Before there was Coco, there was an amazing independent animated feature by the name of “The Book of Life.” Produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez, “The Book of Life” is a visually stunning animated featured that’s vibrant color and unique style drew inspiration from the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos. It also happens to be one of my favorite animated features of the last five years. So much so that I once announced on Twitter to Gutierrez that I wanted to make a Romeo & Juliet-inspired love story with the guy from the Tapatio hot sauce bottle and the woman on the Cholula hot sauce bottle in the style of his film. But that’s a story for a whole other post (Seriously though, I want it to happen.) The real story here is that Variety dropped the news that there will be a sequel to “The Book of Life” and Gutierrez will be back to direct.
This isn’t the first we’ve heard of a sequel to the film. Gutierrez tweeted an image teasing a sequel in November of last year, but it turned out being nothing more than an art show piece. The official news was released this week at the Annecy Festival in France. Expected to be created in stereoscopic 3D the film is currently in early stages of development. Gutierrez says “The sequel grew from that and people asking what was gonna happen with the characters, what’s gonna happen to the gods? The sequel embraces all these things and, in a weird way, is a continuation of the story with everybody you love from the first movie.”
The Book of Life told the story of a love triangle between childhood friends whose competition for the girl of their dreams would spark an adventure that spans three fantastic worlds and force the film’s protagonist, Manolo, to face some of his greatest fears. “I am a big fan of romantic movies. I always want to find out what happens afterwards. That’s one question we will ask during the sequel,” says Gutierrez.
