The Good Dinosaur (lost original version of Pixar animated film; 2011-2013): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 22:25, 19 March 2024

An early version of The Good Dinosaur logo.

Status: Lost

The Good Dinosaur is an animated movie produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures in November 2015. Directed by Peter Sohn and based on a story by Pixar veteran Bob Peterson, the movie takes place in an alternate history of Earth where dinosaurs never went extinct and coexisted with cavemen. Despite being well-received by critics and viewers, the movie underperformed at the box office, making it Pixar’s lowest-grossing movie to date.

The movie is notorious for its troubled development, as it got several revisions halfway through production due to creative difficulties, which ultimately led to the departure of its original director, Bob Peterson, resulting in several delays, as well the recasting of almost all the actors in the movie.

Background

Bob Peterson was originally set to direct this movie, making it his debut as a solo director, after co-directing 2009’s Up with Pete Docter. Development on the movie started as far back as 2009 and it was officially announced in 2011, under the title "The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs", then slated for a November 27th, 2013 release. In April 2012, Pixar moved its release date to May 30th, 2014, with Disney’s Frozen taking over its previous slot. Due to creative differences and problems regarding the screenplay, in the summer of 2013, Bob Peterson, and producer John Walker, left the production of the movie, the latter leaving the project to work with longtime collaborator Brad Bird on Tomorrowland.^[1]

In August 2013, at the D23 Expo, footage of The Good Dinosaur was shown, depicting both Arlo and Spot, the former being a lot bigger in this early version. The original cast was revealed on that same day. ^[2]

Producer Denise Ream, who replaced Walker, stated that by the time she joined the production team, Bob Peterson and Peter Sohn were already reworking the script. After Peterson left, Sohn worked extensively on rewriting the entire script throughout the last months of 2013. The revision ultimately delayed the release of the movie to November 25th, 2015. ^[3] In August 2014, John Lithgow confirmed that the The Good Dinosaur was retooled from the ground up and it required new recording sessions. However, Lithgow’s character, alongside almost every character in the movie, were recast.^[4] ^[5]

Key Changes

While the movie’s concept stood the same, the most notable aspect in The Good Dinosaur’s presentation was Arlo’s size in the original version, in which he was huge right next to Spot. It was later decided that Arlo should be scaled down, for Sohn compared the original version of Arlo to a human whose best friend was a bee. As a result of that, both Arlo and his brothers were de-aged in the final version.^[6]

The original script had three storylines, including Arlo’s, one about a village of humans, presumably one where Spot came from, and an unspecified third one, all three of them were too complex to wrap everything together in a coherent narrative. Ultimately the script was stripped down to solely focus on the “boy and his dog” story in order to stay true to Bob Peterson’s original concept.^[7]

Casting

Perhaps the most well-known revision of The Good Dinosaur was the casting.

Lucas Neff was the original voice actor for Arlo. He was replaced by Raymond Ochoa;
John Lithgow was the original voice of Poppa Henry, Arlo’s father. He was replaced by Jeffrey Wright;
Arlo’s three siblings were voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, Judy Greer and Bill Hader. They were then cut down to just two siblings, Buck and Libby, voiced by Marcus Scribner and Maleah Padilla, respectively.

Despite having to record new lines for the movie, Frances McDormand was the only actress to retain her role, as Momma Ida, Arlo’s mother.

Availability

Apart from concept art and promotional images, no footage nor the script from Bob Peterson’s version of The Good Dinosaur have surfaced to date. The test footage shown at D23 Expo 2013 remains lost as well.

Gallery

Promotional Art

Teaser poster.
Promotional banner.

Concept Art

Early version of Spot at D23 Expo.
Concept art of Cliff, Arlo's brother.
Concept art of Forrest (Arlo's other brother), Ivy (Arlo's sister) and Arlo.

Other

Screengrab of the Pixar movie Monsters University, from 2013, where the early version of Arlo makes a cameo appearance in toy form.

↑ L.A. Times article about Bob Peterson leaving the team of The Good Dinosaur. Retrieved 07 Dec '19
↑ Article about The Good Dinosaur's D23 Expo's test footage. Retrieved 07 Dec '19
↑ Collider's interview with Denise Ream. Retrieved 07 Dec '19
↑ Collider's interview with John Lithgow. Retrieved 07 Dec '19
↑ Oh My Disney! article about the movie's new casting. Retrieved 07 Dec '19
↑ Oh My Disney!'s interview with Peter Sohn. Retrieved 07 Dec '19
↑ Gizmodo's article about the development of The Good Dinosaur. Retrieved 07 Dec '19

[1] L.A. Times article about Bob Peterson leaving the team of The Good Dinosaur. Retrieved 07 Dec '19

[2] Article about The Good Dinosaur's D23 Expo's test footage. Retrieved 07 Dec '19

[3] Collider's interview with Denise Ream. Retrieved 07 Dec '19

[4] Collider's interview with John Lithgow. Retrieved 07 Dec '19

[5] Oh My Disney! article about the movie's new casting. Retrieved 07 Dec '19

[6] Oh My Disney!'s interview with Peter Sohn. Retrieved 07 Dec '19

[7] Gizmodo's article about the development of The Good Dinosaur. Retrieved 07 Dec '19

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{LMW
+{{InfoboxLost
-|title=The Good Dinosaur
+|title=<center>The Good Dinosaur (original version)</center>
-|description=lost original version of animated Pixar movie
-|startyear=2011
-|timeframe=Yes
-|endyear=2013
 |image=The Good Dinosaur Potential Logo.png
-|imagecaption=An early version of ''The Good Dinosaur'' Logo
+|imagecaption=An early version of ''The Good Dinosaur'' logo.
-|status=Lost
+|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
-|category=Lost animation; Lost films
 }}
-The ''Good Dinosaur'' is an animated movie produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures in November 2015. Directed by Peter Sohn and based on a story by Pixar veteran Bob Peterson, the movie takes place in an alternate history of Earth where dinosaurs never went extinct and coexisted with cavemen. Despite being well received by critics and viewers, the movie underperformed at the box office, making it Pixar’s lowest grossing movie to date.
+''The Good Dinosaur'' is an animated movie produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures in November 2015. Directed by Peter Sohn and based on a story by Pixar veteran Bob Peterson, the movie takes place in an alternate history of Earth where dinosaurs never went extinct and coexisted with cavemen. Despite being well-received by critics and viewers, the movie underperformed at the box office, making it Pixar’s lowest-grossing movie to date.
-The movie is notorious for its troubled development, as it got several revisions halfway through production due to creative difficulties, which ultimately lead to the departure of its original director, Bob Peterson, resulting in several delays, as well the recasting of almost all the characters in the movie.
+The movie is notorious for its troubled development, as it got several revisions halfway through production due to creative difficulties, which ultimately led to the departure of its original director, Bob Peterson, resulting in several delays, as well the recasting of almost all the actors in the movie.
 ==Background==
+Bob Peterson was originally set to direct this movie, making it his debut as a solo director, after co-directing 2009’s ''Up'' with Pete Docter. Development on the movie started as far back as 2009 and it was officially announced in 2011, under the title '''"The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs"''', then slated for a November 27th, 2013 release. In April 2012, Pixar moved its release date to May 30th, 2014, with Disney’s ''Frozen'' taking over its previous slot. Due to creative differences and problems regarding the screenplay, in the summer of 2013, Bob Peterson, and producer John Walker, left the production of the movie, the latter leaving the project to work with longtime collaborator Brad Bird on ''Tomorrowland''.<ref>[https://latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-pixar-director-20130831-story.html L.A. Times article about Bob Peterson leaving the team of ''The Good Dinosaur''.] Retrieved 07 Dec '19</ref>
-Bob Peterson was originally set to direct this movie, making it his debut as a solo director, after co-directing 2009’s ''Up'' with Pete Docter. Development on the movie started as far back as 2009 and it was officially announced in 2011, under the title '''"The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs"''', then slated for a November 27 2013 release. In April 2012, Pixar moved its release date to May 30 2014, with Disney’s Frozen taking over its previous slot. Due to creative differences and problems regarding the screenplay, in summer 2013, Bob Peterson, as well producer John Walker, left the production of the movie, the latter leaving the project to work with longtime collaborator Brad Bird on ''Tomorrowland''. <ref>[https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-pixar-director-20130831-story.html| L.A. Times article about Bob Peterson leaving the team of The Good Dinosaur.] Retrieved, 07 Dec' 19 </ref>
 In August 2013, at the D23 Expo, footage of ''The Good Dinosaur'' was shown, depicting both Arlo and Spot, the former being a lot bigger in this early version. The original cast was revealed on that same day.
-<ref>[https://www.firstshowing.net/2013/d23-reveals-first-look-at-pixars-the-good-dinosaur-voice-cast/| Article about The Good Dinosaur's D23 Expo's test footage.] Retrieved, 07 Dec' 19</ref>
+<ref>[https://www.firstshowing.net/2013/d23-reveals-first-look-at-pixars-the-good-dinosaur-voice-cast/ Article about ''The Good Dinosaur'''s D23 Expo's test footage.] Retrieved 07 Dec '19</ref>
-Producer Denise Ream, who replaced Walker, stated that by the time she joined the production team, Bob Peterson and Peter Sohn were already reworking the script. After Peterson left, Sohn worked extensively on rewriting the entire script throughout the last months of 2013. The revision ultimately delayed the release of the movie to November 25 2015.
+Producer Denise Ream, who replaced Walker, stated that by the time she joined the production team, Bob Peterson and Peter Sohn were already reworking the script. After Peterson left, Sohn worked extensively on rewriting the entire script throughout the last months of 2013. The revision ultimately delayed the release of the movie to November 25th, 2015.
-<ref>[https://collider.com/good-dinosaur-producer-denise-ream-interview-pixar-movie/| Collider.com's interview with Denise Ream.] Retrieved 07 Dec' 19 </ref>
+<ref>[https://collider.com/good-dinosaur-producer-denise-ream-interview-pixar-movie/ Collider's interview with Denise Ream.] Retrieved 07 Dec '19</ref>
-In August 2014, John Lithgow confirmed that the ''The Good Dinosaur'' was retooled from the ground up and it required new recording sessions. However, Lithgow’s character, alongside almost every character in the movie, were recast.<ref>[https://collider.com/the-good-dinosaur-story-details-john-lithgow/| Collider.com's interview with John Lithgow.] Retrieved 07 Dec' 19</ref>
+In August 2014, John Lithgow confirmed that the ''The Good Dinosaur'' was retooled from the ground up and it required new recording sessions. However, Lithgow’s character, alongside almost every character in the movie, were recast.<ref>[https://collider.com/the-good-dinosaur-story-details-john-lithgow/ Collider's interview with John Lithgow.] Retrieved 07 Dec '19</ref>
-<ref>[https://ohmy.disney.com/insider/2015/06/12/meet-the-new-cast-of-disneypixars-the-good-dinosaur/| Oh My Disney! article about the movie's new casting.] Retrieved 07 Dec' 19</ref>
+<ref>[https://ohmy.disney.com/insider/2015/06/12/meet-the-new-cast-of-disneypixars-the-good-dinosaur/ Oh My Disney! article about the movie's new casting.] Retrieved 07 Dec '19</ref>
-==Key changes==
+==Key Changes==
-While the movie’s concept stood the same, the most notable aspect in The Good Dinosaur’s presentation was Arlo’s size in the original version, in which he was huge right next to Spot. It was later decided that Arlo should be scaled down, for Sohn compared the original version of Arlo to a human whose best friend was a bee. As a result of that, both Arlo and his brothers were de-aged in the final version.<ref>[https://ohmy.disney.com/insider/2016/02/24/director-peter-sohn-on-the-evolution-of-the-good-dinosaur/| Oh My Disney!'s interview with Peter Sohn.] Retrieved, 07 Dec' 19</ref>
+While the movie’s concept stood the same, the most notable aspect in ''The Good Dinosaur''’s presentation was Arlo’s size in the original version, in which he was huge right next to Spot. It was later decided that Arlo should be scaled down, for Sohn compared the original version of Arlo to a human whose best friend was a bee. As a result of that, both Arlo and his brothers were de-aged in the final version.<ref>[https://ohmy.disney.com/insider/2016/02/24/director-peter-sohn-on-the-evolution-of-the-good-dinosaur/ Oh My Disney!'s interview with Peter Sohn.] Retrieved 07 Dec '19</ref>
-The original script had three storylines, including Arlo’s, one about a village of humans, presumably one where Spot came from, and an unspecified third one, all three of them were too complex to wrap everything together in a coherent narrative. Ultimately the script was stripped down to solely focus on the “boy and his dog” story in order to stay true to Bob Peterson’s original concept.<ref>[https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-pixar-rescued-the-good-dinosaur-from-creative-extin-1740125117| Gizmodo's article about the development of ''The Good Dinosaur''.] Retrieved, 07 Dec' 19</ref>
+The original script had three storylines, including Arlo’s, one about a village of humans, presumably one where Spot came from, and an unspecified third one, all three of them were too complex to wrap everything together in a coherent narrative. Ultimately the script was stripped down to solely focus on the “boy and his dog” story in order to stay true to Bob Peterson’s original concept.<ref>[https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-pixar-rescued-the-good-dinosaur-from-creative-extin-1740125117 Gizmodo's article about the development of ''The Good Dinosaur''.] Retrieved 07 Dec '19</ref>
 ===Casting===
-Perhaps the most well known revision of The Good Dinosaur was the casting.
+Perhaps the most well-known revision of ''The Good Dinosaur'' was the casting.
 *Lucas Neff was the original voice actor for Arlo. He was replaced by Raymond Ochoa;
 *John Lithgow was the original voice of Poppa Henry, Arlo’s father. He was replaced by Jeffrey Wright;
-*Arlo’s three brothers were voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, Judy Greer and Bill Hader. They were then cut down to just two siblings, Buck and Libby, voiced by Marcus Scribner and Maleah Padilla, respectively;
+*Arlo’s three siblings were voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, Judy Greer and Bill Hader. They were then cut down to just two siblings, Buck and Libby, voiced by Marcus Scribner and Maleah Padilla, respectively.
 Despite having to record new lines for the movie, Frances McDormand was the only actress to retain her role, as Momma Ida, Arlo’s mother.
 ==Availability==
-Apart from concept art and promotional images, no footage nor the script from Bob Peterson’s version of The Good Dinosaur has surfaced to date. The test footage shown at D23 Expo 2013 remains lost as well.
+Apart from concept art and promotional images, no footage nor the script from Bob Peterson’s version of ''The Good Dinosaur'' have surfaced to date. The test footage shown at D23 Expo 2013 remains lost as well.
 ==Gallery==
+===Promotional Art===
+<gallery mode=packed heights=175px>
+TheGoodDinosaurPoster.png|Teaser poster.
+TheGoodDinosaurBanner.png|Promotional banner.
+</gallery>
+===Concept Art===
+<gallery mode=packed heights=175px>
+TheGoodDinosaurConceptArt1.png
+TheGoodDinosaurConceptArt2.png
+TheGoodDinosaurConceptArt4.png
+TheGoodDinosaurConceptArt3.png|Early version of Spot at D23 Expo.
+CliffConcept.jpg|Concept art of Cliff, Arlo's brother.
+ArloFamilyConcept.jpg|Concept art of Forrest (Arlo's other brother), Ivy (Arlo's sister) and Arlo.
+</gallery>
+===Other===
+<gallery mode=packed heights=175px>
+MonstersUniversityArlo.jpg|Screengrab of the Pixar movie ''Monsters University'', from 2013, where the early version of Arlo makes a cameo appearance in toy form.
+</gallery>
+==See Also==
+===Advertisements===
+*[[The Incredibles (found full version of McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Pixar animated film; 2004)]]
+*[[The Incredibles (found online promotional trailers for Pixar animated film; 2004)]]
+*[[Pixar (partially lost early CGI animated commercials from animation studio; 1989-1998)]]
+===Animation (Disney)===
+*[[Alice in Wonderland (partially lost original draft of Disney animated film; 1939)]]
+*[[Aladdin (found Howard Ashman treatment of Disney animated film; 1988)]]
+*[[American Dog (partially found original version of "Bolt" Disney animated film; 2007-2008)]]
+*[[The Black Cauldron (partially found deleted scenes of Disney animated film; 1985)]]
+*[[Chanticleer (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 1940s-mid 1960s)]]
+*[[Chicken Little 2 (partially found production material of cancelled sequel to Disney animated comedy film; 2006)]]
+*[[Disney Circle Seven Animation (partially lost production material of cancelled Pixar sequel films; 2004-2006)]]
+*[[Dumbo II (partially found production material from cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2000s)]]
+*[[Fantasia 2006 (partially lost production material for cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002-2004)]]
+*[[Fraidy Cat (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2004-2005)]]
+*[[Frozen (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 1937-2012)]]
+*[[Gigantic (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2013-2017)]]
+*[[The Jungle Book (lost Bill Peet version of Disney animated film; 1963-1964)]]
+*[[Kingdom of the Sun (partially found original version of "The Emperor's New Groove" Disney animated film; late 1990s)]]
+*[[The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (partially found production material and deleted scenes of Disney animated sequel film; 1995-1998)]]
+*[[Maleficent (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2003-2005)]]
+*[[Music Land (lost Disney animated anthology film; 1955)]]
+*[[My Peoples (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-early 2000s)]]
+*[[Phineas and Ferb (lost production material of cancelled theatrical film of Disney Channel animated series; 2010s)]]
+*[[The Search for Mickey Mouse (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2002)]]
+*[[The Seven Dwarfs (partially found production material of cancelled direct-to-video prequel to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" Disney animated film; 2000s)]]
+*[[Tangled (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 2001-2010)]]
+*[[Tinker Bell (partially found first draft of Disney animated film; 2007)]]
+*[[Treasure Planet II (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002)]]
+*[[Wild Life (lost production material for cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-2000)]]
+*[[Zootopia (partially found pre-rewrite version of Disney animated film; early 2010s)]]
+===Animation (Pixar)===
+*[[A Tin Toy Christmas (lost production material of cancelled Pixar animated Christmas TV special; early 1990s)]]
+*[[Cars 3 (lost deleted scene of Pixar animated sequel film; 2017)]]
+*[[Inside Out (lost original Bing Bong death scene of Pixar animated film; 2015)]]
+*[[Made in Point Richmond (found miscellaneous content from Pixar DVD; 1986-2000)]]
+*[[Newt (partially found production material of cancelled Pixar animated film; early 2010s)]]
+*[[Toy Story 4 (found original script of Pixar animated sequel film; 2013-2017)]]
+*[[Toy Story & Toy Story 2 (partially found intermissions for 3D double feature re-release of Pixar animated films; 2009)]]
+*[[Toy Story "Black Friday Reel" (partially found rough cut of Pixar animated film; 1993)]]
+*[[Toy Story "Jessie" (found Patsy Montana Award acceptance speech animation of Pixar character; 2000)]]
+*[[WALL·E (partially found original treatments of Pixar animated film; 1994-2008)]]
+===Audio===
+*[[Enchanted (lost deleted song from Disney live-action/animated fantasy comedy film; 2007)]]
+*[[Fantasia (partially lost original audio of Disney animated film; 1940)]]
+*[[Jack Wagner (partially lost Disney Park background music collection from American actor; 1970s-2001)]]
+*[[Mars Needs Moms (found Seth Green vocal performance of Disney motion-capture animated film; 2011)]]
+*[[The Nightmare Before Christmas (lost original Vincent Price audio of Disney stop-motion animated film; early 1990s)]]
+*[[Pinocchio (lost Mel Blanc's "Gideon the Cat" dialogue from Disney animated film; 1940)]]
+*[[Toy Story 2 (partially found Bullseye dialogue test footage from Pixar animated sequel film; late 1990s)]]
+===Live Action===
+*[[101 Dalmatians (found "Spotted Landmarks" teaser trailer of Disney live-action film; 1995-1996)]]
+*[[Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (found deleted scenes from Disney live-action film; 1993)]]
+*[[Sleeping Beauty (partially found live action reference material for Disney animated film; 1959)]]
+*[[Something Wicked This Way Comes (lost original cut of Disney dark fantasy film; 1982)]]
+*[[Walt Disney (lost physical Mickey Mouse animation reference footage of animator; late 1930s)]]
+===Short Films===
+*[[Alice Comedies (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1920s)]]
+*[[Blowin' in the Wind (found Pixar animated short film; 1985)]]
+*[[Lafflets (lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1922-1923)]]
+*[[Language Arts Through Imagination (found series of Disney educational short films; 1988-1989)]]
+*[[Mickey and Minnie Mouse (lost unauthorized pornographic animated short film; existence unconfirmed; 1936)]]
+*[[Mickey's Man Friday (partially found production material of unproduced remake of Disney animated short film; 1939-1941)]]
+*[[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1927-1928)]]
+*[[Poor Papa (found "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" Walt Disney animated short film; 1927)]]
+*[[The Princess Academy (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated short film; 2009)]]
+*[[Short Subject aka "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam" (found unofficial animated short film; 1968)]]
+*[[Tales from Radiator Springs "To Protect and Serve" (lost episode of "Cars" animated miniseries; 2015)]]
+*[[Totally Twisted Fairy Tales (partially found Disney animated short series; 1997)]]
+*[[Uncle Walt (lost unauthorized Disney short film; 1964)]]
 ==References==
+{{reflist}}
+[[Category:Lost animation|Good Dinosaur]]
+[[Category:Lost films|Good Dinosaur]]
+[[Category:Completely lost media|Good Dinosaur]]