Pixar has officially announced a new original movie called Gatto, which means “cat” in Italian. The news came during the Annecy Animation Festival in France, where Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter shared the first details with the audience. The movie is scheduled to release in summer 2027.
Gatto is directed by Enrico Casarosa and produced by Andrea Warren – the same team that worked on Luca, a Pixar movie released in 2021. That film, set on the Italian Riviera, was very popular, to the point it was the most-watched streaming film of 2021. It was released only on Disney+ during the pandemic and reached over 10.6 billion minutes of viewing time.
Now, the Luca team is returning with another story based in Italy. This time, the setting is Venice.
The main character in Gatto is a black cat named Nero, and he lives in Venice, a city known for its canals and narrow streets. For years, Nero has quietly moved through the city, though he now starts to wonder if he’s made good use of his nine lives.
Nero gets himself into trouble – he owes a debt to a feline mob boss in the city, and that pulls him into the tricky situations only found in Venice’s underworld.
Things begin to change when Nero meets Maya, a young street artist. Maya decides to adopt Nero, even though he doesn’t want her to. At first, their relationship is difficult, mainly due to the fact Nero is used to being alone. But over time, they form a real bond, and Nero begins to understand that he might still have a purpose and that he might not be as alone as he thought.
The story will show how Nero deals with the world around him, including the dark side of Venice and the superstitions about black cats. It’s also about how unlikely friendships can change a life.
Along with the new story, Gatto will feature a new kind of animation for Pixar. At the Annecy Festival, Pete Docter showed early tests of the animation style, described as painterly and hand-drawn. The film uses 2D hand-painted textures combined with computer animation, which creates a look that is very different from the usual Pixar style.
This is the first time Pixar has used this kind of visual approach. The colors and textures are based on the look and feel of Venice. According to the team, the movie includes vibrant Venetian colors and detailed textures that resemble traditional paintings.
Enrico Casarosa, who was born in Genoa, Italy, is drawing once again from his home country. Just like Luca was set on the Italian coast, Gatto is set deep in the heart of Venice.
Pixar’s schedule for the next few years includes several new films. Before Gatto arrives in 2027, the studio will release three other movies: Elio in 2025, Hoppers in 2026, and Toy Story 5 also in 2026.
At the same event in Annecy, Pixar showed a 27-minute preview of Elio, which is directed by Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi, with producer Mary Alice Drumm. In that film, a boy named Elio is mistaken for Earth’s leader by a group of aliens. He travels to a place called the Communiverse and meets many creatures. One of the characters, Aunt Olga, is voiced by Academy Award winner Zoe Saldaña.
Hoppers is directed by Daniel Chong, known for We Bare Bears. The movie follows a girl named Mabel who uses stolen technology to place her mind into a robotic beaver. She does this to protect a local pond from a construction project. The film includes voice performances by Piper Curda, Jon Hamm, and Bobby Moynihan.
Toy Story 5 will bring back Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack as Jessie. Pixar showed the first two minutes of the movie, which includes a new character: a toy tablet that Bonnie receives. The film explores what happens when traditional toys have to face modern technology. The announcement was part of a celebration of the Toy Story franchise’s 30th anniversary. Pixar also showed never-before-seen footage from the original Toy Story film, which was released in 1995 and became the first fully computer-animated feature film.
Even though Gatto features a cat as the main character, Pixar made it clear that this film is not the same as Flow, the 2024 Academy Award-winning film about a cat surviving a flood. While both stories focus on cats, Gatto is said to be different in tone, animation style, and story.
As of today, only one official image from Gatto has been released, and it shows Nero, the black cat, carefully walking down a set of stone steps in Venice. No trailer, voice cast, or music details have been shared yet. The film is still in production and will continue to develop over the next two years.
Gatto will premiere in theaters in summer of 2027. Pixar has not announced whether it will also be available on Disney+ or any other streaming service. It is part of Pixar’s current plan to return to theatrical releases after some films were released only online during the pandemic.
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