As each Pixar movie has arrived, usually to great acclaim and always to healthy box office, people have wondered just what makes them special. A big part of that is the sheer passion that goes into each film long before a frame of CG is committed to the databanks. And now, even though the studio halted production on the project, the team has decided to give us all a glimpse into what could have been by posting concept and other artwork from Newt.

The tale of a lonely, endangered blue-footed newt who realises that the only chance his species has is as part of a breeding programme but who finds serious resistance from the last remaining female (named Brooke), Newt was to be the film directing debut of sound expert Gary Rydstrom. But though he’d proven himself ready by making the short Lifted, and the movie was in active development, it was rumoured to have shut down earlier this year and officially confirmed in May.

Naturally, Pixar has not released the reason for stopping work on the film, though it’s not unusual for the company to shut down its productions if they’re not up to spec. Usually, however, that usually results in a change of director (such as Ratatouille), or, in extreme cases, a complete emergency overhaul (Toy Story 2).

It’s even more unusual for a studio to officially release imagery from a film it has no intention of finishing, but that’s just another reason why Pixar is different.

We have a couple of the pics in the gallery below, and you can head to the Disney/Pixar Facebook fan page to see the rest.