Monsters University is a 2013 American animated comedy film directed by Dan Scanlon and written by Scanlon and the writing team of Dan Gerson and Robert L. Baird. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, it is a prequel to Monsters, Inc. (2001). Randy Newman composed the original score, returning from the first film. The film follows the main characters of Monsters, Inc., James P. "Sulley" Sullivan and Mike Wazowski, and their experience in college leading to them becoming best friends. Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Bob Peterson and John Ratzenberger reprise their roles from the first film, while Bonnie Hunt voices a different character. Helen Mirren, Peter Sohn, Joel Murray, Sean Hayes, Dave Foley, Charlie Day and Nathan Fillion join the voice cast.
Disney, as the rights holder, had plans for a sequel to Monsters, Inc. since 2005. Following disagreements with Pixar, Disney tasked its Circle 7 Animation unit to make the film. An early draft of the film was developed, but Disney's purchase of Pixar in January 2006 led to the cancellation of Circle 7's version of the film. A Pixar-made sequel was confirmed in 2010 and in 2011, it was announced that the film would instead be a prequel titled Monsters University.
Monsters University premiered on June 5, 2013, at the BFI Southbank in London, England, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 21, accompanied by a short film titled The Blue Umbrella. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $743 million worldwide against its $200 million production budget, making it the seventh highest-grossing film of 2013. Additionally, an animated short tie-in film titled Party Central was released theatrically with Muppets Most Wanted in 2014.
Plot
A young Mike Wazowski visits the Monsters Inc. factory on a class field trip to learn about how "scarers" harness human children's screams for energy to power the monster world. He secretly follows scarer Frank McCay through a door to the human world to watch him work; Frank is concerned by Mike's recklessness but impressed by his stealth, and gives him his Monsters University (MU) cap.
Years later, Mike enrolls in MU's scaring program and Randall "Randy" Boggs is assigned as his roommate. On the first day of class, Abigail Hardscrabble, the dean of the scaring program and president of MU, warns that students who fail the final exam at the end of the semester will leave the program. Mike then meets James P. "Sulley" Sullivan, the son of a famous scarer. Sulley gets into the top fraternity on campus, RΩR (Roar Omega Roar), which rejects Mike for not looking scary enough. Over the next few months, Mike works and studies hard to improve himself while Sulley slacks off, relying on his family name and natural talent. An intense rivalry gradually forms between Mike and Sulley throughout the semester, eventually leading the duo to inadvertently break Hardscrabble's prized scream canister on exam day. She personally tests and fails them both; Sulley for haste and lack of technical knowledge, and Mike for not looking scary enough. Sulley is also kicked out of RΩR.
The next semester, both Sulley and Mike enter the scream can design program; Sulley blames Mike for what happened. Determined to prove his worth, Mike enters the annual Scare Games with OK (Oozma Kappa), a small fraternity of misfits who have also failed the scare program, as his team. He negotiates with Hardscrabble: if OK wins, they and Mike will return to the scare program; otherwise, Mike must leave MU. Mike reluctantly accepts Sulley's offer to join the team after Randy ends his friendship with Mike by joining RΩR. Mike and Sulley's squabbling leads to OK placing last in the first round, but another team is disqualified for cheating, allowing OK to avoid elimination. They also barely pass the second round, and the RΩRs invite OK to a mid-game party, only to humiliate them and post pictures of the prank all over campus.
Mike secretly helps the discouraged OK by taking them on a trip to Monsters Inc., where they watch scarers using their differences as advantages. After being discovered and chased off by security, the rejuvenated team begins working together under Mike's coaching, and passes the next two challenges right behind RΩR. For the final challenge, OK and RΩR face off in a simulator in 1v1 matches, each member trying to frighten a dummy child. OK wins after Mike racks up a maximum score with his scare.
Mike later discovers that Sulley had rigged the simulator's settings to guarantee a winning score on Mike's turn; the disappointed members of OK discard the trophy as Sulley admits responsibility to Hardscrabble, who scolds and expels him for his betrayal. Frustrated by Sulley's lack of faith in him, and determined to prove he is scary, Mike breaks into the school's door lab and sneaks through an experimental door to the human world into a summer camp cabin full of children; however, to his horror, none of them are afraid of him. Feeling responsible for Mike's predicament, Sulley sneaks past security and Hardscrabble to pursue Mike. Sulley admits to Mike his own fears of inadequacy, and they reconcile as Hardscrabble deactivates the door to keep any humans from passing through. Mike and Sulley collaborate to scare a group of park rangers, creating enough energy to power the door from their side, and pass through just before it explodes.
Mike and Sulley are expelled from MU for their actions, but the other OK members are reinstated into the scaring program. As Mike and Sulley leave, an impressed Hardscrabble wishes them well, and orders them to keep surprising people. The duo begin working for Monsters Inc. in the mailroom, and over the years work their way up through the company's ranks until Sulley becomes a scarer, with Mike as his scare assistant.
Voice cast
Billy Crystal as Michael "Mike" Wazowski Noah Johnston as Young Mike John Goodman as James P. "Sulley" Sullivan Steve Buscemi as Randall "Randy" Boggs Peter Sohn as Scott "Squishy" Squibbles, an Oozma Kappa fraternity member. Joel Murray as Don Carlton, a middle-aged returning student and the founding member and president of Oozma Kappa fraternity. Sean P. Hayes and Dave Foley as Terri and Terry Perry, Oozma Kappa fraternity members who share each other's body Charlie Day as Art, an Oozma Kappa fraternity member. Helen Mirren as Dean Abigail Hardscrabble, the chair of the Scarer program and president at Monsters University. Alfred Molina as Professor Derek Knight, the "Scaring 101" professor for Hardscrabble's Scarer program. Tyler Labine as Brock Pearson, Greek Council vice-president who commentates the Scare Games with Claire. Nathan Fillion as Johnny J. Worthington III, president of Roar Omega Roar fraternity. Aubrey Plaza as Claire Wheeler, Greek Council President who commentates the Scare Games with Brock. Bobby Moynihan as Chet Alexander, a fraternity member and vice-president of Roar Omega Roar. Julia Sweeney as Sheri Squibbles, Scott's mother. Bonnie Hunt as Karen Graves, Mike's teacher. John Krasinski as "Frightening" Frank McCay, a scarer who inspires a young Mike to follow him into the profession. Bill Hader as a referee and a slug-like monster. Bob Peterson as Roz John Ratzenberger as The Yeti, a Monsters, Inc. mailroom employee.
Kelsey Grammer was originally announced to voice Henry J. Waternoose III in the film, replacing James Coburn from the original film due to his death in 2002. The character was ultimately cut from the film.
Production
Development
Early development; Circle Seven Animation sequel Plans for a second Monsters, Inc. film existed since 2002. Following disagreements between Disney CEO Michael Eisner and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs, Disney—which owned the rights to make sequels to all of Pixar's films up to and including Cars—announced that a sequel to Monsters, Inc. would be made by Disney's Circle 7 Animation studio, which was also working on early drafts of Toy Story 3 and Finding Nemo 2. Titled Monsters, Inc. 2: Lost in Scaradise, the film would have focused on Mike and Sulley visiting the human world to give Boo a birthday present, only to find that she had moved. After getting trapped in the human world, Mike and Sulley would split up after disagreeing on what to do. Screenwriters Rob Muir and Bob Hilgenberg were hired to write a script for the film, and storyboarded an early draft of it. Disney's change of management in late 2005—in which Eisner was replaced by Bob Iger led to renewed negotiations with Pixar, and in January 2006 Disney announced it had purchased the studio. The Disney-owned sequel rights were then transferred to Pixar, leading to the cancellation of Muir and Hilgenberg's version of the film and the subsequent closure of Circle 7.
Development as prequel A Pixar-made follow-up was confirmed in 2010. The film was originally planned for release on November 16, 2012, but the release was moved up to November 2, 2012, to avoid competition with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2. On March 29, 2011, it was announced that the film would be a prequel and the title Monsters University was announced. On April 4, 2011, due to Pixar's past success with summer releases, according to a Disney executive it was confirmed that the film would be released on June 21, 2013.
The feature was directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae. Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Bob Peterson, and John Ratzenberger reprised their roles, and Bonnie Hunt voiced a new character. New voice castings included Dave Foley, Sean Hayes, Julia Sweeney, Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, Peter Sohn, Charlie Day, Joel Murray, Nathan Fillion, Aubrey Plaza, Tyler Labine, John Krasinski, Bill Hader, Bobby Moynihan, and Beth Behrs.
The plot of Monsters University details Mike and Sulley's first meeting, contradicting a scene from the original film in which Mike tells Sulley "You've been jealous of my good looks since the fourth grade." Scanlon said he had a dilemma with this line during pre-production, but he believed it was best if Mike and Sulley meet in college because, "we wanted to see their relationship develop when they were adults. And we also felt like college is so much about self-discovery and figuring out who you are." He added, "It felt like the perfect place to do this, but we had that line. So we tried versions where they met young and then we skipped ahead to college. And we knew we didn't want to make Monsters Elementary." Scanlon said during pre-production that, "Pete Docter, the original director, and John Lasseter ... finally said to me, 'it's great that you're honoring that, but you have to do what's right for the story.' So we made a tough decision to just have them be in college and put that line aside." Scanlon joked that the line from the first film was "an old monster expression", saying, "That's what monsters always say to each other."
Animation Monsters University is the first Pixar film that used global illumination, a new lighting system introduced as part of the overhaul of the rendering system used since the first Toy Story film. In the planning stage of the film director of photography, Jean-Claude Kalache, asked "What if we made these lights just work?" Before the new system, artists had to build reflections and shadows manually which became increasingly complex as the models and the setups became more technologically advanced. The new lighting system uses path tracing, a technique that imitates the behavior of the light in the real world; this automatized the process, delivered more realism, produced soft shadows, and let the artist spend more time on models and complex scenes – some of which contained thousands of light sources.