Monsters Inc

Story

At the Monsters, Inc. factory, skilled monsters venture into the human world to scare children and harvest their screams. These screams are a powerful energy source, but scaring is dangerous work as human children are supposedly toxic. So when a human follows top scarer, James P. Sullivan, back to the factory, he and his assistant, Mike, must do their best to return her home.

Why we chose it

A hugely successful and much-loved film that explores the familiar childhood fears of monsters under the bed.

Where it came from

Peter Docter started to think about Monsters Inc. while working on Toy Story in 1994. Like Toy Story, he wanted to make a film that tapped into children’s imaginations. As a child, he knew monsters were in his closet waiting to scare him. But what did the monsters get out of it? This question fueled the development of the story that became Monsters Inc.

Where it went next

Monsters Inc. ranked number 1 at the box office on its opening weekend, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Several video games were based on the film, and a touring ice skating show was produced by Disney on Ice. A Monsters Inc. comic book mini-series was released in 2009, and a manga version was printed in Comic Bon Bon magazine.

Associated stories

A prequel, Monsters University, directed by Dan Scanlon, was released in 2012, and an animated short was release in 2002 called Mike’s New Car. Peter Docter also directed Up (2009) and Inside Out (2015).