Disney/Pixar Announce Production Set to Begin on ``Monsters, Inc.''.

BURBANK, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--May 4, 1999--

A May start date has been set for the production of "Monsters, Inc." (tentative title), a new computer-animated feature to be produced by Pixar Animation Studios under its arrangement with Walt Disney Studios, it was announced Tuesday by Thomas Schumacher, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, and Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Pixar. The film is targeted for release in 2001.

"Monsters, Inc." is a comedy set in the realm of things that go bump in the night, where chaos breaks loose after a hapless monster accidentally lets a human child into the secret world. This latest original title from Pixar follows "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life" and the upcoming release of "Toy Story 2."

"Monsters, Inc." is being directed by Pete Docter, who received an Oscar(R) nomination for his role in creating the original story for "Toy Story," and David Silverman, the Emmy Award-winning supervising director of "The Simpsons." Darla K. Anderson, who produced last year's animated blockbuster, "A Bug's Life," is set to produce. John Lasseter, Pixar's two-time Oscar-winning director, and Andrew Stanton, co-director of "A Bug's Life," will executive produce.