Pixar Just Announced Its First-Ever Ghost Movie, Check out the First Teaser for ‘Ghost Market’

Pixar has tackled just about every corner of imaginative storytelling over the past few decades, from talking toys to sentient emotions to the literal afterlife itself. Yet somehow, in all that time, the studio has never made a movie specifically about ghosts, an oversight that finally comes to an end with its newest original project.

D23 has become the place where Pixar tends to unveil its boldest new ideas, and this year’s presentation was no exception. Alongside major updates on established franchises, the studio used the event to introduce fans to something entirely new, teasing a concept that had only existed in rumor form until now.

That teaser officially confirmed “Ghost Market,” Pixar’s first movie built specifically around ghosts, arriving in theaters on March 10, 2028. The film had previously circulated under the working title “Ono Ghost Market” following an earlier Wall Street Journal report on the studio, but Pixar has since trimmed the name down for its official announcement.

Pixar chief content officer Pete Docter personally introduced the project’s premise during the panel, describing its central character in detail. “Kyle is a fast-talking teenager and content creator from Chicago,” Docter explained. “His life gets turned upside down when his mom forces him to go on vacation to Hawaii.”

According to Docter, Kyle’s simple search for a late-night snack quickly spirals into something far stranger. “He stumbles into a mysterious hidden market in the middle of nowhere,” Docter continued. “He realizes his hunt for a late-night snack has turned into something bigger. He’s discovered the crossroads of the living and the dead.”

The premise draws heavily from Asian folklore surrounding hungry ghosts, restless spirits driven by insatiable appetite, as well as supernatural marketplaces where the realms of the living and dead intersect. The teaser itself leaned into that concept directly, introducing hungry spirits, vanishing food, and one unexpectedly menacing bowl of soup.

Visually, the footage played with a found-footage style reminiscent of films like ‘The Blair Witch Project’, following Kyle as he speaks directly into the camera while wandering darkened streets with only a flashlight for company. Despite those horror-adjacent visuals, the tone appeared to lean more toward comedy and adventure than straightforward scares.

Trevor Jimenez, a Pixar veteran best known for directing the Oscar-nominated short film ‘Weekends’, writes and directs ‘Ghost Market’. Jimenez previously served as a story supervisor on 2020’s ‘Soul’ and co-directed an episode of the Disney+ Pixar series ‘Win or Lose’, giving him a strong pedigree heading into his feature directorial debut.

The announcement comes at a pivotal moment for Pixar’s original storytelling efforts, which have struggled in recent years compared to the studio’s more reliable sequel output. ‘Elio’ notably suffered the worst opening weekend in Pixar history during its release last summer, while ‘Toy Story 5’ has already crossed $1 billion this year, underscoring just how much pressure rests on originals like ‘Ghost Market’ to perform.

That pressure is compounded by ‘Ghost Market’s release timing, landing in spring 2028 just months ahead of ‘Incredibles 3’, which arrives that same summer on June 16. It gives Pixar two very different swings at the box office within a matter of months, one built on established franchise nostalgia and the other on something entirely new.

Pixar has not yet released an official synopsis or confirmed any voice cast members for the project, leaving plenty of details still under wraps ahead of its 2028 release. Early reports had also suggested the concept was originally developed as a streaming series before evolving into a full theatrical feature.

Fan reaction to the teaser has been largely enthusiastic, with many expressing excitement over Pixar finally diving into ghost stories after decades of exploring nearly every other corner of imaginative filmmaking.

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