I get the feeling I’m going to be posting a lot of one-off Disney-related stories over the next several hours as they D23 Expo continues and this time around the focus is on Andrew Stanton‘s Finding Nemo sequel, Finding Dory.
To begin, the “Los Angeles Times” is reporting that after director Gabriela Cowperthwaite screened her new documentary Blackfish, which takes a look at the mistreatment of sea animals in water parks such as Sea World, Pixar decided to change the ending to Finding Dory.
The Cove director, Louie Psihoyos, told the newspaper the following:
At the end of the movie, some marine mammals are sent to an aquatic park/rehab facility — a SeaWorld-type environment. After seeing Blackfish, they retooled the film so that the sea creatures now have the choice to leave that marine park. They told Gabriela they didn’t want to look back on this film in 50 years and have it be their Song of the South.
Cowperthwaite was also quoted, confirming the screening for Pixar took place and that they were “impacted”, but she adds, “Whether Blackfish affects their creative decisions, I can’t say.”
In addition to this some new cast members have been announced including Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton as Charlie and Jenny, parents to Ellen DeGeneeres‘s titular Dory and Ty Burrell will voice a beluga whale named Bailey, described by Slashfilm as the comedic sidekick in the film.
The site also reports some new plot details saying a traumatic event sets off Dory’s “homing instinct”. So as she goes off on some kind of search for her family, Nemo and Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) are looking for her.
Finding Dory is currently slated for a November 25, 2015 release.
