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Pixar

Pixar Animation Studios

<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align:center; padding:16px 0 16px 0;">Pixar:Pixar</td></tr>

Type Subsidiary of Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group (Disney)
Founded December 9, 1985
Headquarters Pixar:United States Emeryville, California, USA

<tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Key people</th><td>Ed Catmull, President, Disney and Pixar Animation Studios
John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Disney and Pixar Animation Studios</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Industry</th><td>CGI animation</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Products</th><td>RenderMan, Marionette</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Parent</th><td>The Walt Disney Company</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Website</th><td>Pixar.com</td></tr>

Pixar Animation Studios is an award-winning American computer animation studio based in Emeryville, California (USA). It is best known for its CGI animated feature films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars and The Incredibles, achieved through its own industry-standard rendering software RenderMan, which is used to generate high-quality, photorealistic images.On January 24, 2006, The Walt Disney Company agreed to buy Pixar for $7.4 billion through an all-stock transaction. The acquisition was completed on May 5, 2006 (swapping one Pixar share for 2.3 shares of Disney), making Pixar a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney.


Contents

History

Early History

Pixar was founded as the Graphics Group, one third of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm that was launched in 1979 with the hiring of Ed Catmull from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). After years of remarkable research success, and key milestones in films such as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Young Sherlock Holmes, the group was purchased in 1986 by current Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs after he had been kicked out of Apple (the company he founded with Steve Wozniak) and was looking for something to do with his money. He paid US$5 million to George Lucas and put US$5 million as capital into the company. The sale reflected George Lucas' desire to stop the cash flow losses associated with his 7 year research projects associated with new entertainment technology tools, as well as his company's new focus on creating entertainment product rather than tools. A contributing factor was cash flow difficulties following Lucas' 1983 divorce concurrent with the sudden drop off in revenues from Star Wars licenses following the release of Return of the Jedi. The newly independent company was headed by Dr. Edwin Catmull, President and CEO, and Dr. Alvy Ray Smith, Executive Vice President and Director. Jobs served as Chairman of the Board.

Initially, Pixar was a high-end hardware company whose core product was the Pixar Image Computer, a system which was primarily sold to government agencies and the medical community. One of the leading buyers of Pixar Image Computers was Disney studios, which was using the device as part of their secretive CAPS project, using the machine and custom software to migrate the laborious Ink and Paint part of the 2D animation process to a more automated and thus efficient method. The Image Computer never sold well. In a bid to drive sales of the system, Pixar employee John Lasseter — who had long been creating short demonstration animations, such as Luxo Jr., to show off the device's capabilities — premiered his creations at SIGGRAPH, the computer graphics industry's largest convention, to great fanfare.

Business in Transition

As poor sales of Pixar's computers threatened to put the company out of business, Lasseter's animation department began producing computer-animated commercials for outside companies. Early successes included campaigns for Tropicana, Listerine, and LifeSavers. During this period, Pixar continued its relationship with Walt Disney Feature Animation, a studio whose corporate parent would ultimately become its most important partner. Pixar was a key technical participant in the development of Disney's CAPS, a computer-assisted animation post-production software system, intending to migrate the laborious Ink and Paint part of the 2D animation process to a more automated and efficient method. In 1991, after substantial layoffs in the company's computer department, Pixar made a $26,000,000 deal with Disney to produce computer-animated feature films, the first of which was Toy Story. Pixar was re-incorporated on December 9, 1995.

Disney and Pixar

Pixar and Disney have had ongoing disagreements since the production of Toy Story 2. Originally intended as a straight-to-video release (and thus not part of Pixar's five picture deal), the film was upgraded to a theatrical release during production. Pixar demanded that the film then be counted toward the five picture agreement, but Disney refused.

Pixar's first five feature films have collectively grossed more than $2.5 billion, equivalent to the highest per-film average gross in the industry. Though profitable for both, Pixar later complained that the arrangement was not equitable. Pixar was responsible for creation and production, while Disney handled marketing and distribution. Profits and production costs were split 50-50 but Disney exclusively owned all story and sequel rights and also collected a distribution fee. The lack of story and sequel rights were perhaps the most onerous to Pixar and set the stage for a contentious relationship. However, others recognize that Pixar got the best deal given that it lacked credibility as an animation studio, while Disney's own studios were recognized as being at the top of the industry.

The two companies attempted to reach a new agreement in early 2004. The new deal would be only for distribution, as Pixar intended to control production and own the resulting film properties themselves. As part of any distribution agreement with Disney, Pixar demanded control over films already in production under their old agreement, including The Incredibles and Cars. More importantly, Pixar wanted complete financial freedom; they wanted to finance their films on their own and collect 100 percent of the profits, paying Disney only the 10 to 15 percent distribution fee. This was unacceptable to Disney, but Pixar would not concede.

Bad blood between Jobs and Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner made the negotiations more difficult than they otherwise might have been. They broke down completely in mid-2004, with Jobs declaring that Pixar was actively seeking partners other than Disney. However, Pixar did not enter in negotiations with other distributions, since other partners saw Pixar's terms as too demanding. After a lengthy hiatus, negotiations between the two companies resumed following the departure of Eisner from Disney in September of 2005.

In preparation for potential fallout between Pixar and Disney, Jobs announced in late 2004[1] that Pixar would no longer release movies at the Disney-dictated November timeframe, but during the more lucrative early summer months. This would also allow Pixar to release DVDs for their major releases during the Christmas shopping season. An added benefit of delaying Cars was to extend the timeframe remaining on the Pixar-Disney contract to see how things would play out between the two companies.

Pending the Disney acquisition of Pixar, the two companies created a distribution deal for Pixar's intended 2007 release of Ratatouille, ensuring that if the acquisition plan had fallen through for any reason, this one film would still be released through the Disney distribution channels. Unlike the earlier Disney/Pixar deal, Ratatouille would have adhered to Pixar's preferred ownership model, with Disney receiving only a fee for distribution. With the completion of Disney's acquisition of Pixar, this deal is no longer in force.

Disney's acquisition of Pixar

On January 24, 2006, Disney announced that it had agreed to buy Pixar for approximately $7.4 billion in an all-stock deal. Following Pixar shareholder approval, the acquisition was completed May 5, 2006. The transaction catapults Jobs, who was the majority shareholder of Pixar with 50.1%, to Disney's largest individual shareholder with 7% and a new seat on its board of directors. Jobs' new Disney holdings outpace holdings belonging to ex-CEO Eisner, the previous top shareholder who still held 1.7%, and Disney Director Emeritus Roy E. Disney, whose criticisms of Eisner included the soured Pixar relationship and accelerated his ouster, who held almost 1% of the corporation's shares.

As part of the deal, Lasseter, Pixar Executive Vice President and co-founder, became Chief Creative Officer (Reporting to President and CEO Bob Iger and consulting with Disney Director Roy E. Disney) of both Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, as well as the Principal Creative Adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, which designs and builds the company's theme parks. Catmull retained his position as President of Pixar, while also becoming President of Disney Studios, reporting to Robert Iger and Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studio Entertainment.

Lasseter and Catmull's oversight of both the Disney and Pixar studios did not mean that the two studios were merging, however. In fact, additional conditions were laid out as part of the deal to ensure that Pixar remains a separate entity, a concern that many analysts had about the Disney deal.[2]

Some other points of interest concerning the deal:

Executive leadership

Steve Jobs served as Pixar's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until May 2006, when the company was bought by Disney. Jobs then took a place on the Disney board of directors (also becoming Disney's largest individual shareholder). Today, Catmull serves as president of the combined Disney-Pixar animation studios, and Lasseter serves as the studios' Chief Creative Officer. Catmull reports to Iger as well as Walt Disney Studios chairman Cook. Lasseter, who has greenlight authority on all new films, also reports to Iger as well as consulting with Roy E. Disney.

Feature films

Released

In production

Sequels

To date, Toy Story is the only Pixar film to have a sequel. Toy Story 2 was commissioned by Disney as a straight-to-video, 60-minute film. When Disney executives saw how impressive the work-in-progress imagery for the sequel was, they decided it should be reworked as a theatrical release. The resulting change in status of Toy Story 2 was one of the major causes of the disagreement between the two companies that nearly led to their split.

Toy Story is also the only Pixar film to be extended onto television, with the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command film and TV series.

The issue of sequels is a particularly sticky one with Pixar. Their feeling has been that they should only be done if there is a story good enough to justify it. Following the release of Toy Story 2, Pixar and Disney had a gentlemen's agreement that Disney would not make any sequels without Pixar's involvement, despite their right to do so. In 2004, after Pixar announced their failure to make a new deal, Disney announced that they would go ahead with sequels to Pixar's films with or without Pixar, although they stated they would prefer Pixar to agree to work on them. Toy Story 3 was put into pre-production at the new CGI division of Walt Disney Feature Animation, Circle 7 Animation.

When Lasseter was placed in charge of all Disney and Pixar animation following the merger, he stated that all sequels were immediately to be put on hold, with Disney going so far as to actually state that Toy Story 3 had been cancelled. However, in May of 2006, it was announced that Toy Story 3 was back in pre-production, now under Pixar's control.

With the guarantee of full control in his hands, Lasseter has opened the door for the possibility of sequels to other Pixar films besides Toy Story. Given the many story possibilities for the various Pixar characters and Lasseter's statement that "If we have a great story, we'll do a sequel."[7], others seem likely somewhere down the line. Despite the lack of sequels, the worlds of Pixar films are often extended through the DVDs and references through all their films.

Short films

Original/theatrically released

Pixar:Tiny Toy Stories, a 1996 VHS collection of Pixar short films.
Enlarge
Tiny Toy Stories, a 1996 VHS collection of Pixar short films.

Home video exclusives

The first five short films were collected together on the 1996 VHS release, Tiny Toy Stories, and were also released as supplemental features on a deluxe Toy Story laserdisc box set in December 1996. Both of these releases contain the original version of Knick Knack.

The only Pixar short film yet to be released alongside a feature film remains Red's Dream.

As of 2006, all of the short films except Mike's New Car, Jack-Jack Attack, and The Adventures of André and Wally B. are available to purchase on Apple's iTunes. This is perhaps because the Adventures of André and Wally B. was created under Lucasfilm (before Jobs bought Pixar) and Mike's New Car & Jack-Jack Attack are DVD exclusives (see below).

Pixar feature film traditions

Animation Skills

When Pixar hires new animators, most who hone from CalArts, they look for three additional attributes other than drawing skills.

The Pixar format

All Pixar features tend to have a common theme. The setting of the film is always a world in which people/creatures/objects that are not commonly thought to have normal everyday lives live in societies resembling modern American society. For example:

Teaser trailers

The Pixar teaser trailers since A Bug's Life consist of footage created specifically for the trailer, spotlighting certain central characters in a comic situation without spoiling the actual film. Though similar scenes and situations may appear, these sequences are not in the films being advertised, but instead are original creations.

Examples:

John Ratzenberger

Main article: John Ratzenberger

John Ratzenberger (most widely known as the mailman character Cliff Clavin from the television sitcom Cheers) has appeared as a voice actor in every Pixar feature film, and is referred to by the studio as their "good luck charm". The following is a list of his roles in the first seven Pixar movies:

He has become such a stable part of the company that he is often called on to do promotional work for the company, such as hosting Pixar's 20th Anniversary documentary. He even plays on the company's softball team, and gets a humorous tribute during the end credits of Cars.

Joe Ranft

Main article: Joe Ranft

Along with John Ratzenberger (above), Joe had also provided his voice for every Pixar feature film made, with Cars being his last appearance before his untimely death in a roadside accident. While some have said that John Ratzenberger was "Pixar's Good Luck Charm", there are many who say that Joe was "the heart and soul of Pixar".[10]

Pizza Planet

Main article: Pizza Planet

Pizza Planet is a fictional pizza restaurant in Toy Story. The Pizza Planet delivery truck that is featured prominently in Toy Story appears in each of the later Pixar films. See the Pizza Planet article for additional information.

A113

Main article: A113

Similar to George Lucas' 1138 and Al Hirschfeld's "Nina", the letter-number sequence A113 is an animation in-joke which appears in all Pixar films to date. It is a reference to one of the room numbers at CalArts (which several of the employees attended).

Cameo appearances

Every Pixar film has included cameo appearances of characters or objects from their other movies or short films. Please see those films' individual pages for examples.

Release: exclusive outtakes and shorts

Three of the Pixar films featured exclusive outtakes. Each of the outtakes in A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc. had to be created from scratch, using the same actors and actresses in the film. Many of the jokes and mess ups were actually suggested by the actors themselves. The outtakes are not only available with the purchased VHS/DVD of these films, they are also available online at Pixar.com[5] After Monster's Inc. though, Pixar stopped adding outtakes to their films, feeling there wasn't much they could do anymore with them.[11]

Three films (Cars, Monsters, Inc., and The Incredibles) were released on DVD with a short film made specifically for the DVD. The DVDs also include the short films that were released with each movie's theatrical release.

Pixar University

Pixar University is an in-house professional-development program expands the concept of employee education by broadening its focus from skills training to a more general fine-arts education. The program offers over more than 110 courses: a complete filmmaking curriculum, classes on painting, drawing, sculpting and creative writing, which usually last four-to-sixteen weeks. These classes are available not only for animators, but everyone, from the security guard to cafeteria chef.

In this setting, employees are allowed to miss work for a full slate in classes (about 14 per week) to raise the level of the best, cross-train, and develop mastery in whatever subjects may interest them. The vision behind the university for employees to try new things, work together better and test new ideas. But one of the most important benefits from the program is to build morale, spirit and communication among employees.

The dean of Pixar University, Randy S. Nelson, explains: "We've made the leap from an idea-centered business to a people-centered business. Instead of developing ideas, we develop people. Instead of investing in ideas, we invest in people. We're trying to create a culture of learning, filled with lifelong learners. It's no trick for talented people to be interesting, but it's a gift to be interested. We want an organization filled with interested people."

References

  1. ^ Business Week article with Pixar release date change info
  2. ^ SEC filing containing Disney-Pixar merger details
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ [3]
  6. ^ July 24 2006 quote by Tim Allen confirming casting of Toy Story 3
  7. ^ [4]
  8. ^ Directors Comments
  9. ^ http://www.animatedbuzz.com/journal/05-06/01.html#Anchor-31070
  10. ^ Joe Ranft Obituary from Luxo: a Pixar blog
  11. ^ Finding Nemo DVD Commentary, paraphrased from Andrew Stanton

Articles

Blogs

Pixar Animation Studios
Feature Films: Toy Story (1995) • A Bug's Life (1998) • Toy Story 2 (1999) • Monsters, Inc. (2001) • Finding Nemo (2003) • The Incredibles (2004) • Cars (2006) • Ratatouille (2007) • Toy Story 3  (TBA)
Short Films: Luxo Jr. (1986) • Red's Dream (1987) • Tin Toy (1988) • Knick Knack (1989) • Geri's Game (1997) • For the Birds (2000) • Mike's New Car (2002) • Boundin' (2003) • Jack-Jack Attack (2005) • One Man Band (2005) • Mater and the Ghostlight (2006) • Lifted (2006) 
See also: The Adventures of André and Wally B. • List of Disney theatrical animated features • Edit this template
The Walt Disney Company

Board of directors: John Bryson | John S. Chen | Judith Estrin | Robert Iger (President, CEO) | Steve Jobs | Fred Langhammer | Aylwin Lewis | Monica Lozano | Robert Matschullat | George J. Mitchell (Chairman) | Leo J. O'Donovan | John E. Pepper, Jr. | Orin C. Smith

Publishing Assets: Disney Adventures | ESPN The Magazine | Hyperion
Interactive Assets: Disney.com | ABC.com | ABCNews.com | ESPN.com | Buena Vista Games | Go.com | Movies.com
Buena Vista Music Group: Walt Disney Records | Lyric Street Records | Hollywood Records | Mammoth Records
Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group: Buena Vista Distribution | The Walt Disney Studios | Walt Disney Pictures | Walt Disney Feature Animation | Touchstone Pictures | DisneyToon Studios | Pixar Animation Studios | Miramax Films | Miramax Family Films | Hollywood Pictures
ABC owned Television Stations: KABC | KFSN | KGO | KTRK | WABC | WJRT | WLS | WPVI | WTVD | WTVG
American Broadcasting Company: ABC1 | ABC Family | ABC News | ABC News Now | ESPN on ABC
ESPN Networks (80% owned): ESPN | ESPN2 | ESPNEWS | ESPN Classic | ESPNU | ESPN Deportes | ESPN HD | ESPN2 HD | ESPN Now | ESPN Plus | ESPN PPV | ESPN360
Other Cable Television Networks: Disney Channel | Jetix | SOAPnet | Toon Disney
Television Production and Distribution: Buena Vista Television | Touchstone Television | Walt Disney Television | Walt Disney Television Animation
Radio Stations: KABC | KDIS | KDIS | KDIZ | KESN | KGO | KKDZ | KLOS | KMKI | KMKY | KQRS | KSCS | KSFO | KSPN | KSPN | KTYS | KXXR | WABC | WBAP | WDRQ | WDVD | WEAE | WEPN | WFDF | WGVX | WGVY | WGVZ | WJR | WJZW | WKHX | WLS | WMAL | WMKI | WMVP | WPLJ | WRQX | WWMK | WYAY | WZZN
Radio Networks: ABC News & Talk | ABC News Radio | ABC Radio (sale to Citadel Broadcasting pending) | ESPN Radio | ESPN Deportes Radio | Radio Disney
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts: Disneyland Resort | Walt Disney World Resort | Tokyo Disney Resort¹| Disneyland Resort Paris | Hong Kong Disneyland Resort | Disney Cruise Line | Disney Regional Entertainment | Walt Disney Imagineering
¹Licensed and designed by Disney, owned and operated by The Oriental Land Company
Miscellaneous Assets: Reedy Creek Energy Services | Muppets Holding Company

Annual Revenue: Pixar:Green Arrow Up.svg $30.8 billion USD (2004) | Employees: 129,000 | Stock Symbol: NYSE: DIS | Website: disney.go.com

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Companies established in 1985 | Animation studios | Film production companies of the United States | Hollywood movie studios | Disney production studios | Walt Disney Company subsidiaries | Companies based in Alameda County | Pixar | Steve Jobs

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