New 'Monsters, Inc.' Title/Plot Revealed!

Pixar's new Monsters, Inc. movie will be a prequel to the 2001 box office hit, it has been confirmed.

Dave Hollis, executive vice president of worldwide distribution for Disney, revealed the animated film's storyline and title - Monsters University - at the Las Vegas CinemaCon convention. Disney revealed the moniker at its presentation at CinemaCon Tuesday.

"The film is a prequel that tells you a little bit about how [Mike and Sully] first met, attending Monsters University," Hollis said. "Obviously everybody knows at this point Mike and Sully are amazing friends - the best of friends - but as it turns out, in this story, that wasn't always the case."

From the moment they met at university, they could not stand each other. This story takes you through the ups and downs, and how they overcame their own differences.

Monsters Inc. was one or Pixar's early hits, released in 2001 as the company's fourth movie. Pete Docter and David Silverman co-directed the pic, which featured voicework from John Goodman and Billy Crystal as fright engineers Sully and Mike Wazowski. The movie scared up $525 million worldwide.

Sully/Goodman and Wazowski/Crystal are expected to be back as will monster bad guy Randall Boggs (voices by Steve Buscemi).

Up's Pete Docter is directing Monsters University, which is due to open in US cinemas on November 2, 2012 and in the UK on December 7, 2012.

Update 04-04-11: The release calendar for animated films saw several major changes Monday as Disney/Pixar and DreamWorks Animation both rearranged their schedules.

Disney is pushing back the release of Pixar's sequel Monsters University from Nov. 2, 2012 to June 21, 2013.  As a result, Disney toon Reboot Ralph will now open Nov. 2, 2012 -- Monsters' old date -- instead of March 12, 2013.