When Disney and Pixar were going through a rough patch back in 2004, Disney created a new division called Circle 7 Animation that would sequelize the Pixar properties they owned the rights to, putting Jim Herzfeld (Meet the Parents) to work on writing Toy Story 3 and Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir on Monsters, Inc. 2. It was all for naught, however: Disney and Pixar made a deal in 2006, and as part of it, Pixar shut down the nascent sequels, hired new writers, and got to work on their own versions. The Pixar-approved version of Monsters, Inc. 2 (rumored to be a prequel to the first movie) will be out next year, but in the meantime, Hilgenberg and Muir assembled some of their lost dialogue and concept art for a video that gives a taste of what might have been. (And it does, indeed, feel like a Pixar movie — mostly because of the sad, sad soundtrack, which is tailor-made for Pixar’s new you-must-cry mandate.) [Bob & Rob via Movieline]
