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new movie
- Thread starter JAY-ROD
- Start date
WDW-Imagineer
Well-Known Member
What type of movie, because there are a few...animated or live action??
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure it's the princess diaries... Speaking of Monsters Inc. though, I'm kind of wondering what's going to happen with Disney and Pixar. They had an agreement with Toy Story that made it something to the effect of work for hire. They then inked a contract to co-produce 5 features with Disney, the first of which was A Bug's Life. Toy Story 2, because it was a sequel to Toy Story it was considered a derivative work and did not count toward the five contracted films although the agreements for the sequel followed the same conditions as outlined under the contract for the five new movies. So A Bugs Life counted as the first of the new agreement to be followed but Monsters Inc., currently they are in production of the third movie under this contract scheduled for release around November of next year called "Film Five" and are in development of the fourth film more than likely with a release date of 2003. That leaves just one more movie under the Disney contract more than likely to see the light of day sometime in 2004. After that, Pixar has no obligation to do anything else for DIsney at all. Everything under the current contract is under co-ownership between Disney and Pixar with Disney exclusively distributing and exploiting the movies. They do all marketing and merchandising and split the profits with Pixar. They are also allowed to use the likeness of characters and related themes in their theme parks (i.e. it's tough to be a bug and Space Ranger Spin) for which Pixar makes no money. Pixar has the right to co-produce or collect passive royalties for software and movie or tv spinoffs from the features (ie, the Star Command Series animated by Disney)
Under the current contract, Disney fronts all the money for the movies and then takes half those costs out of Pixar's share of the profits. As it stands now, this is a pretty sweet deal for all concerned but in the next 3-4 years, who knows? If the Pixar movies continue to be the highest boxoffice draws, Pixar may not see a need to contunue their exclusive work with Disney. Before Disney they made most of their money from developing and selling 3D software and doing animation work for commercials. Disney financed their move into feature animation and effectively changed their business model. Four movies down the road will Pixar be able to fund themselves? Will they be able to make successful movies? The successful movie part sounds like and easy answer but the Disney name still holds a lot of weight despite current ticket sales. A little while back another studio showed an animated film they were working on to a test audience that found it to be only mildly enterntaining. As a half joke, they showed it to a second audience and added Disney's name in the opening credits (had this been done in a public release you can just bet there would have been lawsuits) the second crowd loved the movie and the only thing they changed was the addition of Disney's name.
Pixar would not be able to release a sequel or use any characters from the movies they contracted with Disney without Disneys envolvement/permission so they would not be able to use any of the 'star power' created by the recognizable characters. Do you think the Pixar name is known well enough for the general public to relaize that a movie released with no support from Disney is essentially made from begining to end by the same people who will have made all the rest?
Under the current contract, Disney fronts all the money for the movies and then takes half those costs out of Pixar's share of the profits. As it stands now, this is a pretty sweet deal for all concerned but in the next 3-4 years, who knows? If the Pixar movies continue to be the highest boxoffice draws, Pixar may not see a need to contunue their exclusive work with Disney. Before Disney they made most of their money from developing and selling 3D software and doing animation work for commercials. Disney financed their move into feature animation and effectively changed their business model. Four movies down the road will Pixar be able to fund themselves? Will they be able to make successful movies? The successful movie part sounds like and easy answer but the Disney name still holds a lot of weight despite current ticket sales. A little while back another studio showed an animated film they were working on to a test audience that found it to be only mildly enterntaining. As a half joke, they showed it to a second audience and added Disney's name in the opening credits (had this been done in a public release you can just bet there would have been lawsuits) the second crowd loved the movie and the only thing they changed was the addition of Disney's name.
Pixar would not be able to release a sequel or use any characters from the movies they contracted with Disney without Disneys envolvement/permission so they would not be able to use any of the 'star power' created by the recognizable characters. Do you think the Pixar name is known well enough for the general public to relaize that a movie released with no support from Disney is essentially made from begining to end by the same people who will have made all the rest?
My feelings on this are that Pixar wouldnt survive on their own, primarily based on the fact that Disney have enormous marketing power - Pixar dont.
I bet only a tiny amount of the general viewing public would know that PIxar were involved with Toy Story etc. But, how important is it for the viewer to know who makes the movie? I would say that very few people know who made Shrek - but that didnt stop it being successfull at the Box Office.
Its a difficult situation - I hope the MOuse can acquire Pixar soon - before the current deal runs out. The last thing we need is for Pixar to go it alone, or be swallowed by another studio keen to get into the animation sector.
I bet only a tiny amount of the general viewing public would know that PIxar were involved with Toy Story etc. But, how important is it for the viewer to know who makes the movie? I would say that very few people know who made Shrek - but that didnt stop it being successfull at the Box Office.
Its a difficult situation - I hope the MOuse can acquire Pixar soon - before the current deal runs out. The last thing we need is for Pixar to go it alone, or be swallowed by another studio keen to get into the animation sector.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Well, they have at least another 3 years before anything too major happens. Apparently at their current size, Pixar only has the capacity to do one film at a time which means they are pretty much locked exclusively with Disney till the end of the contract. By that point, it's possible that they could see it in their best interest to ink another deal but I agree that it would probably be best to be folded into the Disney cloth. They could probably combine them with their current digital and animation group and do some really amazing stuff… Not sure how open to this Pixar would be though. Pixar seems to have a much more freewheeling Mtv lie atmosphere about it. Also, we have to remember that, Steve Jobs is at the head of Pixar and he is notorious for his ego and desire to remain at the top on everything - a big part of what had to do with his original departure from Apple. Perhaps with his plunge back into Apple Computers, he would be more open to the idea. I think as you pointed out, Pixar would probably not be much of a force by it self but if they started inking deals with DreamWorks or Universal, or Fox we could be in for trouble. Just think if it was Universal, we might see a Pixar movie attraction war between WDW and US