Monsters University is a 2013 American animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the prequel to Monsters, Inc. (2001). It was directed by Dan Scanlon, produced by Kori Rae, and written by Scanlon and the writing team of Dan Gerson and Robert L. Baird. John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich served as the film's executive producers. The music for the film was composed and conducted by Randy Newman, making it his seventh collaboration with Pixar. Monsters University tells the story of the main characters of Monsters, Inc., James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski, and their time at college where they start off as bitter rivals but slowly become best friends. They are paired in a series of competitive scare-oriented events with their fraternity, and Wazowski ultimately learns that some things cannot be taught. John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, Bob Peterson, and John Ratzenberger reprise their roles as James P. Sullivan, Mike Wazowski, Randall Boggs, Roz, and the Abominable Snowman, respectively, while the new cast were joined by Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, Peter Sohn, Joel Murray, Sean Hayes, Dave Foley, Charlie Day, Nathan Fillion and Aubrey Plaza, while Bonnie Hunt, who voiced Ms. Flint in the original film, voices Mike's teacher Mrs. Karen Graves.
Theatrical release poster
Image: Billy Crystal VF 2012 Shankbone
Image: John Goodman by David Shankbone
Image: Steve Buscemi 2009 portrait
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit, and is based at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. Animated films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios are also released under the studio banner. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes and markets the films produced by Walt Disney Pictures.
The Walt Disney Studios' Riverside Drive property in Burbank, California
The current on-screen logo of Walt Disney Pictures, introduced in 2022 for the studio's 100th anniversary in 2023. The standard version, pictured here, debuted in 2024 on the official trailer for Inside Out 2.