'Gatto' Gets First Trailer, Will Screen With 'Loving Dory' Short

Pixar is returning to Italy for a second time. The next film from the Emeryville-based studio will be back in the Big Green Boot for the first time since 2021's Luca. This time we swap the fictional Italian Riviera town of Porto Rosso (not to be confused with Porco Rosso) for the iconic city of Venice. And instead of sea monsters, we follow the adventures of the city's street cats. Welcome to Pixar's upcoming movie, Gatto, which has just released its first full trailer.

The film is the sophomore feature from Italian-born Enrico Casarosa (with Luca being the first). It's written by Casarosa with Tripper Clancy and Andy Siara, and is produced by Andrea Warren. The score is composed by Oscar-winner Dario Marianelli (who also scored Laika's Wildwood), and features music from acclaimed violinist Barbora Botošová.

As previously announced, the film stars the voices of Mark Ruffalo as the main character Nero, Laurence Fishburne and Enrico Casarosa himself. Newly announced cast members are Bianca Babaşa, Sherry Cola,  John Turturro,  Rumen Sali Shopov, Rhys Darby, Isabella Rossellini, Natasia Demetriou, Jamie Demetriou, Jason Schwartzman, Saverio Raimondo, Jason Mantzoukas, Matt Jones, Austin Madison, Beatrice Manfredi, Jesse Andrews (Pixar writer ), Tracey Ullman, and Marco Calvani.

The film centres on a wiley Gatto (Italian for 'cat') named Nero, who has spent his lives navigating the canal-riddled city and its feline-run underworld. He begins to wonder if he has been living them right. In debt to the local feline Godfather and down to the last of his nine lives, he's forced on the run. Forging an unexpected friendship with a human musician named Maja (Bianca Babaşa), Nero may be on the way to finally discovering his true purpose. As long as Venice doesn't get the better of him first.

Now, this is much more like it. Pixar have been talking up the film's animation, which was said to be painterly and to blend their usual 3D animation with a 2D, hand-drawn aesthetic. But to be honest, it really wasn't that apparent in the first teaser trailer. In the full trailer, however, it's fully on display. Painterly elements are clear both on the characters and in beautiful backgrounds and sets. The characters look fairly typical Pixar, and it still looks like a Pixar film- but with a bolder, more artful animation style. It's looking like Pixar's Puss In Boots: The Last Wish- and that's a compliment indeed.

Gatto comes to cinemas in the US, UK and some other countries on March 5, 2027.

That's not all, as Gatto is bringing back the much-missed tradition of screening alongside a Pixar short film. Loving Dory is a new story featuring Dory, the lovably forgetful fish from Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. Ellen DeGeneres returns to voice the Blue Tang as romance comes her way in an unexpected 'meet-cute'. Lou Hamou-Lhadj wrote and directed the short, which is produced by Mary Alice Drumm and executive produced by Academy Award winners Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton.