Pixar board approves Disney takeover
 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai...ixcitytop.html

In America we get Britain's news of tomorrow today.

So for those of us keeping score at home, Disney has subdued Miramax, the Muppets and now eventually Pixar.

Soon, very soon, the sinister Disney Co plot to swallow up and vanquish all remaining creativity and originality in the world will be complete. Then, at last, the world as we know it will have only endless and stale sequels to enjoy, and all media will be ruled by Raven!

Bwah hah hah hah hah hah!!!







Blech....

This makes me feel squeamish.

My sentiments exactly!

As long as there is imagination left in the world - the Disney Company will seek it out and absorb it.

Bah! Pessimists! I think Pixar will remain true to its creative integrity for at least a few more years.

WAIT!!! Did that say takeover? As in Disney will OWN Pixar? I am such a dunce. I totally thought it was another distribution deal. This can't be good.

Well, hell- they already owned the rights to the majority of the Pixar's characters. It would take years for Pixar to build up again, and they're no longer the only CGI kids on the block. This will be interesting no matter what, with Jobs being the largest shareholder. If creativity is stifled, then that just leaves things open for another company to step up to the plate.

I wonder what this may do to the Microsoft/Disney relationship?

Y'know, I don't think that this is all that bad. Just a feeling, mind you.

I know that Disney's a giant monolithic entertainment corporation, but it's a giant monolithic entertainment corporation that sometimes puts out stuff that makes me happy. So does Apple. So does Pixar.

Maybe Lassetter and co can give the cheapquel makers at Disney the Toy Story, Nemo and Monsters Inc characters to exploit, the remaining staff of Feature Animation (is there anyone left) their big computers, and they can go off into the corner with the traditional animation tools they got from Disney and work and that storytelling stuff that they seem to know how to do.

A guy can dream, right?

That's a nice dream, Mousepod. I hope it becomes reality.

This news follows some dire underground news I got about further decimation of WDI. Hmmmm.

I have misgivings and a feeling of dread. But I will hope that the spirit of Walt will endure and the corporate head of the beast will not smother the creative group at Pixar. Just let them do what they do best. I'd even vote for another installment of The Incredibles if the second time around we got more of Edna Mode.

I'm not sure about Cars, however. I'm sure it will be wonderful, but the trailers have not appealed to me.

Donna

Pixar could have signed with other movie studios but refused & held out til Eisner left the WDC. Maybe this is what they wanted all along. If this deal does not effect the quality of the Pixar movies, then I'm okay with it. I'd rather have Pixar make Toy Story 3 than Disney alone.

Miramax did ok as an independent branch ... for quite a while.

And I will have just as easy a time ignorning "Losing Nemo Again" and "Monsters, a Limited Liability Company" as I would any Disney crapuel.

The trailer for Cars left me with the same feeling, Snow, but hopefully the movie is better.

If Disney is going to go pure CGI, then they best do it with Pixar talent and technology. Their puny attempts have royally sucked, and the thought of them making the inevitable sequels to all the Pixar films was truly frightening. I agree with Jess- if Disney is going to walk away from traditional animation, then I hope that someone else fills that void. Films like 'Spirited Away' and the like have shown that 2d isn't dead, it just needs a fresh and creative breath of life.

Yeah, I really don't care what the animation looks like if there's a good story.

OK, that's hyperbole. What i mean is... traditional, CGI, none of this matters if the story department sucks buttermilk through a straw.

Interesting article in today's LA Times:

Walt's Shoes at Disney Could Be a Fit for Jobs

Hehehe. We know what ya mean ;) A good script is vital to any film.

I think it's important that both styles of animation co-exist. I love it when they combined and create beautiful scenes, such as the ballroom sequence in Beauty And The Beast.

ipods, Disneyland it's all the same...

I'm hoping the takeover will increase the creativity factor over at Disney. They seem to be strapped for ideas. I mean, 'Bambi 2'? Yikes.

I hate to say it, but it looks as if WDI is going the way of Universal Creative :(

Maybe, just maybe, the work ethic, smarts, and playfulness of Pixar will rub off on Disney, instead of vice versa.

Maybe.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/24/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

This news from 4 minutes ago.

Possibly the most important fact of the whole thing.

A link to Pixar's news release.

http://corporate.pixar.com/releaseDe...leaseID=185239

YES!

It does explain why John Lasseter wasn't there for the opening weekend (as many of speculated), which further explains the awkwardness of Rasulo's speech in which Lasseter's creative input was specifically credited and then he had so say "but Lasseter isn't here, instead we have Peter Doctor." (and while it is great for him to get some attention, it isn't a name the regular media there would know).

Random thought: I hope this isn't a sign that Cars is going to suck.

Jobs: Holy crap, John, that test screening bombed like a car in Iraq!
Lassiter: Yeah, well, what're you gonna do? Can't win 'em all.
Jobs: Sell to Disney while the gettin's good!

:p

and all of this activity on the same day the WD studios dedicated a new EISNER building.

the irony.

Eh, I know a couple people upset about the naming of the building. I can't really see as it is at all unexpected. The man did run things for 20 years and taken as a whole didn't do too bad at it (though he did bad at some things of particular importance to most of the people reading this board).

Besides, in another 20 years we'll probably be bitching that Jobs' first few years were great but then his ego got in the way, especially when he installed iPods on all the animatronics in the amusement parks and it was just a reign of terror from that point on.

I wonder if this means no more Pixar logo on their upcoming films. I mean, if they are Disney they don't need a logo...
???

Mirmiax, Touchstone, Buena Vista. All use their own logo (and, by my admittedly spotty recolection, don't use the Disney logo at all, except maybe at the end of the credits).

Most likely, it will be the same as it is now...the 3-D version of the Disney castle logo followed by the Pixar logo.

They explicitly said that maintaining the Pixar brand is very important.

However, the park rides will probably no longer have to say "based on a Walt Disney presentation of the Pixar production ..." somewhere on them.

Part of the Co-Production Agreement between Pixar and Disney required equal billing on all marketing. If Iger is true to his statements about bending over backwards to maintain the distinctness of Pixar it may actually be that you see the Disney logo less often on Pixar stuff.

And no one mentioned that Jobs was joining the Disney Board as a part of the deal? This sounds like a good thing to me.

Lumos will never die!!!

Well, he is now the single largest individual shareholder of Disney stock.

From the LA Times article (linked above):

To give you an idea of how much Disney stock Jobs will own:

He will end up with 138 million shares.

The current largest shareholder (Eisner) has 14 million shares.


But if he wants to make any kind of serious play at controlling Disney I think he is going to have to leave Apple. Think he's willing?

I think Jobs is just happy that his is bigger than Eisner's.

:D

Holy crap! :eek: That's the biggest news, and I hadn't heard it.