Inside Out 2: the reasons for the worldwide success

The numbers of Inside Out 2sequel to the 2015 film, tells of a resounding success: in Italy, with a collection almost 17 million euros and more than 2 million 200 thousand spectators in just five days of programming, it is the sixth best debut for a film in our country, the best ever for a animated film; in the United States, in two weeks, we have reached 355 million dollars, clearly the best box office result of 2024. And so, those who thought the Pixar who produced the film, who many believe was guilty of having sold his soul to Disney who acquired it in 2006 (for 7.4 billion dollars!), had to change his mind: after six films that went so-so (the last commercial success was in 2019, Toy Story 4), the production company of creative prodigies pulled a sequel out of the hat that brings crowds to the movies.

The form of the sequel

Understanding i reasons of a success at box office it’s always complex, there are many factors at play which, put together, form a secret recipe like that of Coca Cola, but certainly Inside Out 2 has enjoyed a wait like few other titles: the film of which it is sequels, Inside Out of 2015, is considered one of the masterpieces from Pixar. Never before have we seen emotions represented in the form of characters with semi-human features who speak, interact with each other and push buttons in the mind of a little girl. The sequel presents more or less the same plot, with the addition of a handful of new emotions triggered by adolescence: the boss is Anxietythen there are Embarrassment, Ennui And Envy. All together they will carry out a coup in the command center of the teenage protagonist Riley, with the primary emotions Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust relegated to the most remote recesses of the psyche.

The Teenage Task Force

At the center of the film is therefore adolescence, there is that emotional storm that also brings with it anxiety and panic attacks, current topic in our post-pandemic times (but also before, perhaps) in which the mental health of young people risks taking on the sinister contours of a social emergency. Inside Out 2 The critics also liked it a lot and part of the credit for the film’s success also goes to the work of in-depth analysis and research that directors and screenwriters conducted “in the field”. The film’s creative team selected and hired a special task force of thirteen-year-old consultants, nicknamed “Riley’s Crew”, who periodically helped write and edit the script. The teenagers were asked if the behaviors of their peers were plausible. The reason for this way of proceeding was explained by director Kelsey Mann herself Entertainment Weekly and it’s very simple: “I’m not 13 anymore.” In short, how can we tell something that is so irremediably distant from us in time and experience? The difficulties are evident: «There is still a thirteen year old in me. I can draw on it, but I can only do it up to a certain point, especially if you want everyone to identify with this story”, said the director. “I thought, ‘I have to go straight to the source.’ A lot of what we do at Pixar is research, and there are wonderful people at Pixar who have a lot of contact with organizations outside of Pixar. I asked them to provide me with a really diverse group of people, of girls. I was worried that they might have come from just one area. So I said, “I don’t just want people who live in California, near Pixar.” We went across the country and really opened up.”

It might seem trivial, but the risk of representing adolescence through the distorted lenses of cliché is always lurking and we often see the fruits of it in banal films or products. Asking a group of teenagers how teenagers behave in real life is ultimately the only way to avoid being “cringe” (to stay on topic teen). And above all to get closer to the only thing that matters in this type of stories: authenticity.

Pixar, Happy Island

There is also the fact that today, in the world of the big studios, only Pixar can afford to work like this, guided by creativity. Because despite the acquisition of the Disney giant in 2006, at Pixar the creatives are still in charge: the studio is directed by a director and a board of directors. The power is in their hands and not in those of corporate executives or marketing experts. It is an unshakable pillar of Pixar philosophy, theorized and crystallized over the years: only freedom leads to original stories and therefore to great commercial successes. We are talking about a film studio that has never purchased scripts or subjects from outside: all the ideas, all the stories have always been the result of the internal work of their creatives, as well as the progress in computer animation technology. Pixar prides itself on being one community before a company, which revolves around some basic beliefs, like the one that “talent is rare”. His way of working has been told so many times that it risks entering the realm of legend, yet it is true that the method is the key to understanding his peculiarities and his successes. How does it work? Each director works on a project but is also a consultant for the others. The director and other creative leaders of a production don’t invent everything themselves, but each member of the team of 200-250 people makes proposals and suggests ideas. Managers then select a quantity and form a coherent whole, and if during the process one pops up «creative crisis», colleagues come to the rescue. In the studio, newcomers are invited to express their opinions and strategies have been developed to avoid the “syndrome of subjection to the institution”: the dream of every creative person.