[Smithy]

Writer/director Andrew Stanton has been behind some of the very best films in Pixar’s repertoire (and that’s saying something). He co-wrote Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, and Monsters Inc., and he wrote and directed the magnificent one-two punch of Finding Nemo and Wall-E. Stanton made his live-action debut earlier this year with the criminally underseen sci-fi epic John Carter, and now it looks like he’ll be returning to Pixar for his next feature, Finding Nemo 2. Hit the jump for more.

Per Deadline, Stanton has now officially come onboard to direct Finding Nemo 2 with a concept that the studio apparently loves. THR adds that Victoria Krouse is writing the screenplay, with Lindsey Collins onboard as the film’s producer (she co-produced Wall-E and produced John Carter). A 2016 release date is apparently being eyed. We’ve been hearing rumblings of a possible Finding Nemo follow-up for a while now, and with promising Monsters Inc. sequel coming next year, hopefully Stanton has an equally exciting idea of where to take the Finding Nemo characters in a follow-up. It’s worth noting that Finding Nemo remains Pixar’s second highest grossing film of all time, so the Mouse House is likely more than happy to have a sequel in active development.

lMoreover, Deadline reports that the idea behind Stanton helming Finding Nemo 2 is that Disney would “give him another shot” at directing a live-action film. Since development on Pixar films takes years, he’d presumably focus on Finding Nemo 2 for the time being, then move on to his next live-action feature once he’s finished with the animated pic. The report cautions that nothing is firm on the live-action front, but the studio is “working on it.”

Though John Carter has become infamous as a financial failure, artistically speaking the film was far from a bomb. Stanton poured his heart and soul into bringing the Edgar Rice Burroughs tale to the screen, and his passion for the material came through in spades. Furthermore, John Carter is a visual spectacle that was a wonder to behold on the big screen.

It’s a shame that more people didn’t turn out for the film, and it’s even more of a shame that it sounds like we’ll never see those two John Carter sequels that Stanton and co-writer Michael Chabon were hoping to make should the first film be a success. Finding Nemo 2 isn’t exactly a terrible consolation prize, and with Stanton taking the creative helm on the pic we can rest assured that we’ll be getting a story well worth telling. In the meantime, fans will have the chance to check out the first Finding Nemo on the big screen once again, as the pic hits theaters in 3D on September 14th.

The first one was amazing, they better not ruin it with a sequel