Monsters, Inc.

Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, and Jennifer Tilly, the film was directed by Pete Docter in his directorial debut, and executive produced by John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton. The film centers on two monsters – James P. "Sulley" Sullivan and his one-eyed partner and best friend Mike Wazowski – employed at the titular energy-producing factory Monsters, Inc, which generates power by scaring human children. The monster world believes that children are toxic, and when a small child enters the factory, Sulley and Mike must return her home before it is too late.

Docter began developing the film in 1996, and wrote the story with Jill Culton, Jeff Pidgeon and Ralph Eggleston. Stanton wrote the screenplay with screenwriter Dan Gerson. The characters went through many incarnations over the film's five-year production process. The technical team and animators found new ways to render fur and cloth realistically for the film. Randy Newman, who composed the music for Pixar's three prior films, returned to compose its fourth.

Monsters, Inc. was praised by critics and proved to be a major box office success from its release on November 2, 2001, generating over $577 million worldwide and becoming the third highest-grossing film of 2001. The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for (“If I Didn’t Have You”) and was nominated for three more, including for the new category: Best Animated Feature. Monsters, Inc. saw a 3D re-release in theaters on December 19, 2012. A prequel titled Monsters University, which was directed by Dan Scanlon, was released on June 21, 2013. A web-series titled Monsters at Work will release on Disney+ in 2020.