'The Incredibles 2' Moves Up to Summer 2018; 'Toy Story 4' Pushed to 2019

It took until 2004 for the studio to make humans — not animals, inanimate objects or creatures — the stars of a movie, and under Brad Bird 's direction it worked. While the story of a family of superheroes arrived well before comic book-sourced yarns grew overfamiliar, the film can't help but suffer in comparison to The Iron Giant, Bird's brilliant non-Pixar debut. That film was the Platonic ideal of a certain kind of animated film; this one was merely excellent.

The two Pixar films are swapping release dates.

Disney has changed release dates for two high-profile Pixar sequels.

The Incredibles 2 will now hit theaters on June 15, 2018, while Toy Story 4 will hit theaters on June 21, 2019. The two films are swapping dates due to an accelerated production schedule for Incredibles 2, according to Disney insiders.

Oscar-winning director Brad Bird is helming Incredibles 2, the follow-up to his hit 2004 film that grossed north of $633 million globally following its early November launch, including $261.4 million domestically. Its $70.4 million launch domestically was the second-biggest opening at the time for an animated title.

The mid-June corridor has always been a favorite landing place for Pixar movies. Toy Story 3 debuted on June 18, 2010, on its way to earning a record-breaking $1.067 billion at the global box office, becoming the first animated movie to join the billion-dollar club, not accounting for inflation. (Disney Animation Studios' Frozen and Zootopia and Pixar's Finding Dory, along with Universal and Illumination Entertainment's Minions, would later become members of that club as well.)

Pixar has been cautious when it comes to making sequels. Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger announced the Incredibles 2 sequel in March 2014, a full decade after the first film played in theaters.