Pixar’s animated film Newt gets cancelled

Pixar’s NEWT, the studio’s animated tentpole for what was originally to be Summer of 2011 but later pushed to 2012 to make way for CARS 2, is now, sadly, kaput.

The news of the cancellation comes courtesy of The Pixar Blog who shot an email to Disney archivist David Smith asking about the status of the film (due to its having been removed from the latest update of “Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia”). Smith replied with a quick and straight-to-the-point response: “The film has been cancelled.”

Unfortunately, no substantive reason has been given for the cancellation, though the fact that 2012 will be bringing us both MONSTERS INC. 2 and BRAVE (formerly THE BEAR AND THE BOW) might have something to do with it.

NEWT’s synopsis: What happens when the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet are forced together by science to save the species, and they can’t stand each other? That’s the problem facing Newt and Brooke, heroes of “Newt,” the Pixar film by seven-time Academy Award winner for sound Gary Rydstrom, and director of Pixar’s Oscar nominated short, “Lifted.” Newt and Brooke embark on a perilous, unpredictable adventure and discover that finding a mate never goes as planned, even when you only have one choice. Love, it turns out, is not a science.