Disney and Pixar have revealed a new trailer for their upcoming science-fiction film, Lightyear, which features actor Chris Evans stepping into the role of the famous space ranger. The new film will be an original story about Buzz Lightyear himself (the man, not the toy), and based on this trailer, it's going to feature lots of exciting action and quite a few laughs.
Pixar's new trailer opens with Evans' Buzz Lightyear suiting up for an important test flight. Before he can do that though, he's grabbed by some kind of alien tentacle and unceremoniously dragged away until a fellow ranger slices off the appendage. Through some handy voice-over narration, we learn that Buzz and his fellow rangers have been marooned on an alien planet for a year and that they're finally ready to test flight a new spaceship that will hopefully get them home.
Similar to the original Lightyear teaser trailer that premiered last year, the last half of the trailer is set to the tune of David Bowie's "Starman" as we see Buzz explore alien words and fight giant robots, you know, typical space ranger stuff. Most importantly though is the introduction of a new character, Buzz's personal robot companion, a tabby cat named Sox. Voiced by Pixar animator Peter Sohn, Sox is sure to be an audience favorite, as he delivers many of the trailer's best moments, including at the end when he blasts white noise from his mouth to help Buzz sleep.
When the first teaser trailer for Lightyear premiered last year, some Pixar fans were confused by the premise of the movie. While Lightyear is based on the character Buzz Lightyear, it's an original story about the actual space ranger rather than the toy from the Toy Story franchise. This led to even more confusion, as it had fans questioning whether Buzz Lightyear is a real person in the Toy Story universe or if this is like a movie within a movie situation.
Either way, Pixar looks to be doing something different with Lightyear. The renowned animation studio hasn't done a science fiction film since 2008's Wall-E, and based on this trailer alone Lightyear looks like it's going for a more dramatic action-adventure story rather than a romance. Hopefully, Lightyear will get a theatrical release, because based on these visuals it looks like it will be a stunning experience on the big screen.
Disney has received a lot of flack recently for pushing many of Pixar's latest films straight to Disney Plus, including the upcoming Toronto-set Turning Red. While this has primarily been due to the ongoing and unpredictable COVID-19 pandemic, many staff members at Pixar have expressed frustration because these changes have often been very last minute and have resulted in a significant drop in box office revenue. At the moment Lightyear is scheduled for a theatrical release later this year, but it's hard to say what will happen in the months until then.
Lightyear is currently scheduled to be released in theaters on June 17th, 2022.
Source: Pixar | Youtube
