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I thought it'd be good to comment on yesterdays purchase of Pixar by Disney, since it could affect me at some point in the future. Wishful thinking? Yeah perhaps, but my hopes are high.
In case you live under a British spy rock, you'll probably know that yesterday morning Disney bought Pixar for $7.4billion dollars in stock. Steve Jobs is now a very rich man..... even richer than he already was. By $3billion (it's OK for some).
What does this mean for the animation folk, and the industry itself? Well, no-one knows for sure yet, we'll just have to see how things pan out over the coming months, but here's my take on things.
Disney is the king of animation (perhaps former king is fairer nowdays, but I'll stick with king). They virtually invented the industry single-handedly. 99% of the skills I'm learning on my course are traced right back to the work that Walt Disney himself and the group of 9 lead animators did 60+ years ago. However, in the late 70's and 80's, Disney fell into bit of a pit. They couldn't release great animated movies (understand at this point that animated movies are separate from live-action movies at Disney, I won't bother making the distinction again). They managed to find their feet again in the 90's, releasing films such as Aladdin and Lion King. True Disney classics, I think we'll all agree.
Disney has fallen backwards into that pit again over the past several years. They're struggling to make really classic movies. In fact, most of Disneys animated movies this decade have been relatively low-budget, straight-to-video sequels of their other, better movies.
Pixar on the other hand came out of virtually nowhere with Toy Story and has been on fire since. I think they probably took Disney by surprise - if they didn't, then one has to wonder why Disney sat on its hands and let them get away with it. Sure Pixar can't make brilliant movies forever and at some point they'll make one that isn't as successful as the rest, but they know how to make great movies.
Disney haven't bought Pixar so that they get the rights to those great movies; Disney got 60% of the profit from them anyway in what I think was a pretty unfavourable distribution deal with Pixar. Disney have bought Pixar to get at the creative talent sitting inside that Californian studio. It's evidently worth its weight in gold to Disney.
My fear as an animator is that Disney will end up using Pixar as a 'spare parts' collection. They've realise they've got the talent now, so they'll decide to pillage it, assigning it to their (and I don't think I'm being unfair...) lame sequels that they've been producing. Pixar deserves more than that. The whole ethic of Pixar is what has made it a success, and I just hope Disney recognises that and allows it to continue.
There have been some good signs though. Firstly, Steve Jobs is still playing a major role. He's now the biggest individual shareholder in Disney (he owns 7% of it now) and will sit on the board of directors. From what I've read about him, he won't keep quiet if he doesn't like something. So I'm sure he's going to make sure his ideas are heard, and I do think Disney want to listen to him: after all, recently he has been a success where they've been a bit of a failure.
They've said that Pixar and Disney will retain their own names and locations; the Pixar campus isn't going anywhere just yet, then.
Perhaps the best sign is that Disney have simply handed their entire animation studio to the Pixar crew to deal with. The two guys that arguably have made Pixar a success now hold lead creative positions in Disney (one, John Lasseter, who has been the creative lead in most of Pixars movies, is even heading up the department that does the theme parks). That's a pretty big thing when you think about it. Disney, the studio that invented modern animation, has basically admitted defeat and handed itself on a plate to relative newcomers with only 20 years in business (nothing compared to Disneys reign).
It's going to be interesting to see how things work out. I hope they stay mostly the same in practice, both are great places even if Disney has been in a rut.
Of course, one plus point is that I now have the chance to work at Disney and Pixar all in one go. Two ambitions with one stone!
In case you live under a British spy rock, you'll probably know that yesterday morning Disney bought Pixar for $7.4billion dollars in stock. Steve Jobs is now a very rich man..... even richer than he already was. By $3billion (it's OK for some).
What does this mean for the animation folk, and the industry itself? Well, no-one knows for sure yet, we'll just have to see how things pan out over the coming months, but here's my take on things.
Disney is the king of animation (perhaps former king is fairer nowdays, but I'll stick with king). They virtually invented the industry single-handedly. 99% of the skills I'm learning on my course are traced right back to the work that Walt Disney himself and the group of 9 lead animators did 60+ years ago. However, in the late 70's and 80's, Disney fell into bit of a pit. They couldn't release great animated movies (understand at this point that animated movies are separate from live-action movies at Disney, I won't bother making the distinction again). They managed to find their feet again in the 90's, releasing films such as Aladdin and Lion King. True Disney classics, I think we'll all agree.
Disney has fallen backwards into that pit again over the past several years. They're struggling to make really classic movies. In fact, most of Disneys animated movies this decade have been relatively low-budget, straight-to-video sequels of their other, better movies.
Pixar on the other hand came out of virtually nowhere with Toy Story and has been on fire since. I think they probably took Disney by surprise - if they didn't, then one has to wonder why Disney sat on its hands and let them get away with it. Sure Pixar can't make brilliant movies forever and at some point they'll make one that isn't as successful as the rest, but they know how to make great movies.
Disney haven't bought Pixar so that they get the rights to those great movies; Disney got 60% of the profit from them anyway in what I think was a pretty unfavourable distribution deal with Pixar. Disney have bought Pixar to get at the creative talent sitting inside that Californian studio. It's evidently worth its weight in gold to Disney.
My fear as an animator is that Disney will end up using Pixar as a 'spare parts' collection. They've realise they've got the talent now, so they'll decide to pillage it, assigning it to their (and I don't think I'm being unfair...) lame sequels that they've been producing. Pixar deserves more than that. The whole ethic of Pixar is what has made it a success, and I just hope Disney recognises that and allows it to continue.
There have been some good signs though. Firstly, Steve Jobs is still playing a major role. He's now the biggest individual shareholder in Disney (he owns 7% of it now) and will sit on the board of directors. From what I've read about him, he won't keep quiet if he doesn't like something. So I'm sure he's going to make sure his ideas are heard, and I do think Disney want to listen to him: after all, recently he has been a success where they've been a bit of a failure.
They've said that Pixar and Disney will retain their own names and locations; the Pixar campus isn't going anywhere just yet, then.
Perhaps the best sign is that Disney have simply handed their entire animation studio to the Pixar crew to deal with. The two guys that arguably have made Pixar a success now hold lead creative positions in Disney (one, John Lasseter, who has been the creative lead in most of Pixars movies, is even heading up the department that does the theme parks). That's a pretty big thing when you think about it. Disney, the studio that invented modern animation, has basically admitted defeat and handed itself on a plate to relative newcomers with only 20 years in business (nothing compared to Disneys reign).
It's going to be interesting to see how things work out. I hope they stay mostly the same in practice, both are great places even if Disney has been in a rut.
Of course, one plus point is that I now have the chance to work at Disney and Pixar all in one go. Two ambitions with one stone!
