Disney Releases Upbeat Trailer for New Pixar Movie Soul Starring Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey
Disney-Pixar just debuted the first trailer for their upcoming animated film Soul with an existential question for viewers: “What do you want to be remembered for?”
The trailer introduces the world to Joe Gardner, a middle school band teacher and aspiring jazz musician voiced by Jamie Foxx, who finally gets a big break with a chance to perform at a popular jazz club.
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However, things take an unexpected turn when Joe seemingly dies before he can make his dream performance, and he finds himself transported to the “You Seminar” — a place where souls come to reset before returning to a new human body.
While there, he meets soul 22, voiced by Tina Fey, and together they help other souls trapped in the “You Seminar” in order to get Joe back to Earth before it’s too late.
“We only have a short time on this planet,” Foxx’s character Joe Gardner says in the trailer released Thursday. “You want to become the person that you were born to be. Don’t waste your time on all the junk of life. Spend your precious hours doing what will bring out the real you, the brilliant passionate you that’s willing to contribute something meaningful into this world.”
The creators behind big-screen hits like Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, A Bug’s Life, The Good Dinosaur and Coco unexpectedly announced that they were making the new film in June.
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At the time, they wrote that the new movie will take viewers “on a journey from the streets of New York City to the cosmic realms to discover the answers to life’s most important questions.”
The film — which will be the 23rd story in the Pixar cannon released since the Emeryville, California-based CGI film production company launched in 1995 — was written and directed by two-time Oscar winner Peter Docter.
WATCH: Pixar Announces New Film ‘Soul’ Set for 2020: Here’s Everything to Know
Docter has been with Pixar since before Toy Story‘s 1995 release. He’s credited as a writer on that film, as well as its 1999 sequel, Toy Story 2, and 2008’s WALL-E. Docter also wrote and directed Monsters, Inc., Up, and Inside Out; executive produced Toy Story 4; and has been involved in many of the studio’s animated shorts (like 2002′ Mike’s New Car, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film).
Soul is the first film in the studio’s history to be set in New York City. Pixar has taken on real-life locales before, like Paris (Ratatouille), San Francisco (Inside Out), Scotland (Brave), Australia (Finding Nemo), South America (Up), Mexico (Coco) and even the Himalayas (Monster’s Inc.).
Soul hits theaters on June 19, 2020.
