27 Apr – Seeing an Asian touch in an animated film is not a rare occurrence, take "Big Hero 6" for example, so it's no surprise to learn that Pixar's upcoming "Inside Out" and "The Good Dinosaur" too will have their own Asian flair. It will not be in the visual aesthetics itself, explained President of Pixar Animation Studios Jim Morris, saying that it is more because of the directors working on the films. "Inside Out" is co-directed by Ronnie del Carmen from the Philippines, while "The Good Dinosaur" is helmed by Korean Peter Sohn, who took over the project after the dismissal of Bob Peterson. "Ronnie has such as a facility with adding emotion to films and helping directors get to that emotion, we've asked him to work on all of our films," said Morris as quoted by TODAYonline. "Pete, too, has this open emotion about him, you'll see it in "The Good Dinosaur". It's a really emotional film - I know it seems funny, a dinosaur having emotions - but that's what makes it interesting."
While it is uplifting to see a fusion of cultural elements in films, Pixar is not looking to exploit Asian elements in films just to get the attention of Asian market, however. "We have no films set in Asia at the moment," Morris said, though he stated that the studio would love to explore more of South-east Asia's film market. "This is a market that has traditionally seen animation as for kids only, not as general audience entertainment." Calling it a complex market with untapped potential, Morris added that the company is trying to understand it, to "get informed about what the audiences here like and how we can appeal to them." It may be a while as we wait for Pixar to possibly one day make a film geared toward the SEA audience, in the meantime watch out for "Inside Out" getting on the big screen this 20 August while "The Good Dinosaur" will be roaming the cinemas in November 2015.