Movies

Lightyear Trivia | 57 facts about the new Pixar film

“Lightyear” is a new Pixar film starring the famous character from the “Toy Story” film series.

So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the film.

Lightyear is a 2022 American computer-animated science fiction action-adventure film
It is produced by Pixar Animation Studios
It is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The film is a spin-off of the Toy Story film series
Serving as an origin story for the fictional test pilot/astronaut character who the Buzz Lightyear toy/action figure featured in the main films was inspired by
It was co-written and directed by Angus MacLane
Lightyear is produced by Galyn Susman
In the film stars Chris Evans as the voice of the title character
With Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, James Brolin, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, Uzo Aduba, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez and Isiah Whitlock Jr. in supporting roles
Lightyear tells the story of young astronaut Buzz Lightyear, who, after being marooned on a hostile planet with his commander and crew, tries to find a way back home while confronting a threat in the form of the Emperor Zurg
Initially, the source material for Buzz Lightyear was introduced in the 2000 direct-to-video film Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
It was the pilot to a spin-off television series, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000–2001)
After finishing work on Finding Dory (2016), MacLane, a science fiction fan, pitched the idea of making a film about Buzz Lightyear at Pixar
To evoke the science fiction films the director grew up watching, the animators wanted to give the film a “cinematic” and “chunky” look
The animation and visual process was done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic
Michael Giacchino composed the film’s score
Lightyear had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on June 8, 2022
It was theatrically released in the United States on June 17 in RealD 3D, 4DX, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX formats
This was the first Pixar film to be filmed in IMAX
It received mostly positive reviews from critics
Development on Lightyear started after finishing work on Finding Dory (2016)
After co-directing Dory with Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane was allowed to pitch the idea of making a Buzz Lightyear film
Having always wondered what movie Andy Davis saw in the original Toy Story (1995) to get interested in a Buzz Lightyear action figure
MacLane, also a science fiction fan, had felt attracted to the character of Buzz since he started working at Pixar
Feeling that the film’s story was very “personal” for him, whose favorite movie since childhood had been Star Wars (1977)
An aspect present in the Toy Story films that Lightyear explores is Buzz’s disagreement over the nature of reality, which, coupled with his heroic ideals
This made an amalgam of sci-fi clichés that MacLane intended to make more than just a punchline
In February 2019, Tim Allen, who voiced Buzz in the films, expressed interest in doing another film as he “did not see any reason why they would not do it”
While in that May, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Tom Hanks, who voiced Sheriff Woody, said that Toy Story 4 (2019) would be the final installment in the franchise
But producer Mark Nielsen disclosed a possibility of a fifth film, as Pixar was not ruling out that possibility
In December 2020 at a Disney Investor Day meeting, Lightyear was announced as a spin-off film depicting the in-universe origin of the human Buzz Lightyear character
With Chris Evans providing the character’s voice
When asked about the relationship between Lightyear and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, a Toy Story spin-off series that also serves as an in-universe production starring the Buzz character, MacLane, who directed the CG opening sequence for Star Command, said that he did not have it in mind while working on the film
But always pictured the series being developed in-universe after a trilogy of Lightyear films
He later explained that Lightyear serves as a “live-action” film within the Toy Story universe
Whereas Star Command serves as a hand-drawn animated series based on the film, from which the toy versions of Buzz and Zurg derive from
Recurrent Pixar composer Michael Giacchino was announced to compose the score for the film
Marking his eighth collaboration with Pixar
And the second time he would score an installment to a film franchise from Pixar that is traditionally scored by Randy Newman, after Cars 2
He earlier scored for the Toy Story television specials: Toy Story of Terror! (2013) and Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014)
The former was written and directed by Maclane
The score was recorded over 15 days, requiring a 39-member choir and an 89-piece orchestra
A track titled “Mission Perpetual” was released as a single on June 3, 2022
Giacchino said the track was his favorite to work on the film, describing it as a challenge due to the music needing to convey Buzz’ frustration, sadness, and determination through the sequence
The soundtrack was released on June 17, 2022 through Walt Disney Records
In the United States and Canada, Lightyear is projected to gross $70 to 85 million from 4,255 theaters in its opening weekend
It made $5.2 million from Thursday night previews
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 78% rating
Based on 214 critics’ reviews
With an average rating of 6.80/10
The website’s consensus reads, “Lightyear settles for being a rather conventional origin story instead of reaching for the stars, but this gorgeously animated adventure ably accomplishes its mission of straightforward fun”
On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100
Based on 55 critics
Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A–” on an A+ to F scale
White PostTrak gave the film an average 4 out of 5 stars
With 62% saying they would definitely recommend it