Pixar’s films are known to generally play well with children as well as adults, with stories containing complex characters and genuine heart. Back in 2010, Disney/Pixar screened a “cliffhanger edition” of Toy Story 3 for college students around the country months before its official release, fully understanding that many students enrolled in universities at the time grew up with the Toy Story franchise. Given that Monsters University is arriving almost 12 years after the original film, I had little doubt that we would see similar early screenings for the prequel. That has now been confirmed, as the film will be screened for those with a college ID in select cities starting next week. Find more details after the break!
The Monsters University Facebook page recently added early screenings of the film to its event page (via The Pixar Post). The first cities to get screenings are Washington, DC, Cincinnati, Detroit, Miami, Houston, and Denver. The showings are open to all college students and faculty in the area who RSVP to its respective screening on Facebook:
RSVP to add your name to the invite list and arrive early — seats will be first come, first seated for those who RSVP! Start inviting your friends now!
*Student or Faculty ID must be presented for entry*
Interestingly, there is no note on the event pages denying that this is the entire film that will be screened, so it seems that the full film will be shown to those attending. Whether all aspects of the film will be fully completed by next week is currently a mystery. This gives those lucky enough to attend a 2-month head start on the rest of the nation, as the film does not release until June 21.
As they are early screenings, Disney and Pixar will want every seat filled and some RSVPs are sure to cancel, so expect more students to sign up than can attend. If you are going, make sure to get there early!
Update: More screenings have just been added. I will keep the list of announced screenings below updated:
- Cincinnati (Thursday, April 18)
- Washington, DC (Thursday, April 18)
- Detroit (Thursday, April 18)
- Miami (Monday, April 22)
- Houston (Monday, April 22)
- Boulder (Tuesday, April 23)
- Boston (Wednesday, April 24)
- St. Louis (Wednesday, April 24)
- Austin (Wednesday, April 24)
- Salt Lake City (Wednesday, April 24)
- Seattle (Wednesday, April 24)
- Philadelphia (Thursday, April 25)
- Phoenix (Thursday, April 25)
- Dallas/Ft. Worth (Monday, April 29)
- San Diego (Tuesday, April 30)
- Minneapolis/St. Paul (Thursday, May 2)
- Rutgers University (Tuesday, May 7)*
- New York University (Tuesday, May 7)*
- Chicago (Wednesday, May 8)
*The NY-area screenings seem to only be open to students and faculty of the designated universities. Hopefully, more screenings in the NY metropolitan area will be announced for students/faculty who aren’t fortunate enough to attend those two schools.
Head on over to the Monsters University Facebook Event Page to sign up, if it is playing in a city near you! Stay tuned for more early screenings as they are announced.
