Pixar’s Canceled Monsters Inc 2 Details Revealed (& You’ll be Mad it Didn’t Happen)

July 10, 2026, 3:20pm

After the first two Toy Story movies put Pixar on the map in the late ’90s, the animation studio established itself as one of the industry’s powerhouses with a string of beloved films released throughout the 2000s. The first in this generational run was Monsters, Inc., which hit theaters in 2001. Like many Pixar movies in this era, it was a critically acclaimed box office hit, grossing $579.7 million worldwide and earning an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. It took Pixar more than a decade to revisit the iconic property, with prequel Monsters University premiering in 2013. Long before that, however, there was a direct sequel in the works, and now some details have been revealed.

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In an interview with Hemmas Studios, writers Rob Muir and Bob Hilgenberg discussed their time working at Circle Seven Animation, a studio founded by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner specifically to produce sequels to Pixar’s original films. Muir and Hilgenberg co-wrote a script called Monsters, Inc.: Lost in Scaradise, which earned high praise from the higher-ups. The film would have picked things up in a logical manner, with Mike preparing for his wedding, Sulley enjoying a new promotion at work, and Boo becoming a little older.

“We stand by that script, we’re very proud of it. It’s one of those things where, when we were writing it, everything was falling into place. It was a labor of love and were very passionate about it,” said Muir. “We wanted to make sure we stuck with the Pixar brand. Our goal was, when somebody read the script, to not know if we were influenced by Pixar or not.”

Will Pixar Revive Muir & Hilgenberg’s Monsters, Inc. Sequel Script?

Lost in Scaradise obviously never came to fruition. Despite enthusiasm about Muir and Hilgenberg’s screenplay, the project was killed after Disney acquired Pixar in 2006 and Circle Seven Animation was shut down. Pixar took the Monsters, Inc. franchise in a different direction when it made Monsters University, but now a sequel is in the works again. Earlier this year, it was reported Pixar is developing a third Monsters, Inc. installment. Plot details are being kept under wraps for the time being, but odds are it would serve as a direct follow-up to the original film, telling the next chapter of Mike and Sulley’s lives. Since Muir and Hilgenberg wrote a well-received draft for a Monsters, Inc. 2 a long time ago, might Pixar consider revisiting that concept?

As Muir and Hilgenberg state in the interview, there are only so many ways a Monsters, Inc. sequel could realistically go. If Pixar’s next film picks up where the original left off, Mike and Sulley are going to be navigating new challenges at work (Monsters, Inc. is now all about laughs instead of scares) while Boo gets older. Even if it’s unintentional, it’s plausible that there would be some similarities between the two versions due to the basic premise. It would be a nice gesture on Pixar’s part if Muir and Hilgenberg were brought onboard to revise their earlier draft — especially considering what happened to Circle Seven Animation in the mid-2000s. Even Billy Crystal thought highly of the duo’s script, indicating it’s something that would be worth exploring.

Lost in Scaradise definitely had potential. The general idea behind the film was that Mike and Sulley planned to visit Boo to celebrate her birthday. When they walk through her old bedroom door, they’re surprised to learn Boo’s family has moved, so they head out into the human world to have a reunion with their friend. This would have been an amusing inverse of the first film’s plot; in Monsters, Inc., Boo is the one who’s lost in the monster world and has to get back home. Lost in Scaradise could have been a great fish out of water comedy with Mike and Sulley doing their best to survive in the human world. One would have to think that Mike’s wedding would have been a ticking clock element to raise the stakes, as Mike and Sulley would need to return home in time for the ceremony.

It’s true that more than two decades have passed since Muir and Hilgenberg wrote their script, but a lot of their general ideas are probably still usable. Monsters, Inc. has a timeless quality to it, taking place in a fantasy world that isn’t beholden to a specific period (we see so little of the human world in Monsters, Inc. that Boo could be a child living in any era). Even if some tweaks had to be made, the barebones of Mike and Sulley journey through the human world to find Boo is a strong foundation that could still work today. It remains to be seen what Pixar will do with its Monsters, Inc. 3, but Lost in Scaradise could provide an entertaining template.

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