Chris Evans is going to infinity and beyond as the voice of Buzz Lightyear in a new Pixar film called simply Lightyear.
News of the upcoming sort of spin-off was announced during Thursday’s Disney Investors Day presentation. But Evans isn’t technically replacing Tim Allen, who voiced the beloved Space Ranger in the Toy Story films. Instead, think of Lightyear as “the movie within the movie,” as it will be the imagined adventure on which Andy’s favorite action figure was based.
As Pixar Chief Creative Office Pete Docter explained during Thursday’s event, “See, back when we created the very first Toy Story, we designed Buzz Lightyear with the idea that he was a toy based on some really cool character from an epic, blockbuster film. Well, all these years later we decided it’s time to make that film.”
So in the world of Woody, Bopeep, Woody, Rex, Bo Peep, Slinky Dog, and the rest, Lightyear is the movie Andy saw that made him obsessed with Buzz Lightyear. It’s kind of… reverse meta movie making.
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Lightyear is scheduled to land in theaters on July 17th, 2022. You can check out a title teaser below.
This was but one of numerous upcoming projects revealed during Disney’s investors event. A bunch of new Star Wars Disney+ series were detailed, in addition to a Patty Jenkins-directed movie called Rogue Squadron. Marvel also revealed trailers for its upcoming Disney+ shows like Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, in addition to announcing scores more. Kevin Feige also announced that Jon Watts will be directing the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of The Fantastic Four.
Here’s a first look of the young test pilot that became the Space Ranger we all know him to be today. Lightyear launches into theaters June 17, 2022. pic.twitter.com/Ho2ChPrQbx
— Disney (@Disney) December 11, 2020
And just to be clear, this isn’t Buzz Lightyear the toy. This is the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) December 11, 2020
