'The Incredibles 2' footage stuns (and burns and shocks) at D23
Among the first batch of surprises from this year’s D23, Disney’s biennial fan convention, Disney Animation and Pixar chief John Lasseter and The Incredibles 2 director Brad Bird delighted fans with a gripping sneak peek at the much-anticipated sequel (due in theaters June 15, 2018).
After re-introducing the world to fashionista Edna Mode, Bird first set the scene for what fans can expect of the superhero movie, which this time around will put Holly Hunter’s character Helen at the center of a more Elastigirl-centric adventure. Bob/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), meanwhile, will face new challenges in the suburban realm, which he never quite mastered in the first movie.
“Elastigirl and a certain chain of events puts her at the forefront of the action, while Bob has to stay home facing his biggest challenge yet,” Bird teased, which leads into the debut of the first-ever footage from The Incredibles 2.
The director described the scene in question as a scrapped idea from the first movie that became an early jump-off point for the second: Despite Jack-Jack having demonstrated his powers at the end of the first movie, the family is still patently unaware of the potential of the youngest member of the Parr family. The footage showed Bob falling asleep while babysitting Jack-Jack, who notices a vagrant raccoon sifting through the trash outside. Jack-Jack slips outside and proceeds to pick a violent fight with the creature, who quickly turns from vicious to terrified when Jack-Jack unveils powers of telekinesis, laser vision, and, you know, that whole fireball thing. Bob comes out just in time to see the raccoon flee from his multiplied, superhuman baby—and let out a giant cheer: “He has powers!”
Bird explains, “The whole world of Incredibles 2 is going to be greatly expanded on, all created in the same mid-century modern design as before.” He showed concept art of the Parr family’s new house (after their old one was destroyed), describing the new aesthetic as “a cross between a dream house and a super lair, secret agent hideout. Water flows throughout the whole building, and it’s made up almost entirely of sharp corners, which is not ideal to have a baby in there. It’s a bit impractical for a family like the Parrs. Baby-proofing this place is a nightmare.”
“What separates The Incredibles from other superhero films is that it’s fundamentally a story about family — they just happen to have superpowers,” Bird explained. “With this new film, we’re excited to jump back into that world. The cool thing about doing this again is that our technology has gotten so much better, we can actually get them closer to how we wanted them to be on the first film.”
Bird also brought out the full principal cast — including Nelson, Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson (Frozone), Sarah Vowell (Violet), and newcomer Huck Milner, the new voice of Dash (replacing original voice actor Spencer Fox, for fairly obvious puberty reasons).
