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Pixar Eaten by Mickey Mouse
The rumors went flying this weekend, but
Dekortage writes "It is official: Pixar has been sold to Disney. Steve Jobs will join the Disney board, and John Lasseter is now Disney's Chief Creative Officer. So, dear Slashdot, does this mean that Disney's movies will improve, or that Pixar's will become worse?" Also the price of Pixar was $7.4 billion with a b dollars.
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
does this mean that Disney's movies will improve, or that Pixar's will become worse?
My Guess: both.
We shall see.
Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!
Lassiter is now Chief Creative Officer of the animation studios, as well as Principal Creative Advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering. Pixar president Ed Catmull is now president of the new combined Pixar/Disney animation studios. And as much as I dislike Technomessiah Steve, I would love to see him take over the creative vision aspect of the theme parks.
I'm wondering what the Disney/Pixar - Apple relation is going to work out. iTunes is selling Disney material now so apparently there is some cooperation.
Considering Steve Jobs is now one of the (if not _the_) biggest share holders in Disney, and John Lasseter is head of the artistic department, one could say Pixar now controls Disney's future...
I think it is too early to draw any conclusions from this deal. It could still go any which way - better films, worse films, more web X.0 content, more DRM, and so on and on. I'd say we need about half a year before any 'conclusion' on this deal is more then mere speculation.
With that in mind, allow me to say: WOHOO! all the backlog of (quality) disney movies on my ipod!
Pixar
Disney
Can you guys spot the trend too?
(Data from Wikipedia/www.boxofficemojo.com)
Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
Disney owned all the sequel rights to Pixar movies, so a few months back Disney was saying they were going to do Toy Story 3 without Pixar. If that'd happened it would've produced a better Disney movie, but a worse Pixar movie -- if you follow me.
Despite popular fanboy and media opinion, John Lasseter is the mind behind the success of Pixar's movies. Steve Jobs is the owner, distribution negotiator, but Lasseter is the talent.
BTW, there's a great chapter in THE SECOND COMING OF STEVE JOBS about the history of Pixar. Check it out.
boxlight
The deal wasn't exactly "here's some money now eff off we own you." It was more like "here, you can have my living room if you'll take the 'Pixar' sign down and replace it with this 'Disney' sign". Disney has been bankrolling all their films for years anyway, and Steve Jobs is now the largest single Disney stockholder.
Pixar has been sold to Disney.
I keep hearing this, but the details strike me as an entirely different story...
Disney "bought" Pixar for stock. Steve Jobs owned Pixar. Steve Jobs now owns more Disney stock than anyone else. This would seem to mean that Steve Jobs now "owns" Disney, no?
I mean, the rest of the stockholders could outvote him collectively, but in general Jobs now more-or-less controls the future of Disney.
So, considering that, would it sound more accurate to say "Apple has Borgified both Disney and Pixar"?
- entire Slashdot readership en masse
Guys, what happened is GOOD. Disney just made anyone holding stock in Pixar a millionaire. I once consulted at a company where this has happened. You pull up into the parking lot and no one has a car worth under $40,000. Everyone shows up to work because they want to and like working there, not for the salary. If the company goes down the shitter, they just leave.
IP and equipment didn't make Pixar great. The people made Pixar great. If Disney fucks it up, everyone just ups, leaves, and forms a new company leaving Disney with nothing but a name. Disney shelled out a few billion for the SHOT at using Pixar to do something good. If they blow it, the real 'assets' of Pixar can simply leave and go make another few million each.
I saw good for Pixar. Way to make yourself horrifically rich and still leave a dozen escape hatches to bail from Disney. Those people deserved a big steaming pile of money. I hope they go out and enjoy it.
"It's hard to judge a movie by it's trailers, but if Cars turns out to be as awful as it looks, Pixar is going to crash and burn when it's released. Best to sell now while Pixar's reputation is still riding high."
This happens almost before every Pixar feature. Examples.
Finding Nemo? A story about fish? WTF can't they animate stuff with legs anymore, this is going to be so lame, omg Pixar is ruined. Results: critical acclaim and great box office, awards, great public perception.
Incredibles? Omg those are so stylised, nothing creative about it, some story with CG humans. It looks so lame, omg Pixar is ruined. Results: critical acclaim and great box office, awards, great public perception.
Now it's happening to cars. But all those who are trolling on the teaser trailer will be in for a surprise. Pixar isn't randomly greenlighting movie screenplays based on explosion/boob ratio.
I'm sure it's gonna be a great movie and I'm looking forward to it.
Someone said that Disney has no creative control over Pixar. Or that Apple probably could have bought Disney.
It just goes to show you how the mythology of Steve Jobs continues, however unfounded it is.
Disney makes about 8 billion in sales, A QUARTER! They make nearly a Billion in net profit A QUARTER.
So yeah, Disney is going to have an effect on Pixar movies. Look, when Pixar finished their 6.5 movie contract with Disney, Disney simply went ahead and created a new computer animation division. The fact that the movie created sucked big time pales in comparison to the fact that Disney could setup an animation studio at the drop of a hat and have a movie out in 2 years, and still earn a billions in profit.
While Pixar may have more creativity in its little finger compared to the whole Disney Empire, Disney still has final say on whether a movie gets release or not. If Toy Story didn't conform to Disney's values, it would have been redone or not released, period. Steve Jobs isn't going to have a say in it (but Steve Jobs has no creative input at Pixar at all, he is just a figure head).
The fact is, Pixar could easily make movies that don't simply target children and the adults that take their kids to the movies. Pixar could become the leading computer special effects studio in Hollywood, or make movies that target an older audience, this will never happen under Disney's umbrella. As long as Disney is at the wheel, Pixar will churn out cutesy kids movie that may have some appeal to adults, but will never reach their full potential. Also expect Toy Story 3, Finding Nemo Again, Monsters Inc 2, A Newts Life, The Incredibles Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. I mean, Disney will milk the creativity out of Pixar and leave them a dried up husk of their former selves.
I do agree that its the people that make Pixar shine, and if Disney decides to suck the life out of this company, those people will up and leave and form a new company (unless Disney imposes some contract conditions on them, then they are stuck). However, Steve Jobs will be the figurehead for a company that he ruined by whoring itself to Disney. His motiviation are based purely on profit. 7 billion from the sale of Pixar will go into Apple. Apple will become the provider of computer technology for the Disney Empire ensuring billions in sales.
In the end, while there may be a few excellent movies that will come out of this partnership, once the Disney marketing engine kicks in, and Disney's and Steve Jobs greed overwhelms Pixar, Disney will ruin another great animation house.
Pixar 1986 - 2006. You made us laugh, and then you made us cry out why! RIP.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
7-odd billion dollars. Let's suppose that Pixar employees work for peanuts and every movie is a hit and they net $200mil with each one (I'm generous today). That would take 35+ titles to bring those 7-odd billions back. Seems unlikely. OTOH - maybe Disney _needs_ something to prevent their image going _completely_ through the floor... They need someone to go to Disneylands, for example, etc... Still... Looks like a bubble.
John Lasseter is now Disney's Chief Creative Officer, working with the animators at Disney and Pixar as well as leading the Imagineers in designing and revamping attractions for the theme parks. Also, the current President of Pixar, Ed Catmull, is now the head of all Disney Animation.
All the news reports I've seen have said that Iger and Jobs main concern was keeping Pixar as intact and independent as possible. Lasseter is under contract until 2011, and is well respected in the animation field for his passion for storytelling and perfection. When asked about whether traditional 2D animation would be restored, John didn't rule it out.
Read the LA Times article about John for more insight.
With Ed and John running all animation at Disney, and Jobs sitting on the board to help them from the top, where's the possible downside?
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I personally rate Bug's Life as the least good Pixar movie. Which is still head-and-shoulders above every non-Pixar non-Shrek CG movie.
The Mouse has lost a lot of creativity in recent years. Re-telling another childs story has been their staple. Now Pixar has a more imaginative group that is telling new stories. I believe that creativity will win out over re-treading another old story, and the folks from Pixar will take over the creative positions in Disney. Disneys music biz on the other hand will likely stay as is...
I say, don't worry too much. Yes, Pixar was, by far, my favorite movie studio.
But what made them great? The folks that worked at Pixar, the directors, the animators, and the producers.
So what will happen if Disney starts forcing their particular outlook on things? Well, aside from the fact that they've already been doing that for every Pixar flick ever made, there will essentially be a choice for the Pixar folks. Do it Disney's way, or walk.
If they can't do quality stuff for Disney, I think the folks at Pixar will walk and form their own, new Pixar-ish company. Sure, the Pixar brand name will be gone, but the name isn't what's important, it's the folks making the movies.
So give it a movie or two. There may be kinks, but I think things will smooth out over time. With or without Disney, we'll still eventually get the movies we love again.
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
I'm so sick of this bullshit. Stop blaming companies for trying to protect their interests. It's not the company's fault that the american congress cares more about them than they care about the consumers and the voters.
Pixar stock did go up a double digit percentage over the past few months on speculation that this would happen, but that's still not going to make anyone rich unless they were already.
Free Hans!
The problem with Disney, is that they made most of their early money out of public domain stuff. Yet, this stuff would not have been in the public domain if the copyright extensions had been active then.
So on one end they should protect their interests... And on the other, according to their own views of copyright, they stole it all.
Go figure...
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Krazy Kat
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On the other hand, they've time and again shown they're a decent company as far as (human) equality goes. They're at least able to either say "no" to or ignore the religious right.
I think Disney will become more Pixar like. If Jobs and Lasseter have any influence at all, the Disney shite that's been pumping out of their crap factory will start to improve.
This is actually a sneaky move by Steve to put the iTMS in a solid position to distribute content.
Let's not also forget that Disney distributes and produces under other brand names as well:
-Buena Vista
-Touchstone
-Dimension
-Miramax
So what kind of hook-up do you think "The Steve" is going to have for adding content to the iTMS?
Oh, also (if you, too, have read the wiki entry for Disney) Disney owns the rights to lots of music, too. Buena Vista Music Group--Disney Records, Mammoth, Lyric Street, and Hollywood.
Oh, and what else? Oh, let's see:
Disney's Media Networks:
-ABC
-Disney Channel
-ABC Family
-Toon Disney
-ESPN
-SOAPNet
-Holdings in A&E, Lifetime and E!
I think Steve was doing a sacrifice fly on this one....
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
Treasure Planet 2. I think it's all downhill from here, as now everything must comply with the 'disney formula'.
I'm interested to hear what role Brad Bird will be playing in terms of revitalizing / refreshing the creative side. Alongside Lasseter, I think Bird would serve the animation side well, having worked in Disney's animation dept. before (if I recall correctly). Having worked w/ Disney's "old men", I can imagine he has a good feel for the roots of what made Disney animation great in its time.
That is, if he isn't as big of a dick as he comes off as in some of the "behind the scenes" clips.
cheers.
Get that? The big sticking point in negotiations wasn't how much money would change hands, but how much control Pixar would have over it's future operations within Disney. It's going to be NeXT and Apple all over again, with any luck. Jobs, Iger, and probably at least Roy Disney all see eye-to-eye here, so they'll run the board while Lasseter and the other Pixar folks whip creative operations into shape.
I'm going to guess it's a scary time for Pixar and an exciting time for Disney. Or is it the other way around ?
The fact that pixar was seperate from disney was the only thing keeping it alive. Selling it to disney would force pixar to produce worthless movies like "Chicken Little."
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