The Incredibles, Pixar’s sixth film, was released in 2004 and became an instant success. Under director Brad Bird, the film revenued an incredible $261.4 billion domestic total gross. The voice talents for The Incredibles includes Craig T. Nelson (Mr. Incredible), Holly Hunter (Mrs. Incredible), Samuel Jackson (Frozone), Jason Lee (Syndrome), Sarah Vowell (Violet) and Spencer Fox (Dash). The Incredibles held the position of highest opening weekend for Pixar until the release of Toy Story 3 in 2010. Additionally, The Incredibles was the first Pixar film to earn two academy awards- one for best animated feature and one for sound editing.
Bringing The Incredibles to life presented a new set issue for the animators as this was Pixar’s first film to be told from a human perspective and required new technology to animate muscles, skin and hair.
The Incredibles was the first Pixar movie composed by Michael Giacchino, who later went on to score some Disney favorites including Ratatouille, Up, Cars 2, Inside Out, Coco and The Incredibles 2 plus several others at Disney Animation and other studios.The music in The Incredibles is unique because it was inspired by jazz orchestras of the 1960s. This was also Pixar’s first PG rated film and the last Pixar film to be released before Disney’s acquisition of the company in 2006.
Initially, Syndrome was not going to be the only villain in The Incredibles. The villain of the film was supposed to be a man named Xerek, with Syndrome only appearing at the beginning and the end of the film. In the end, Xerek was scrapped from the film because the animators responded more strongly to Syndrome as a compelling villain. The original idea for Syndrome was inspired by another superhero: Batman. Bird wondered what would have happened if Batman had rejected Robin as a sidekick and used this as the premise for Buddy Pines’ story.
Some additional facts worth noting about The Incredibles include that despite the use of modern technology in the film, The Incredibles takes place in 1962. This means that the early shots of Mr. and Mrs. Incredible takes place in the late 1940s. The popular A113 reference that is discreetly included in every Pixar film can be overheard when Mirage calls a meeting in “D-Wing Room A113.” Also, interestingly enough, The Incredibles is the only Pixar film to not include the Pizza Planet truck. My personal favorite fact, however, is that Brad Bird is the voice of the sassy and inspiring fashionista, Edna Mode.
Considering The Incredibles was one of the most desired movies to receive a sequel, the release of The Incredibles 2 became the biggest animated debut of all time pulling in a heroic $180 million dollars opening weekend. The success of The Incredibles can be attributed to several things including its heartfelt family moments, intense action shots and the hilarious and diverse personalities of both the characters and voice actors involved. Ultimately, The Incredibles became a great achievement for Pixar and animation as a whole for pushing forward the technology for humans with CGI. All of us fans of the Revival Disney era films like Rapunzel, Frozen and Big Hero 6 have The Incredibles to thank for making this kind of technology possible.
To learn more about the history of The Incredibles and its impact on pop culture, check out our friend Sarah Sterling’s video down below, and don’t forget to subscribe to her channel to catch more from the “Down To Disness” series…
Follow Sarah on social media for more Disney post and videos.
IG: Instagram.com/sarahgsterling
Twitter: Twitter.com/SarahSterling_
About Post Author
Leave a Reply