Monsters University

"Before they were incorporated, they had to be...educated."

- Tagline. Monsters University is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Dan Scanlon is the director and Kori Rae is the producer. It is be the fourteenth film produced by Pixar and is the prequel to 2001's Monsters, Inc. John Goodman Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, Bob Peterson], and the John Ratzenberger reprising their roles as Mike Wazowski, Sulley, Randall Boggs, Roz and The Yeti, respectively.

The film was released in the US. and Spain on June 21, 2013. Despite what was said in the Monsters, Inc. trailer and in the scene when Mike and Sulley were walking to work, the two might've gotten separated during middle school or high school. This marked the first prequel Pixar had ever produced. The film was accompanied by a short film titled The Blue Umbrella, with a score provided by Jon Brion.

Plot
The story starts with six-year-old monster Michael "Mike" Wazowski on a school field trip to Monsters Inc., a scaring company. At Monsters Inc., the class meets Frank McCay, an employee of the company who works as a "scarer", entering the human world to scare children at night and harvesting their screams as energy to power the monster world. As Frank prepares to enter a door to the human world, the children notice that Mike has slipped unnoticed to Frank's door, which he then enters before anyone can stop him. Mike watches Frank's scare performance, then follows him back through the door to the monster world. Frank scolds Mike, but is impressed with his ability to have sneaked quietly in and out of the room, and gives him his Monsters University hat as a souvenir. The teacher reprimands him as well, but Mike is happy and inspired to be a scarer when he grows up.

Approximately eleven years later, Mike is a scare major and is starting his first day at the prestigious Monsters University. On his first day, Mike befriends his roommate, the nerdy and shy Randall "Randy" Boggs, who desires to be popular and has difficulty controlling his camouflage power. During the first class of the scare program, as Mike is answering a question, he is interrupted by another scare student, an arrogant large blue monster named James P. "Sulley" Sullivan. The entire class is also informed by Dean Hardscrabble, the stern Dean of the scare program, that they must pass their final exam of the semester in order to continue in the program. While Mike is studying one night, Sulley inadvertently barges into his room in order to hide the pig mascot of a rival college. While the two bicker, the mascot steals Mike's treasured MU hat and escapes. Mike and Sulley chase the pig outside and struggle to capture it, but when Mike finally manages to do so, Sulley gets the credit, and is invited to join Roar Omega Roar, the elite fraternity on campus. Mike wishes to join, but is denied, magnifying the rivalry between the two.

Mike studies hard and repeatedly answers questions in class correctly, while the privileged Sulley, convinced all he needs is his natural scaring ability, begins to falter. At the final exam, Mike and Sulley's rivalry gets out of hand, resulting in Dean Hardscrabble failing them both and dropping them from the program, which prompts Roar Omega Roar to kick Sulley out of the fraternity. Unhappy in his boring new major, Mike decides to enter the Scare Games, an extracurricular competition involving a series of physical challenges that tests a monster's scaring ability. As the participants must be members of a fraternity or sorority, Mike joins Oozma Kappa, a small fraternity of misfit monsters. Mike tries to enter Oozma Kappa into the scare games, but is told he needs one more member. Sulley, seeing the competition as his ticket back into the scare program, offers to join, which Mike eventually reluctantly accepts. In the process of joining, Mike makes a deal with Dean Hardscrabble, the founder of the games, to re-admit their entire team to the scaring program if they win, whereas if they lose, Mike must leave Monsters University. Sulley expects to carry the team himself, but Mike believes that with enough training, the team can succeed. Meanwhile, Randy becomes a member of Roar Omega Roar and breaks off his friendship with Mike.

With the last-placing team in each round of the Games being eliminated from the competition, Oozma Kappa miraculously advances through the first round and survives by sheer luck. They then attend a party at Roar Omega Roar house where initially the other competitors appear to accept them, but they play fraternity pranks and humiliate Oozma Kappa instead. The group is discouraged as they are now the laughingstock of the entire campus, so Mike arranges a secret visit to Monsters, Inc. to lift their spirits. After that, Oozma Kappa uses their wits to advance all the way to the final round against Roar Omega Roar. Even having advanced so far, Sulley does not believe that Mike can be a true scarer because of his lack of natural ability. After the team surprisingly wins the final round, Mike discovers that Sulley has manipulated the equipment so that Mike would register a perfect score. Mike is heartbroken and wants to prove to everyone that he is capable of becoming a scarer. He breaks into the door lab and uses a newly-crafted door to enter the human world, but his plan goes wrong when it turns out the door leads to a summer camp and he completely fails to scare the children.

Back at the university, Sulley confesses to Hardscrabble that he cheated, just as she is notified of the break-in. Realizing what happened, Sulley enters the door to look for Mike. After finding Mike and reconciling, the pair, now being pursued by human adults, attempt to return, but Dean Hardscrabble has deactivated the door until the Child Detection Agency arrives, trapping them in the human world. Mike realizes that the only way to get back into the monster world is to generate enough scream energy to power the door from their side. Working together, Sulley and Mike scare the investigating adults, generating an overwhelming amount of scream energy and allowing them to return to the lab. Their actions lead to their expulsion from the university, but the other members of Oozma Kappa have been accepted into the scare program the next semester as Hardscrabble was impressed with their performance in the games. They share goodbyes and as Sulley and Mike leave, Hardscrabble approaches and tells them they are the first to have surprised her, and wishes them luck for the future. Mike and Sulley take jobs at Monsters, Inc. in the company mailroom with the Abominable Snowman. Over time, they work their way up until they become part of the Scarer Team which establishes the story of Monsters, Inc.

In the post-credits, the yellow slug-like monster (who was seen earlier in the film) finally arrives at the classroom, but learns from the janitor that the school year is over. The slug student runs back which he spends his entire vacation on.

Voice cast

 * Billy Crystal as Michael "Mike" Wazowski
 * John Goodman as James P. "Sulley" Sullivan
 * Steve Buscemi as Randy Boggs, a Roar Omega Roar fraternity member
 * Helen Mirren as Dean Hardscrabble, the head mistress at Monsters University.
 * Nathan Fillion as Johnny Worthington, president of Roar Omega Roar
 * Peter Sohn as Scott "Squishy" Squibbles, an Oozma Kappa fraternity member
 * Joel Murray as Don Carlton, a middle age student and the founding member of Oozma Kappa fraternity
 * Sean Hayes as Terri Perry, an Oozma Kappa fraternity member
 * Dave Foley as Terry Perry, an Oozma Kappa fraternity member
 * Charlie Day as Art, an Oozma Kappa fraternity member
 * Noah Johnston as Young Mike Wazowski
 * Alfred Molina as Professor Knight, the teacher for Scaring 101.
 * Aubrey Plaza as Claire Wheeler, Greek Council president
 * Tyler Labine as Brock Pearson, Greek Council vice-president
 * John Krasinski as "Frightening" Frank McCay
 * Bonnie Hunt as Karen Graves, Mike's grade school teacher
 * Bobby Moynihan as Chet Alexander, a Roar Omega Roar fraternity member
 * Julia Sweeney as Sherry Squibbles, Scott's mother
 * Beth Behrs as Carrie Williams, leader of Python Nu Kappa sorority
 * John Ratzenberger as Yeti the Abominable Snowman, a Monsters, Inc. mailroom employee
 * Bob Peterson as Roz, Agent #001 of the CDA
 * Bill Hader as Referee, Slug (Monsters University)

Production
Pete Docter isn't returning to direct the prequel. It was confirmed during a Cars 2 press open house that Dan Scanlon (the co-director of the short film Mater and the Ghostlight) will be the director.

The film was originally going to be released on November 16, 2012, but was pushed back to November 2 to avoid competition with another film, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. It was finally set for a release on June 21, 2013.

In 2005, Disney had set up Circle 7 Animation to produce sequels to Pixar films. Work was started on a Monsters, Inc. sequel. In 2006 however, following Pixar's acquisition by Disney, all projects of Circle 7 animation were cancelled and the studio closed. Circle 7's version of the sequel, called "Monsters, Inc. 2: Lost in Scaradise" would have seen Mike and Sulley, who after realizing Boo has moved, are trapped in the Human world in the quest of finding her back.

A sequel made by Pixar was confirmed in 2010. In January 2011, rumors surfaced that Monsters, Inc. 2 was going to be a prequel to Monsters, Inc., saying that the film would follow Mike and Sulley when they were at the Monstropolis University of Fear, and how they go from being enemies to best friends. These rumors were confirmed soon after.

On August 12, 2011 Billy Crystal attended a 20th anniversary screening of City Slickers. When asked about his return to the role of Mike Wazowski he replied, “That’s why I’m a little hoarse. I spent five-and-a-half hours today for our fourth session on Monsters, Inc. 2." Crystal says that he and co-star John Goodman are having a blast together and describes the script as "really great" and "hilarious". Crystal also gave little details of the plot of the film saying, “It’s college pranks with monsters. And I wear a retainer. Mike has a retainer." Dan Scanlon, Crystal and Ricky Nierva were present at the D23 Expo talking about the film and showcasing concept and development sketches. Scanlon pointed out that this time, Sulley is not as bulky as he was in the first movie, and Mike is smaller. "We all looked a little different when we were in college. Mike we made a little smaller to either straighten or loosen his teeth. I’m not really sure what the desired effect is in the monster world." John Goodman did not attend the expo. Crystal said, "College is a long way away for me, but bringing this world together at Pixar, where only this could happen, it’s hilarious, it’s funny, and different from anything you could possibly imagine that Monsters Inc. could become." On December 3, 2012, Georgian Progressive Metal band Mastodon announced via their Twitter page that they were writing a song for the film. The soundtrack will be released by Walt Disney Records on June 18, 2013.

Release
Monsters University premiered on June 18, 2013, at Los Angeles Film Festival, and had an 8 PM release on June 20th, the officially opened on June 21, 2013. The theatrical release of the film will be accompanied by Pixar's short film titled The Blue Umbrella.

The first teaser trailer for Monsters University was released on, 2012. Four versions of the trailer exist, with Mike muttering different excuses not to go to class in his sleep in each one like "I can't go to class, I'm not wearing any clothes", "My homework ate my dog.", "Class President?", and "My pony made the Dean's List."

On October 8, 2012, Pixar revealed a fully functional website for Monsters University, complete with admissions, academic and campus life info and a campus store to purchase MU apparel. On April Fools' Day 2013 the website was stylized to look like a rival college, Fear Tech, had hacked the website and vandalized it by changing the colours to orange and black and adding photos of the Fear Tech mascot, Archie, over the top of the existing photos. It was also set so whenever the user would click on the website, the Fear Tech logo, Archie the scare pig or "Fear Tech Rulz" would pop up. In addition, the first TV commercial for the film was aired during the 2013 Rose Bowl Game, parodying ads that participating schools air during college football telecasts.

Marketing
The teaser trailer for the film was released online on June 20, 2012 and was screened in theaters with Brave. Four versions of the teaser were released, each featuring Mike saying a different line in his sleep. Each of the four versions were released by a different news outlet, namely YouTube, Itunes Trailers, Yahoo! Movies and The Huffington Post. The versions are "My pony made the deans list" (link), "I can't go to class, I'm not wearing any clothes" (link), "My homework ate my dog" (link) and "Class President - ha, ha, ha, ha" (link).

In October 2012, Disney/Pixar started a viral campaign by launching a complete, fully functional website for the Monsters University. The website covers all subjects of a real university website, and includes a store where related merchandise can be bought. In addition, the first TV commercial for the film was aired during the 2013 Rose Bowl Game, parodying ads that participating schools air during college football telecasts. On April's fool day, the website was change to look like it had been hacked and vandalized by Fear Tech, Monsters University's rival school. The colors were changed to orange and Fear Tech symbols would invade the screen upon clicking.

Another viral website surfaced in March 2013. Called The Grumblr, it takes the form of a tumblr blog who would be run by a student at Monsters University. At the occasion of the NCAA March Madness, ESPN presented a short clip showing Monsters University players violently reacting as their team gets eliminated from the competition. This clip was subsequently posted on the Grumbler.

An extended preview of the film was released on February 8, 2013, followed by a full-length trailer for the UK on February 11, 2013, and a clip shown on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon two days later.

On February 15, 2013, another college ad parody was released that showed a few new scenes from the film. The video was entitled "A Message from the Dean." An all-new sneak peek of the film was released on the Monsters, Inc. 3D Blu-ray on February 19, 2013. On February 20, 2013, new character posters, and Student and Faculty ID cards were released. On March 8, 2013, a Japanese trailer was released, revealing a little Mike, and new plot details - with one animator from Pixar going so far as to attest that it "spoils the entire movie." On March 24, 2013, another TV spot was shown at the Kids' Choice Awards.

Soundtrack
The music for the film is Randy Newman's seventh collaboration with Pixar as composer. The song "Island" by Mastodon is featured during the film. Walt Disney Records released the soundtrack on June 18, 2013.

Track listing
All music composed by Randy Newman.


 * 1. "Main Title"


 * 2. "Young Michael"


 * 3. "First Day at MU"


 * 4. "Dean Hardscrabble"


 * 5. "Sulley"


 * 6. "Scare Pig"


 * 7. "Wasted Potential"


 * 8. "Oozma Kappa"


 * 9. "Stinging Glow Urchin"


 * 10. "Field Trip"


 * 11. "Rise and Shine"


 * 12. "The Library"


 * 13. "Roar" (performed by Axwell & Sebastian Ingrosso of Swedish House Mafia)


 * 14. "The Scare Games"


 * 5. "Did You Do This?"


 * 16. "Human World"


 * 17. "The Big Scare"


 * 18. "Goodbyes"


 * 19. "Mike and Sulley"


 * 20. "Monsters University"

Release
Monsters University had its worldwide premiere on June 5, 2013, as a special screening at BFI Southbank in London with the director and producer in attendance. The film had its Asian premiere as the opening film of the 2013 Shanghai International Film Festival on June 15, 2013. In the United States, it premiered on June 8, 2013, at the Seattle International Film Festival, and was released in theaters on June 21, 2013. The theatrical release of the film was accompanied by Pixar's short film titled The Blue Umbrella.

The first teaser trailer for Monsters University was released on, 2012. Four versions of the trailer exist, with Mike muttering different excuses not to go to class in his sleep in each one like "I can't go to class, I'm not wearing any clothes," "My homework ate my dog," "Class President?" and "My pony made the Dean's List." A second trailer was released on February 11, 2013. A third trailer was released on April 26, 2013, and a fourth and final trailer was released on May 30, 2013, with new scenes from the film.

On October 8, 2012, Pixar revealed a fully functional website for Monsters University, complete with admissions, academic and campus life info and a campus store to purchase MU apparel. On April Fools' Day 2013 the website was stylized to look like a rival college, Fear Tech, had hacked the website and vandalized it by changing the colours to orange and black and adding photos of the Fear Tech mascot, Archie, over the top of the existing photos. It was also set so whenever the user would click on the website, the Fear Tech logo, Archie the scare pig or "Fear Tech Rulz" would pop up. In addition, the first TV commercial for the film was aired during the 2013 Rose Bowl Game, parodying ads that participating schools air during college football telecasts. From June 27, 2013 and until July 11, Disney's online game Club Penguin hosted a Monsters University Takeover event to promote the film. Players were able to dress up as their favorite monsters, including Mike, Sulley, and others and take part in the Scare Games.

Critical response
Monsters University has received generally positive reviews from critics. The film holds a 78% approval rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 153 reviews with an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "It doesn't scale the heights of Pixar's finest efforts, but Monsters University is still funny and thoughtful family entertainment for viewers of any age." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 64 based on 37 reviews.

Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A−, saying "Monsters University is exactly the rebound Pixar needed after 2011's Cars 2 left some wondering if the studio had lost its magic. The delightful story of when Mike met Sulley puts those concerns to rest." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe gave the film two-and-a-half out of four stars, saying "This is not a bad movie, and to small children it will be a very good one, but it’s closer to average than one would wish from the company that gave us Up, WALL-E, The Incredibles, and the Toy Story series." Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger gave the film two-and-a-half out of four stars, saying "The artwork is accomplished, and intricate. The G-rating is genuine, without any gross-out gags. And there's none of the usual winks to the adults with tired, pop-culture references." Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News gave the film three out of five stars, saying "The movie is not up to the company's highest standards, but it's certainly better than most other kid flicks you'll see this year." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Monsters University, the weirdly charmless sequel to the animated 2001 Pixar hit Monsters, Inc., is no better or worse than the average (and I mean average) time-filling sequel cranked out by other animation houses." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three out of four stars, saying "It's all infectious fun, despite the lack of originality. In the art of tickling funny bones, Crystal and Goodman earn straight A's."

Lou Lumenick of the New York Post gave the film two out of four stars, saying "The under-5 set may find it funny, though I suspect their parents will be checking their watches a lot, as I did." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times gave the film two-and-a-half out of five stars, saying "Both the originality and stirring emotional complexity of Monsters, Inc., with its exquisitely painful and touching parallels with the human world, are missing." Rafer Guzman of Newsday gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Monsters University has an emotional quality that its whimsical predecessor lacked. It has a happy ending, of course, but this movie also feels – in its monstery way – very real." Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Monsters University may not be as inventive as Inc., but it's an amusing and amiable addition to Pixar's roster of animated coming-of-age stories." Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film three out of four stars, saying "It may be children’s terror that powers the movie’s fictional universe, but it’s the energy of its stars that lights up Monsters University." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, saying "Monsters University never surprises, goes off in unexpected directions or throws you for a loop in the manner of the best Pixar stories. Nor does it come close to elating through the sheer imagination of its conceits and storytelling; Toy Story 3, three years and three Pixar films back, was the last time that happened. Mike spends his entire university career trying to prove to himself that he's 'something special.' 'But I'm not,' he must finally confess. And neither is the film."

Box office
As of July 8, 2013, Monsters University has earned $218,814,962 in North America, and $184,400,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $403,214,952. It is currently the 7th highest grossing film of 2013. The film earned $136.9 million on its opening weekend worldwide. For unknown reasons, Disney declined to provide a budget for the film, although BoxOffice.com cites a budget of a total of $270 million. Entertainment Weekly speculated that it was higher than that of Brave ($185 million), mostly due to high cost of John Goodman and Billy Crystal reprising their roles. While Shockya from CraveOnline gave a $200 million production budget number

In the week leading to Monsters University's release, Disney projected an opening weekend gross of at least $70 million. The film topped the box office on its opening day (Friday, June 21, 2013) with $30.5 million, including $2.6 million in 8 p.m. Thursday night shows; this is the fourth largest opening day among animated films. The film then reached first place with an opening weekend gross of $82.4 million, which is the second largest among Pixar films, the second largest among G-rated films, the fourth largest among prequels, and the fifth largest among films released in June. Monsters University held onto the No. 1 spot at the box office during its second weekend, declining 44.7% and grossing $45.6 million. During its third weekend, it faced tough competition from Despicable Me 2 and dropped 57% with a gross of $19.6 million. The film earned $54.5 million on its opening weekend from 35 markets. It set a Disney·Pixar opening-weekend record in Latin America with $31.7 million. In Australia, though, where it had a simultaneous release with Despicable Me 2, Monsters University debuted behind the latter with $3.56 million in third place.
 * North America
 * Outside North America

Trivia

 * The beginning of the teaser trailer makes a nod to both Monsters, Inc.'s teaser trailer and the film's opening scene, using similar shot techniques and narration.
 * In the teaser trailer, the snake monster from the intro of Monsters, Inc. appears on a poster to the right of Mike's room.
 * Waternoose was originally going to be in the movie and voiced by Kelsey Grammer but this was dropped at the last minute.
 * Monsters, Inc. is the first Pixar film to have a prequel.
 * Monsters, Inc. is the third Pixar film to become a franchise after Toy Story and Cars.
 * A monster-stylized blue AMC Pacer can be spotted in the trailer at mark 0:17. The Pacer was featured in Cars 2 as part of the film's villains, the Lemons. The color makes it look like the die-cast version of Petey Pacer. A pink, deformed Zündapp Janus can also be spotted in the same scene.
 * The Greek alphabet depicted in this film will be Argma (A), Gamma (G), Slugma (E), Theta (O), Eta (H), Howl (H), Kappa (K), Nu (N), Oozma (O), Python (P), Roar (R), Hiss (S), Phi (O), Chi (X), and Omega (O). Of the 15 letters, only Gamma, Theta, Eta, Kappa, Nu, Phi, Chi, and Omega are real.
 * Both Eta and Howl are represented by an "H", which adds to confusion.
 * Argma, Slugma, Oozma, and Python's symbols resemble Lambda, Sigma, Omicron, and Rho, respectively.
 * This movie creates an inconsistency with the original, in which it was verbally stated by Mike (who'd mentioned they'd been acquainted in the 4th grade), along with Sulley in the very first trailer (mentioning they'd studied geography together in the 5th grade), that Mike and Sulley had known each other since elementary school. But in this movie, they are presented as meeting each other for the first time - The only plausible explanation would be they did know each other in elementary but at some point they didn't see each other anymore (forgetting about the other) and didn't meet again until going to Monsters University. According to director Dan Scanlon he said the 4th grade and 5th grade sayings are slangs for monsters, thus filling the plot hole.
 * The A113 gag in this movie is located on the door Sulley enters the Scaring 101 classroom in.