New Still Shows Off the "Wild" Action of Pixar's New Film, "Hoppers"

As the year rounds out, we're getting closer to the debut of Pixar's newest film, Hoppers, meaning the marketing machine is in full force with Empire debuting a new image from the film.

What’s Happening: 

• Empire is showing off an exclusive new image from the upcoming Pixar Animation Studios film, Hoppers. 
• In it, we see King George (Voice of Bobby Moynihan) running alongside Mabel (Voice of Piper Curda) as they are surrounded by other woodland creatures. 
• Why? We don’t know just yet but we do know that Hoppers is an animated original that follows Mabel as as she swaps her mind into a fake beaver to infiltrate the animal world and protect an environment from being destroyed, and “it’s nothing like Avatar” according to the first teaser. 
• Director and Co-Writer Daniel Chong gave a little bit more insight into the outlandish premise of the film, telling Empire, “I had this idea: what if you put the cutest, fluffiest animals in the most perilous, Mission: Impossible, crazy, spy-thriller situation, with everything blowing up around them? It felt like some funny thing that I’d never seen before.” 

• As part of the research, Chong and his team reportedly got to spend some time over Zoom with Ginger, a geriatric beaver at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo who had a bit of an attitude herself. Chong told Empire, “She was really cranky. Anytime they tried to bring another beaver into her spot, she’d [have none of it], and would be combative. She knew what she wanted.”

Hop To It: 

• Already, there is plenty of hype building for the new film from Pixar Animation Studios, some of the anticipation growing in large part due to a viral sensation that was embedded at the end of the credits when the studio’s 2025 film, Elio, was released. 
• In that moment, we just see a lizard (who we later learned was named Tom) hitting a cell phone and putting in a string of lizard emojis while his eyes went wonky and you heard the device repeatedly say “Lizard. Lizard. Lizard.” 
• Now, we are heading into the full force of the marketing push for this movie, as we get closer to its debut on March 6th, 2026. 
• In Hoppers, we’ll follow Mabel - a nature student - who grew up surrounded by a nearby glade that serves as a sanctuary to hundreds of animals, spending hours there with her grandma - but now, years later, the animals have left the glade and that glade is at risk as Mayor Jerry Generazzo (voiced by Jon Hamm), is ready to build a highway through it.
• That’s when she discovers the Hoppers - scientists who have figured out how to hop their minds into robot animal bodies so they can study animals AS animals. While the scientists use it for research, Mabel tries to hop into an animal body to bring the critters back to the glade to stop Mayor Jerry. 
• That’s when she meets King George, noted by his tiny gold crown, who introduces her to pond rules and what it takes to survive in their world. 
• The voice cast also includes Meryl Streep (Insect Queen), Dave Franco (Titus), Kathy Najimy (Dr. Sam), Eduardo Franco (Loaf), Melissa Villaseñor (Ellen), Ego Nwodim (Fish Queen), Vanessa Bayer (Diane), Sam Richardson (Conner), Aparna Nancherla (Nisha), Nichole Sakura (Reptile Queens), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Bird King), Steve Purcell (Amphibian King), Karen Huie (Grandma Tanaka) and Tom Law (Tom Lizard),
• Catch Hoppers in theaters everywhere when it arrives on March 6th, 2026.