Why Pixar Movies Have So Many Shining Easter Eggs

Why Pixar Movies Have So Many Shining Easter Eggs

Many Pixar movies have a couple of references to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, even though it’s not a movie aimed at a young audience.

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Why Pixar Movies Have So Many Shining Easter Eggs

Pixar movies are full of Easter eggs and references to other Pixar titles, forming a connected universe of their own, but many of them also have various references to The Shining – here’s why. Pixar has become a powerhouse in the world of entertainment, changing the field of animation and always raising the bar, not only for other studios but for themselves as well. With over 20 movies and counting, Pixar continues telling all types of stories through a variety of characters that go from toys to monsters and even cars.

Pixar’s reign began in 1995 with Toy Story, the first entirely animated feature film, which opened a lot of doors for the studio. As mentioned above, Pixar movies include references to either past or future projects, but also their own versions of real-life TV shows, movies, plays, and other pop culture products (Onward, for example, has plenty of them). One that has been referenced many times and in all possible ways is Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, which is an interesting choice given that it’s not a movie aimed at a young audience.

All those Pixar movies with The Shining Easter eggs have one element in common: Lee Unkrich. The director, editor, writer and animator was part of the Pixar family since Toy Story, where he served as editor, and worked as co-director, producer, voice actor, and more in various Pixar projects. Unkrich’s first credit as director is Toy Story 3, followed by Coco, though he served as executive producer in Monsters University and The Good Dinosaur in-between. Unkrich is a huge fan of The Shining, so much that he has managed to add at least one Easter egg in the Pixar movies he has directed, including those he co-directed.

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Though he was part of the post-production team of Toy Story, which famously added the iconic carpet from the Overlook Hotel to Sid’s house, Unkrich has shared that particular reference was production designer Ralph Eggleston’s idea, but there are many others than can be credited to Unkrich’s love for Kubrick’s film: the number 237 makes several appearances in Toy Story 3, Coco managed to sneak a sugar-skull version of the Grady twins, and Bruce has his own “here’s Johnny!” moment in Finding Nemo, only changing “Johnny” to “Brucey”.

Of course, not all references to The Shining have been that obvious and easy to catch. For example, in Coco there’s a scene where an axe can be seen in the background, which Unkrich admitted was modeled after one of the axes from Kubrick’s movie, and the red metal storage drum next to it is a reference to REDRUM. As long as Unkrich was creatively involved in a Pixar movie, you can be sure there’s at least one The Shining Easter egg, so you might want to keep your eyes wide open the next time you watch a Pixar movie.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/pixar-movies-shining-easter-eggs-why-lee-unkrich/

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