Toy Fair Day 2 kicked off with a huge presentation for DisneyPixar’s Monsters University that introduced the brand new toys from Spin-Master, Fisher-Price and more as well as bringing out the filmmakers, director Dan Scanlon and producer Kori Rae and the voice of Sulley himself, John Goodman. ComingSoon.net was in attendance and we have a full video of the presentation as well as video interviews with the filmmakers and Goodman.
But before we got to see the toys or hear from anyone, the presentation opened with a 20-piece marching band and eight cheerleaders running out onto the stage and performing a number that required a much bigger space as one of the cheerleaders was repeatedly thrown into the air. The announcer then introduced Jim Babcock, Director of Communications for Disney Consumer Products, taking on the role of the “Monsters University Freshman Orientation Advisor,” a role he played up throughout the presentation.
He began by bringing out filmmakers Scanlon and Rae who talked about why it took so long to make another movie with the popular characters from Monsters, Inc.. He explained that doing it as a prequel gave them a lot of options to explore the relationship between Sulley and Mike Wazowsky, as voiced by Billy Crystal. They showed some concept art from the movie as well as talking about the new characters, which include Joel Murray’s Don Carlson, who is a more mature monster going back to school, the two-headed brother monsters Terri and Terry, voiced by Sean Hayes and Dave Foley, who somehow are of different ages, Scott “Squishy” Squibbles, a clay monster voiced by Pixar’s own Peter Sohn, and lastly, there’s the mysterious Art, a furry monster that looks like an upside-down U, who is voiced by Charlie Day. (Day had not previously been announced as part of the voice cast so that was newsworthy.) You can see images of all four new characters along with Sully and Mike below.
You can watch the first part of the presentation, including the marching band and cheerleaders going into the interview with Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae where they talk about the story and new characters, by clicking here.
They then premiered the new trailer for Monsters University, but also asked that it not be filmed or blogged about, possibly unaware that at the same time, the almost identical international trailer was appearing online. Before Scanlon and Rae left the stage, they were presented with Monsters University banners to help with their school spirit.
Next up was Josh Silverman, Disney’s Executive Vice President of Global Licensing, wearing a fetching powder blue Monsters University letter jacket and he also answered a few questions, which you can watch in Part 2, before he introduced DisneyPixar Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter (on video) who ran through some of the featured toys in the new line in a very funny video you can watch below.
The featured toys are the My Scare Pal Sulley, a plush toy that moves and talks, Scare Off Sulley, an even larger electronic plush toy, a Sulley Monster Mask, and the Roll-A-Scare Toxic Race Playset that uses an assortment of monster balls that sprout feet when dropped on their cards. All of those are from Spin Master, and they also showed off Fisher-Price’s University Row Playset for younger kids. You can see pictures of all of these in our Monsters University Gallery.
They then brought out the voice of Sulley, John Goodman, who also answered questions and was presented with a limited edition Sulley toy. You can watch the video of that part of the presentation here.
After the presentation, ComingSoon.net took part in a small roundtable interview with Silverman, the filmmakers and Goodman, all of which you can watch below as well as see a couple demos of the new toys.
You can see pictures of the event and the toys on display in our Monsters University Gallery.
Most of these toys will be released on May 10 (except for the Scare Off Sulley, which is due in the fall) before the release of DisneyPixar’s Monsters University on June 21.
Roundtable Interview with John Goodman, Director Dan Scanlon and Producer Kori Rae
