Monsters, Inc. (franchise)

''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a media franchise produced by Pixar and owned by the Walt Disney Company. The franchise takes place in a universe parallel to the real world where monsters are the citizens of society and harness the energy of human children to power their cities. The company known as ''Monsters, Inc.'' accomplishes this with portal doors which lead to their bedrooms.

Feature films

''Monsters, Inc.'' (2001)

''Monsters, Inc.'' introduces the monster world, where Monstropolis is powered by the screams of human children as monsters enter the human world at night and scare children through their bedroom closets. One evening when a little girl called "Boo" accidentally enters the monster world, friends James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski must find a way to hide her from the authorities and return her to her world and, in the process, they learn that not everything they have been led to believe about humans is true.

The film was released on November 2, 2001, in the United States, surpassing ''Toy Story 2'' (1999) and peaked as the second highest-grossing animated film of all time, behind 1994's ''The Lion King'' at the time.Price, p. 201 It was one of the first animated films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature but lost to ''Shrek''.

''Monsters University'' (2013)

A prequel to the first film, ''Monsters University'' tells Sulley and Mike's backstory. The future friends meet at college and initially start off as enemies, but end up on the same team in the university's "Scare Games", where they and their team of misfits must beat the odds and win the competition, or be expelled from school. As the team struggles, the two learn to work together, and slowly become best friends. The film was released in the United States on June 21, 2013.

Television series

''Monsters at Work'' is a sequel television series to ''Monsters, Inc.'' produced by Disney Television Animation for Disney+. It was announced in a Disney press release on November 9, 2017, as part of a list of in development series for The Walt Disney Company's then-upcoming streaming service. On April 9, 2019, it was revealed that the show would be titled ''Monsters at Work'' and premiere in spring 2021. Seven of the original cast would return, including John Goodman and Billy Crystal reprising their roles as Sulley and Mike, respectively. On February 24, 2021, it was announced that it would be released on July 2, followed by a delay to July 7. In September 2021, it was indicated that a second season is in development. It was later officially announced at Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2022, with Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers replacing Bobs Gannaway and Stephen Anderson as showrunner and supervising director for season 2. The second season was released on April 5, 2024, on Disney Channel and was released on Disney+ on May 5, 2024.

The series begins the day after ''Monsters, Incorporated'' has switched to laugh power and follows Tylor Tuskmon (Ben Feldman), who hopes to be promoted to the Laugh Floor alongside Mike and Sulley.

Short films

''Mike's New Car'' (2002)

''Party Central'' (2013)

''Party Central'' is a six-minute short animated film, featuring characters from ''Monsters University''. It premiered on August 9, 2013, at the D23 Expo. The short was set to be released theatrically with ''The Good Dinosaur'' in 2014, before the film was pushed back to 2015. Instead, it was theatrically released on March 21, 2014, with '' Muppets Most Wanted''. The short was written and directed by Kelsey Mann, story supervisor on ''Monsters University''. The cast consists of Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Peter Sohn, Julia Sweeney, Charlie Day, Nathan Fillion, Dave Foley, Sean Hayes, Bobby Moynihan, and Joel Murray.

Set shortly after the events of ''Monsters University'', the Oozma Kappa fraternity organizes a party, but no one shows up. Mike and Sulley arrive and use door stations to steal visitors from another party at the Roar Omega Roar fraternity.

Reception

Box office performance

The film series has grossed a total of $1,306,110,769, making the ''Monsters, Inc.'' franchise the 15th highest-grossing animated film franchise.

''Monsters, Inc.'' ranked 1 at the box office its opening weekend, grossing $62,577,067 in North America alone. The film had a small drop-off of 27.2% over its second weekend, earning another $45,551,028. In its third weekend, the film experienced a larger decline of 50.1%, placing itself in the second position just after ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''. In its fourth weekend, however, there was an increase of 5.9%. Making $24,055,001 that weekend for a combined total of over $562 million. It is the seventh biggest (in US$) fourth weekend ever for a film.

''Monsters University'' has earned $268,227,670 in North America, and $475,066,843 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $743,294,513. The film earned $136.9 million on its opening weekend worldwide. For unknown reasons, Disney declined to provide a budget for the film, although Boxoffice.com cites a budget of a total of $270 million. ''Entertainment Weekly'' speculated that it was higher than that of '' Brave'' ($185 million), mostly due to high cost of John Goodman and Billy Crystal reprising their roles. Shockya, a subsidiary website of CraveOnline, estimated the budget to be $200 million, on par with ''Toy Story 3'' (2010) and ''Cars 2'' (2011).

Critical and public response

Cast and characters

Crew

Video games

* ''Monsters, Inc.'' (Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2)
* '' Monsters, Inc. Scream Team'' (PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2)
* '' Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena'' (GameCube)
* ''Monsters, Inc. Scream Team Training'' (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X)
*''Monsters, Inc. Bowling for Screams'' (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X)
*''Monsters, Inc. Eight Ball Chaos'' (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X)
*''Monsters, Inc. Monster Tag'' (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X)
*''Monsters, Inc. Pinball Panic'' (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X)
* ''Mike's Monstrous Adventure'' (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X)
* '' Cars Mater-National Championship'' (PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, Wii)
* '' Cars Race-O-Rama'' (PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable)
* ''Monsters, Inc. Run'' (iOS)
* ''Monsters University: Catch Archie'' ( Android, iOS)
* '' Disney Infinity'' (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS)
* ''Disney Magic Kingdoms'' (Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows)
* '' Lego The Incredibles'' (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, macOS)
* ''Kingdom Hearts III'' (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows)
* ''Disney Heroes: Battle Mode'' (Android, iOS)
* ''Disney Mirrorverse'' (Android, iOS)
* '' Disney Dreamlight Valley'' (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, macOS)

Theme park attractions

Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!

Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! is a dark ride attraction in Hollywood Land at Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It opened on January 22, 2006 and replaced the short-lived Superstar Limo dark ride. It is scheduled to close in early 2026 to make way for an ''Avatar''–themed land.

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor is an interactive animated comedy club show attraction based on the ''Monsters, Inc''. franchise in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida.

It opened on April 2, 2007, replacing the Circle-Vision attraction The Timekeeper. Mike Wazowski and Roz make appearances. By November 2006, the attraction as Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club was going through a testing phase, expecting regular operation in January 2007. The attraction was nominated for the 6th Annual VES Awards – Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project in 2008.

Subsequent to the 2013 release of Monsters University, a new "commercial" sequence was added during the pre-show which has Monsters University student Art advertise the "Monsters University School of Laughter", replacing the "Comedy Detection Agency" sequence that Wazowski introduces.

On October 27, 2020, following Walt Disney World's reopening after its temporary closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the resort announced the layoff of several entertainment shows, including the Citizens of Hollywood at Disney's Hollywood Studios. These layoffs were the result of a dispute between the Actors' Equity Association and Walt Disney World, which also affected the cast providing live voices for Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. The attraction has since reopened.

Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek

Ride & Go Seek is an interactive dark ride attraction in Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort. It opened on April 15, 2009 and replaced Meet the World.

''Monsters, Inc.'' Land

In August 2024, it was announced that a ''Monsters, Inc.'' themed land will be built at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The land will include Disney's first suspended roller coaster. In November 2024, it was announced that the land will replace '' Muppet*Vision 3D'' and Grand Avenue. Construction began in 2025.

References

{{Portal bar, Disney, Cartoon, Animation

Pixar franchises
Film series introduced in 2001
Computer-animated films
Film franchises
Children's film series
Animated film series
Films about energy
American science fiction films
American animated science fiction films
American adventure comedy films
Films about companies
Animated buddy films
American buddy comedy films