting story about how superheroes come to terms with what they’re capable of.
It’s still not clear if Jack-Jack will be the main villain of the story, or merely a sidekick to the actual bad guy. Both could be viable directions for the plot, and the writers could use the opportunity to explore the character of Jack-Jack as a counterpart to someone else coming up against him.
It’s also possible that the story of the new film could be a bit darker and more serious compared to the original “The Incredibles”. We already pointed out a good reason for that above, but there are even more indicators for this.
The industry as a whole has been constantly evolving, and films today tend to have a different tone than those produced some years ago. Especially in the superhero genre, we’ve seen some interesting shifts in new directions, and there seems to be a stronger focus on telling a deep, personal story right now, compared to filling the screen with flashy effects.