Information

Lightyear is a 2022 American animated science-fiction action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film is a spin-off of the Toy Story film series, but does not take place in the same fictional universe as them; Rather, it is presented as a film seen by the main Toy Story film characters. Lightyear focuses on the character Buzz Lightyear, who in this film is human and not a toy. The film was directed by Angus MacLaine (in his feature directorial debut) and produced by Galen Sussman, both of whom co-wrote with Matthew Aldrich, from a screenplay and story written by MacLaine and Jason Headley. It stars Chris Evans as the voice of the title character, with Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, James Brolin and Uzo Aduba in supporting roles. The film follows Buzz Lightyear (Evans) as a space ranger who, after his commander and crew are stranded on the hostile planet T’Kani Prime, faces a threat to the security of the universe as he tries to find his way home.

The concept of a human Buzz Lightyear existing in a fictional universe within a fictional universe was first introduced in the 2000 direct-to-video film Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, which was then used as the pilot. Star Command TV series Buzz Lightyear (2000-2001). After finishing work on Finding Dory (2016), McLane, an avid science-fiction fan, pitched a film idea to Pixar featuring Buzz Lightyear. Disney officially announced the project at an investor meeting held in December 2020. The animators gave the film a “cinematic” and “chunky” look, echoing the science-fiction films MacLane grew up watching. To design the vehicles for the film, McLane used Lego pieces to build various ships and pitch them to designers and artists. For its IMAX scenes, the team used two virtual cameras, a regular camera with a 35mm equivalent sensor and a larger 65mm equivalent sensor, a method pioneered by Pixar prior to WALL-E (2008). Development of Lightyear took five and a half years on a budget of approximately $200 million. Michael Giacchino composed the film’s score, while Ren Cleese served as its sound designer.

Lightyear premiered at the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles on June 8, 2022, and was released theatrically in the United States on June 17 in RealD 3D, 4DX, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX formats. It became the first Pixar film to be released theatrically worldwide since March 2020, and the first to include scenes specially edited for IMAX theaters. The film grossed $226.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $200 million, failed at the box office, and lost the studio an estimated $106 million.

Details

A Star Command exploration ship changes course to search for signs of life on the unknown world of T’Kani Prime. Awakened from hibernation, space ranger Buzz Lightyear and his commanding officer and best friend Alisha Hawthorne explore Fetheringhamstan with their new recruit. They are forced to retreat to their exploration ship after discovering that the planet hosts hostile lifeforms. Blaming himself for the damage to the surviving ship during the retreat, lightning forces the crew to evacuate to conduct repairs and continue their journey, and volunteers to develop as test pilots for hyperspace fuel crystals to return home.

A year later, the crew built a new colony to conduct repairs. However, after a four-minute test flight, Buzz finds that four years have passed on T’Kani Prime due to time dilation effects from traveling at relativistic speeds. Buzz is introduced to Sox, an orange robotic feline, and continues testing hyperspace fuel. With each trial, four more years passed on T’Kani Prime, until finally over sixty years had passed. During the experiment, the colony flourished, Alisha gave birth to a son with his wife Kiko, later dying of old age, while the Sox improved the composition of the fuel, allowing it to achieve faster-than-light speeds.

Against the orders of Alisha’s successor, Commander Burnside, Buzz uses the new fuel composition for a successful hyperspace experiment. However, he skips another twenty-two years into the future during which Tokani Prime is attacked by Cyclops robots led by robot commander Zurg. Buzz meets members of the colony’s defense force, including Alisha’s now-adult granddaughter Izzy Hawthorne, Moe Morrison, a fresh, innocent recruit, Darby Steele, an elderly parolee, and the robot DERIC. Initially reluctant to work with them, Buzz eventually warms to them after escaping the Insect Nest and searching a mining facility to repair their ship. Together, they plan to destroy the invading force on Zurg’s mothership.

As they return to the ship, Zurg intervenes and captures Buzz, then reveals himself as an older version of Buzz from an alternate timeline, which splits after Buzz’s return to the planet after a successful hyperspace experiment: to capture them. Without a robot army, the colony’s soldiers attempted to arrest Buzz on Burnside’s orders, forcing him to flee into space. This Buzz and his Sox escape at full speed and, through time dilation, fly hundreds of years into the distant future, where he encounters highly advanced technology, and eventually devises a way to go back in time to prevent himself from being trapped by the Star Command crew. After running out of his own fuel on the planet, Jürg needs fresh fuel to travel further into the past and complete his mission, so he requests it from his younger self. Realizing that this would wipe out Alisha and Kiko’s lives all together, along with the lives of Izzy and all the other colonists, Buzz refuses.

With the help of the original Sox, Buzz and the cadets escape Zurg’s ship and set it to self-destruct. Returning to the planet via crash landing, Zurg attacks and takes the fuel for himself. Lightning releases the fuel to fire, causing an explosion that seemingly kills Zurg. After running out of fuel, Buzz finally adopts T’Kani Prime as his home. Burnside arrests the group, intending to arrest them for their reckless actions, but surrenders in light of Buzz’s bravery against the robot armada. Allowed to revive the Space Ranger Corps, Buzz unexpectedly chooses Izzy, Moe, Darby, and Sox as his first trainees. Using a computer left behind during the rebellion to create a new fuel crystal, Buzz and his team embark on a new adventure.

In the second post-credits scene, Jurg is shown surviving the explosion.

Voice Cast

Chris Evans as Buzz Lightyear, a young test pilot and space ranger who explores an unknown planet called T’Kani Prime.
KK Palmer as Izzy Hawthorne, Alisha’s granddaughter who fights with Buzz in the colony’s defense force against Zurg.
Keira Hairston as a younger version of Izzy.
Peter Sohn as Sox, a robotic cat who serves as Buzz’s companion.
Sohn voices an older, worn-out version of Sox used by Jurg.
Taika Waititi as Mo Morrison, a fresh, naive recruit to the Colonial Defense Force.
Dale Soles as Darby Steele, an elderly woman and recruit for the Colonial Defense Force who is currently on parole for shipjacking.
James Brolin as Buzz Lightyear / Zurg, the commander of an invading robotic army who later reveals himself as an older, nihilistic version of himself from an alternate timeline.
Uzo Aduba as Alisha Hawthorne, Buzz’s best friend, commanding officer and wife of Kiko, who is one of Izzy’s grandmothers.
I.V.A.N. As Mary Macdonald-Lewis, a voice-activated virtual assistant and auto-pilot.
Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Commander Calvin “Cal” Burnside, who is replaced by Alisha Hawthorne after he later dies of old age.
As Angus McLane:
Eric
DERIC, a robot that works with Izzy.
Zyclops, Zurg’s robotic foot soldier.
Bill Hader as Benny Fetheringhamstan / The Rookie, a new hire partnered with Buzz and Alisha. Hader previously voiced Axel the Carney in Toy Story 4 (2019).
Efren Ramirez as Airman Diaz, an acquaintance of Buzz.
Additionally, Tim Peake makes an uncredited cameo appearance as a worker at the Mission Control Center.

Box Office

Lightyear grossed $118.3 million in the United States and Canada and $108.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $226.4 million. It was the fourth-highest-grossing animated film of 2022 in the United States and fifth worldwide. Deadline Hollywood calculates that the film lost $106 million to the studio, when all costs and revenues are factored in together.

In the United States and Canada, Lightyear was projected to gross $70–85 million in its opening weekend from 4,255 theaters, with some estimates reaching as high as $105 million. However, after making just $20.7 million on its first day (including $5.2 million from Thursday night previews), estimates have been lowered to $51-55 million. It debuted to $50.6 million, finishing second behind holdover Jurassic World Dominion. Additionally, the film grossed $34.6 million from 43 international markets, with a three-day worldwide debut of $85.2 million. In its second weekend, Lightyear dropped 64.1% to $18.2 million, onward (73%), the second-lowest drop for a Pixar film since opening at the start of the pandemic.

Both Deadline Hollywood and Variety attributed the performance to competition from Jurassic World Domination and Top Gun: Maverick, though ultimately cited it as a disappointment due to the brand strength of both Pixar and the Toy Story franchise. Los Angeles Times writer Ryan Pfander believed the film was at a disadvantage, since, as a spin-off film, it did not feature a well-known Toy Story character like Woody. He also noted that the spin-offs do not earn as much as the main franchise installments and compared the film to the spin-off films Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and Hobbs & Shaw (2019). [109] Pamela McClintock of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that, in addition to competition from Jurassic World Domination and Top Gun: Maverick, the weak opening was attributed to brand confusion in marketing the film. McClintock, Martha Ross of The Mercury News, and Sonny Bunch of The Washington Post also questioned whether public backlash was to blame for the film featuring a lesbian couple kissing and the decision not to cast Tim Allen in the part of Buzz Lightyear. Underwhelming opening. Other box office analysts believed that family audiences may not have seen their previous three films, Soul, Luca and Turning Red, in theaters after they got used to the availability of Pixar films at home after their direct release on Disney+ during the pandemic. Some box-office analysts theorized that family audiences were generally reluctant to attend theaters due to COVID-19 concerns, although this was disproved after Minions: The Rise of Gru opened to $107 million in the US and Canada two weeks later.

About

Directed by	Angus MacLane
Screenplay by	·         Jason Headley ·         Angus MacLane
Story by	·         Angus MacLane ·         Matthew Aldrich ·         Jason Headley
Produced by	Galyn Susman
Starring	·         Chris Evans ·         Keke Palmer ·         Peter Sohn ·         Taika Waititi ·         Dale Soules ·         James Brolin ·         Uzo Aduba
Cinematography	·         Jeremy Lasky (camera) ·         Ian Megibben (lighting)
Edited by	Anthony J. Greenberg
Music by	Michael Giacchino
Production companies	·         Walt Disney Pictures ·         Pixar Animation Studios
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates	·         June 8, 2022 (El Capitan Theatre) ·         June 17, 2022 (United States)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$200 million
Box office	$226.4 million

ScreenShots