Just as Finding Dory rolls out, today marks six years since Toy Story 3 opened in theaters. Yep, mid/late June has been a favorite time for Pixar to release their movies.
That sweet spot of an early-in-summer-break served the studio well, and it certainly did when Buzz and Woody journeyed to the big screen for a third time – Toy Story 3 became the highest-grossing animated film of all time after its release. Since then, on the animated front, it”s only been surpassed by Frozen and Minions.
Toy Story 3 was a movie that brought on plenty of waterworks from audiences as it wrapped up the tale of a group of toys and their boy as Andy headed off to college. For a while, it looked like we”d only get to see more adventures of the toys that were now Bonnie”s in short film form, but now Pixar has a fourth feature installment in the franchise set to hit theaters in June 2018.
You can see where Toy Story 3 (and Finding Dory!) rank in HitFix”s worst-to-best list of Pixar”s features in the gallery at the bottom of this post.
Other notable June 18 happenings in pop culture history:
• 1961: The final episode of the Gunsmoke radio show was broadcast.
• 1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience made their first major American appearance on the final day of the Monterey International Pop Music Festival.
• 1971: Carole King performed at Carnegie Hall, a few months after Tapestry made her a star. An album recording of that concert was released in 1996.
• 1976: ABBA “Dancing Queen” live for the first time at an all-star gala in honor of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and his bride-to-be, on the eve of their wedding.
• 1985: “Weird Al” Yankovic released his album Dare to Be Stupid.
• 1990: The Borg returned in the season 3 finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Leaving viewers with Trek“s biggest – and most talked-about, all summer long – cliffhanger, Picard was Borgified into Locutus. Patrick Stewart”s delivery of the iconic Borg words “Resistance is futile” was later ranked no. 93 in TV Land”s list of The Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases.
• 1996: Beck”s second studio album, Odelay, was released.
• 1999: Disney”s Tarzan opened in theaters across the country, after a limited release on Wednesday that week.
• 2001: The series finale of Xena: Warrior Princess aired.
• 2005: David Tennant made his first appearance as the Tenth Doctor, and Christopher Eccleston made his final appearance as the Ninth in “The Parting of the Ways,” the season finale of the first season of the revamped Doctor Who.