New ‘Bugs’ ‘Bloopers’ Coming Audience Response Prompts Disney To Send Out More Faux Outtakes

In an unprecedented move, the Walt Disney Co. and Pixar this week are sending out new copies of the final film reel of “A Bug’s Life” to about 2,700 theaters featuring a different set of 13 faux outtakes from the movie.

The original manufactured bloopers that run for about two minutes during the closing credits have been singled out by many reviewers and filmgoers as the most clever part of the animated movie. The computer-generated characters are shown as actors flubbing lines, breaking character, laughing uncontrollably, falling and bumping into props. Clapboards and boom mikes common to live-action film sets are also seen. It’s typical stuff audiences have come to expect during the credits of Jackie Chan movies and the “Home Improvement” TV series but never an element of any animated film.

Director John Lasseter said his crew came up with more than two dozen ideas for pretend outtakes, which were “like treats for the animators,” but only about half were used in the original print to fit with music that runs in the background. When response was so strong to the first outtakes, Pixar ordered production to be completed on the rest of them.

Lasseter said swapping out the original outtakes for the new ones is “like a Christmas gift for me” that he also hopes will re-energize the movie for the holiday season.

“Since Thanksgiving and Christmas are essentially two different seasons, this essentially helps us re-open the picture,” a Disney spokeswoman said.

After all, many filmgoers paid recently full admission prices simply to see a trailer for next year’s “Star Wars” prequel.

The new “Bug’s Life” outtakes will still not appear until well into the credits - unlike bloopers of other movies that pop up immediately - so as not to disrupt the flow of the closing song by Randy Newman. “It was a balancing act,” Lasseter said.