Last night Disney-centric blogger Jim Hill was invited by the studio to take a look at all the products they have coming for the rest of the year, which ranged from the mundane-- clothing and toys-- to some truly big news. Hill apparently learned that John Lasseter, the Pixar founder and Cars director, has stepped in as co-director of Cars 2 alongside Brad Lewis, who was making his directorial debut on the film after producing Ratatouille for the company.

This fits right in with a rumor we reported in February, claiming that Cars 2 was in trouble and Lasseter had stepped in to rescue the production. It's not time to jump to doom and gloom conclusions though; Pixar movies often go through laborious development processes, and even Ratatouille-- a perfect film in my opinion-- switched to Brad Bird as a director after years of development. Pixar has always acknowledged that the secret to their success is their willingness to tweak a movie until it's perfect, so while Lasseter's swooping in to Cars 2 might be evidence that the film is in trouble, it's also further proof that the studio will do everything to make sure their movies work.

Cars 2 is still set for release next summer, and after the enormous success of Toy Story 3 the pressure may be even greater for this to be yet another perfect sequel from the studio. I have my doubts, Cars being at the bottom of my Pixar list, but if anyone can fix it it's probably godfather Lasseter.