Incredibles 2

Incredibles 2 is a 2018 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it is the sequel to The Incredibles (2004) and the second installment of the franchise. The story follows the Parr family as they try to restore public's trust in superheroes while balancing their family life, only to combat a new foe who seeks to turn the populace against all superheroes. Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell and Samuel L. Jackson reprise their roles from the first film; newcomers to the cast include Huckleberry Milner (replacing Spencer Fox), Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener and Jonathan Banks (replacing Bud Luckey). Michael Giacchino returned to compose the score.

Following the success of The Incredibles, Bird postponed development on a sequel to work on other films. He attempted to distinguish the script from superhero films and superhero television series released since the first film, focusing on the family dynamic rather than the superhero genre.

Incredibles 2 premiered in Los Angeles on June 5, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 15, 2018 in Disney Digital 3-D, Dolby Cinema and IMAX. It received largely positive reviews; critics praised its animation, voice acting, humor, action, and score, although some criticized the plot as derivative of the original. The film made $182.7 million in its opening weekend, setting the record for best debut for an animated film, and has grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2018, the second highest-grossing animated film and the 16th highest-grossing film of all-time.

Plot
The Parrs, a family of superheroes, pursue the Underminer. Although he robs the Metroville Bank and escapes, they stop his drill tank from destroying City Hall with help from Lucius Best. However, the government, concerned by the collateral damage, shuts down the Superhero Relocation Program, leaving the Parrs without financial assistance from agent Rick Dicker. As Violet's date, Tony, discovered her superhero identity during the Underminer attack, Dicker erases her from his memory. That night, Lucius informs Bob and Helen of an offer from Winston Deavor, the owner of DevTech, a telecommunications corporation. Winston and his sister Evelyn propose a publicity stunt to regain public trust in superheroes.

Winston chooses Helen to spearhead the stunt under her old identity, Elastigirl, as she causes less property damage, and provides the Parr family with a new home. While Helen is away, Bob struggles with his new role as a stay-at-home parent: Dash has trouble with math, Violet becomes withdrawn after Tony stands her up, and Jack-Jack wreaks havoc with his burgeoning superpowers. Bob brings Jack-Jack to Edna Mode, who develops a suit to control his abilities. Meanwhile, Elastigirl confronts and captures the Screenslaver, a supervillain who projects hypnotic images using television screens. She unmasks him as a deliveryman with no recollection of his actions.

At a party celebrating the Screenslaver's arrest, Winston announces a summit of world leaders to legalize superheroes to be hosted aboard his luxury ship. Unsettled by the ease with which she captured the Screenslaver, Elastigirl realizes that he was being controlled by a pair of mind-control goggles. Evelyn forces the goggles onto her, revealing herself as the mastermind behind the Screenslaver. Evelyn explains she has hated superheroes since Gazerbeam and Fironic failed to rescue her father from being killed by burglars. She plans to sabotage her brother's summit and cause a catastrophe that will tarnish the reputation of superheroes. Using a hypnotized Elastigirl, she lures Mr. Incredible into a trap, then sends other hypnotized superheroes to subdue the Parr children. Frozone tries to protect them, but is overwhelmed and placed under Evelyn's control as well.

Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack escape with the help of the Incredimobile, a high-tech car once owned by Bob during his time as Mr. Incredible, and reach Winston's ship. On board, the hypnotized Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and Frozone recite a vindictive manifesto on air to paint superheroes as a threat. They subdue the crew, aim the ship at Municiberg, and destroy the controls. Jack-Jack removes the goggles from Elastigirl, who then frees Mr. Incredible and Frozone. The Parrs and Frozone release the other mind-controlled superheroes by destroying their goggles. With Mr. Incredible swimming underwater to turn the rudder and Frozone creating layers of ice, they slow the ship and prevent it from crashing into the city. Evelyn escapes in a jet, but is captured by Elastigirl. Superheroes around the world regain legal status.

Later, Tony accompanies Violet and her family to a movie. Outside the theater, the Parrs spot a high-speed pursuit between police and gunmen. Violet leaves Tony at the theater and promises to return in time for the film, before the Parrs give chase in a refurbished Incredimobile.

Voice cast

 * Craig T. Nelson as Bob Parr / Mr. Incredible, who possesses super strength and limited invulnerability.
 * Holly Hunter as Helen Parr / Elastigirl, who has the ability to stretch her body into many shapes and forms.
 * Sarah Vowell as Violet Parr, the family's daughter and first child, who can become invisible and project force fields for limited lengths of time.
 * Huckleberry Milner as Dashiell "Dash" Parr, the family's troublemaker first son, who has superhuman speed. He was previously voiced by Spencer Fox in the first film.
 * Eli Fucile as Jack-Jack Parr, the infant son of Bob and Helen who has a large assortment of powers.
 * Nicholas Bird provides the vocal effects of Jack-Jack's monster form.
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Lucius Best / Frozone, Bob's best friend, who has the ability to form ice from humidity.
 * Bob Odenkirk as Winston Deavor, a superhero fan who leads a telecommunications company with his sister Evelyn, and wants to bring back superheroes by revamping the public's perception of them.
 * Catherine Keener as Evelyn Deavor, Winston's younger sister, the mastermind behind the Screenslaver, and a technological genius who has never encountered a problem she could not solve.
 * Bill Wise as a pizza delivery man converted into a villain by the real "Screenslaver", who hijacks screens to project hypnotic images in order to hypnotize civilians.
 * Brad Bird as Edna Mode, a fashion designer for superheroes and a close friend of the Parrs.
 * Jonathan Banks as Rick Dicker, a government agent responsible for helping the Parrs stay undercover and unremarkable. When his department is shut down, the Parrs are left to their own devices. He was previously voiced by Bud Luckey in the first film, who died in 2018 and to whom the film is dedicated.
 * Michael Bird as Tony Rydinger, Violet's love interest.
 * Sophia Bush as Karen / Voyd, a young Elastigirl fan who aspires to be a true superhero, with the power to create wormholes.
 * Phil LaMarr as Krushauer and He-Lectrix, two superheroes who, alongside Voyd, aspire to be true superheroes. Krushauer has the power of telekinesis while Helectrix has the power of controlling and projecting electrical currents.
 * Paul Eiding as Gus Burns / Reflux, an elderly Super who aspires to be a true superhero, with the power of vomiting hot lava.
 * Isabella Rossellini as The Ambassador, a dignified foreign official committed to the support and legalization of superheroes.
 * John Ratzenberger as The Underminer, a mole-like supervillain who seeks to bring war and destruction to the world.
 * Barry Bostwick as Mayor
 * Jere Burns as Detective No. 1
 * Adam Rodriguez as Detective No. 2
 * Kimberly Adair Clark as Honey Best, Frozone's wife.
 * Usher as Lucius Best's valet

Development
Following The Incredibles, Brad Bird directed his next film for Pixar, Ratatouille, which was released in June 2007. Near its premiere, Bird said he was open to an idea of a sequel to The Incredibles, but only if it could be better than the original. He stated, "I have pieces that I think are good, but I don't have them all together." In a May 2013 interview, Bird reiterated his interest in a sequel: "I have been thinking about it. People think that I have not been, but I have—because I love those characters, and love that world ... I have many, many elements that I think would work really well in another Incredibles film, and if I can get 'em to click all together, I would probably wanna do that." While publicizing the first film, Bird had already conceptualized the eventual approach where Bob and Helen would switch roles, and Jack-Jack would develop multiple powers unknown to the family.

At the Disney shareholder meeting in March 2014, Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger confirmed that Pixar was working on an Incredibles sequel, and that Bird would return as writer. Bird started the script around April 2015, and said that the Incredibles sequel would be his next film after Tomorrowland.

One challenge in writing Incredibles 2 was how to deal with the large number of superhero films and television series that had been released since the first film, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. To try to differentiate the sequel, Bird wanted to avoid tropes related to the superhero genre: "I don't think that kind of idea stays interesting for very long. For me, the interesting thing was never the superhero part of it. It was more the family dynamic, and how do superhero things play into that." He said he wanted to include some unused ideas from the first film, and that the new story would focus on Helen Parr / Elastigirl.

Though the sequel was released fourteen years after the first, Bird did not want to use a narrative element like a timeskip or to come up with new characters, and instead continued from where the first film left off. This allowed him to keep characters with the same superpowers and not have to develop new ones, nor did he need to figure out how to deal with Violet and Dash being adults. This also allowed him to keep Jack-Jack as an infant with an array of powers, which Bird likened to how infants are able to understand numerous languages. While the plot of the 2005 follow-up video game to The Incredibles, The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer, begins at that same point of time, the film discards the game's continuity. The film was produced with a production budget of $200 million.

One advantage that Pixar had with Incredibles 2 was the advancement of technology the company had seen since the original film and a team of much more experienced animators. Producer John Walker said, "I think that one of the things that excited Brad and Ralph Eggleston, the production designer, was the fact that the technology existed now to finally realize the designs in the way that they had hoped to realize them in 2004. There were no notions of, 'Well, we don't know how to do long hair, we don't know how to do humans, we don't know how to do muscles.' Everybody knows how to do it. It's just now about doing it quickly." Because Pixar no longer used the same systems from the first movie, all the characters had to be created from scratch on the computer again. The studio also used physically-based human eye models for the characters for the first time, even if the eyes are larger and more stylized than in real humans.

Casting
Pixar announced in November 2016 that both Holly Hunter and Samuel L. Jackson would return to reprise their roles, and at the July 2017 D23 Expo that both Craig T. Nelson and Sarah Vowell would also return with them. Spencer Fox, the original voice of Dashiell "Dash" Parr, was replaced in the sequel by younger newcomer Huckleberry Milner. Also that July, Brad Bird and John Ratzenberger were confirmed as reprising their characters from the first film.

In November 2017, Pixar announced that Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener had been signed to the cast, In January 2018, it was announced that Sophia Bush and Isabella Rossellini would voice new characters Voyd and The Ambassador, while Jonathan Banks would voice Rick Dicker after the character's original voice actor Bud Luckey retired in 2014; after his death in 2018, the film was dedicated to Luckey's memory.

Music
In 2015, Bird confirmed that Michael Giacchino would return to compose the score. Giacchino began work around May 2017. The soundtrack album was released on June 15, 2018. In addition to the film's score, it includes the vocalized theme songs for Mr. Incredible, Frozone, and Elastigirl heard in the credits, as well as bonus versions of the songs sung by Disney's a cappella group, DCappella, and the latter's version of the track "The Glory Days" from the first film.

Release
The official premiere of Incredibles 2 took place in Los Angeles on June 5, 2018. It was theatrically released in the United States on June 15, 2018, including an IMAX release as part of Disney's new distribution deal with IMAX, but only in 2D. It is accompanied by Pixar's short film Bao. The film's release was originally scheduled for June 21, 2019, but the date was moved forward after Pixar handed the 2019 release date over to Toy Story 4, after its production fell behind schedule.

Marketing
A 53-second teaser trailer premiered on November 18, 2017 during ESPN's broadcast of College GameDay. It received 113 million views in its first 24 hours, becoming the most viewed trailer for an animated film, and the 7th most-viewed trailer overall. A new sneak peek premiered during the 2018 Winter Olympics on February 14. On April 13, a new trailer was released.

Merchandise
An Incredibles 2 graphic novel and comic miniseries was published by Dark Horse Comics in 2018. The graphic novel, titled Incredibles 2: Heroes at Home, was written by Liz Marsham and illustrated by Nicoletta Baldari. A comic miniseries, titled ''Incredibles 2: Crisis in Mid-Life! & Other Stories'', was written by Christos Gage and Landry Walker, and illustrated by Gurihiru, J. Bone, Andrea Greppi and Roberta Zanotta.

In May 2018, a prose novel was released entitled Incredibles 2: A Real Stretch: An Elastigirl Prequel Story, which focuses on the life of the character Elastigirl before the events of the first film.

A Lego video game adaptation of both films was released on the same day as Incredibles 2.

Home media
Incredibles 2 will be out on digital copy on October 23, 2018, and will be out on 4K UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on November 6, 2018.

Box office
, Incredibles 2 has grossed $607.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $619.9 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $1.228 billion.

On July 1, 2018, the film passed $648 million at the worldwide box office, surpassing the $633 million the original film made in its entire theatrical run. It is currently the ninth highest-grossing film of all-time domestically and the highest-grossing animated film domestically. The film crossed the $1 billion mark on July 30, 2018, becoming the seventh animated film and the 36th film of all-time to reach the milestone. It was also the fifth animated Disney film, the third Pixar film, and Disney's 18th film overall to gross $1 billion worldwide, as well as the fastest animated film to gross $1 billion, doing so in 46 days, surpassing Minions (49 days). On August 12, the film surpassed Toy Story 3 ($1.067 billion) to become the highest-grossing Pixar film worldwide.

United States and Canada
In April 2018, early box office projections had Incredibles 2 grossing $110 million in its opening weekend in the United States and Canada. In May 2018, a month before the film's release, tracking revised to an opening weekend of $140 million or more. A week prior to the film's opening, Fandango reported that pre-sale of tickets for the film had exceeded that of previous mid-year blockbusters Finding Dory, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Suicide Squad at the same point in their release cycles. By the week of its release, opening weekend projections had reached upwards of $150 million. A day before release, it became Fandango's top pre-selling animated film of all-time, outselling the previous record-holder, Finding Dory.

The film grossed $18.5 million from Thursday night previews, increasing weekend projections to as high as $174 million. The previews set the record for an animated film, doubling Finding Dory's $9.2 million, and were higher than the likes of fellow superhero films Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League. It made $71.6 million on its first day, including previews, the best-ever for an animated film (besting Dory's $54.7 million by 31%) and 14th highest all-time. It went on to debut to $182.7 million, the eighth best opening of all-time, far ahead of Finding Dory's animated record of $135.1 million and more than the entire lifetime gross of Pixar's A Bug's Life ($162.8 million), Cars 3 ($152.9 million) and The Good Dinosaur ($123.1 million).

The film set animated records for its Monday and Tuesday grosses, making $23.9 million (beating the $23.4 million made by Shrek 2 in May 2004) and $27.1 million (beating Finding Dory's $23.1 million), respectively. Its Tuesday gross also set a June record, topping Jurassic World ($24.3 million in 2015). By Thursday, its seventh day of release, the film had grossed $269.4 million, topping the entire lifetime domestic gross of the original, not accounting for inflation ($261.4 million). In its second weekend the film dropped 56% to $80.9 million, finishing second behind newcomer Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($148 million), marking the first time two films opened to over $100 million in back-to-back weekends. It remained in second place in its third and fourth weekends, grossing $45.5 million and $29 million, respectively. On July 7, its 23rd day of release, the film crossed $495 million, passing Finding Dory to become the highest-grossing animated film and Pixar's highest-grossing film of all-time domestically, and the following day became the first animated film to gross over $500 million domestically. On September 2, its 80th day of release, it became the first animated film to gross over $600 million domestically.

Internationally
Outside North America, the film made $51.5 million from 25 countries in its opening weekend, for a global debut of $231.5 million. Mexico was the largest debut with $12.3 million, followed by Australia ($7.7 million) and Russia ($5.4 million). In its second weekend of release the film made $58.6 million from 28 countries, bringing its two-week total to $134.7 million. Its largest market was China where it made $21.2 million, the best ever opening for a Pixar film in the country. It was also released in India where it made $3.3 million. In the United Kingdom, the film grossed $12.6 million in its opening weekend, the second biggest opening for Pixar after Toy Story 3. As of September 9, 2018, The biggest markets in terms of total earnings are the United Kingdom ($69.7 million), followed by China ($51.5 million), Japan ($40.4 million), France ($39.8 million), and Brazil ($37.4 million).

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 306 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Incredibles 2 reunites Pixar's family crimefighting team for a long-awaited follow-up that may not quite live up to the original, but comes close enough to earn its name." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, the same score as the first film, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 93% overall positive score and an 83% "definite recommend".

Robert Abele of TheWrap praised the film, saying: "Whatever the opposite of phoning in a sequel is, that's Brad Bird's progressive-minded, thunderously fun mix of super saves, throwback aesthetics and family comedy." A.A. Dowd, writing for The A.V. Club, felt it was "A sparkling contraption of an animated comedy, funny and often wondrous in its midcentury-modern vision of an alternate America frozen in the amber of a bygone idealism." David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a "B+", saying: "When the Parrs are pushed out of their comfort zone, Bird settles into his... [after] inciting a Spielberg-level monorail chase that reaffirms Bird's lucid gift for kinetic and character-driven action filmmaking, the movie blasts off and never looks back." Stephanie Zacharek from Time considered it "bold [and] rapturously entertaining," while David Sims at The Atlantic dubbed it "dazzling, thought-provoking, and sometimes overwhelming in terms of plotting."

Variety's Owen Gleiberman called the film "fun but far from incredible" and wrote "It's true that the Toy Story films, all three of which are fantastic, did variations on the same theme of a toy's obsolescence, but as movies they kept the emotions close to the surface. In Incredibles 2, we never get that rush of feeling." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars and said, "Incredibles 2 is content to punch the clock and stick to straight, bombastic action mode. In that mode, composer Giacchino's music is the most successful element, running nimble, beautifully orchestrated variations on themes that feel familiar in the best ways while retaining their spark. The animation is bright and visually dynamic. The script, well … if the title were Satisfactories 2, it'd be about right." Ty Burr for The Boston Globe called it a "clattery, unfocused affair that at times is more irritating than fun."

Epilepsy issues
Many disability advocates, including the Epilepsy Foundation, have raised concerns that scenes with flashing lights, particularly the scene of Elastigirl's fight with the Screenslaver, can trigger seizures in viewers affected by photosensitive epilepsy. As a result, several theaters posted warnings for audiences. Disney issued a statement to USA Today stating that they appreciated the efforts the theaters had already made in making signs warning people seeing the movie. They then asked theaters to warn audiences about the scene in a memo that read, "Incredibles 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights, which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities."

In response to this, the UK released a re-edited version of the film with all affected sequences altered so that any flashing lights and strobe effects now pass the Harding test.

Future
Following the release of Incredibles 2, director Brad Bird acknowledged that the film's truncated production schedule resulted in many plotlines and ideas he had for the film being cut from the final version. He cited Pixar's decision in October 2016 to swap the release dates of Toy Story 4 and Incredibles 2, which meant that Bird's film lost a full year of production. Bird stated that the lingering plotlines could lead to a third installment, just as they did with the second. "There were a lot of ideas that we had on this film that could be [used]... whether it's another Incredibles film, or something else." Cast members including Samuel L. Jackson and Sophia Bush have expressed interest in reprising their roles. Producer John Walker would not "rule [a third film] out".