Disney, Pixar Extend Deal for 2007 Film

[speck76]

LOS ANGELES -- The Walt Disney Co. and Pixar Animation Studios Inc. have agreed to extend their current distribution agreement to include Pixar's 2007 release, "Ratatouille," a deal that will be moot if Disney's proposed acquisition of Pixar closes this summer as expected.

The two companies negotiated what amounts to a one-picture extension as a fail-safe measure in case the acquisition doesn't happen.

"This is a deal that Disney and Pixar negotiated independent of the proposed merger to handle the distribution of 'Ratatouille' until such time as the transaction closes," Pixar said Thursday in a statement.

Pixar would finance all the production costs of "Ratatouille" and pay Disney a straight distribution fee under the new deal, according to a regulatory filing. Pixar would also own the film.

The extension differs from the current arrangement, where Disney and Pixar split the production costs and the profits, and share ownership of the copyright.

The animated movie is about a rat named Ratatouille who lives in an upscale Parisian restaurant run by an eccentric chef, according to the Internet Movie Database.

[clarksfan95]

When was this news released? With the acquisition, this seems strange or perhaps old.

[speck76]

The buyout of Pixar will not be final for some time....it still has to get SEC approval and whatnot.....this is the "what if we are not approved in time" agreement

[DarkMeasures]

What the heck. Dreamworks is also coming out with a movie that has almost the exact same concept. Will both studios ever stop being parallel to one another?

[clarksfan95]

They just like to try and one up each other.....I heard about the Dreamworks one about a year or so ago as it was in mid-production so chances are that they developed the idea first and someone just happened to catch wind of it at Disney and thought it might be a good idea...but, that they'll just alter the premise of the story a bit. Disney just needs to realize that the some of their strongest films are original ones.

Now, of course, maybe they didn't know about it and it is just somehow coincidence that they were both working on movies about European rats at the same time. This is probably true for the unfortunate "In The Wild" or whatever it's called...it was probably in production by whoever on earth is making it and they had no clue until Dreamworks announced Madagascar....I've seen this happen a couple times with things that people were working on and then someone else announces they are releasing something almost identical to what the other person is doing. I worked at a small studio in the Pittsburgh, PA area and that actually happened to the owner twice in about a 2 year span. We just laughed at him and told him that he shouldn't have procrastinated....he has one other that I'm waiting for someone else to announce, and oddly enough, I saw a picture in Animation Magazine for a TV cartoon that reminded me of this idea...I got a chuckle out of it and sent a copy to one of the animators that moved out west.

It's unfortunate when it happens, because you are then compared to the other and sometimes you just can't meet up to those expectations....unfortunate....but sometimes funny.

[clarksfan95]

The trailer for Dreamworks "Flushed Away" is on the Wallace and Gromit DVD as an FYI. I completely forgot that it was being done by Aardman Animation. This is very exciting, Chicken Run wasn't super great, but Wallace and Gromit are amazing. It includes Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen (sp?) and Kate Winslett as the voices. I recommend anything by Aardman...they are a brilliant bunch of Englishmen....