Pixar ends partnership with Disney

TravisMT81

TravisMT81

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Pixar Animation Studios is ending talks aimed at continuing its relationship with The Walt Disney Co. and will seek a deal with another studio, Pixar chief executive Steve Jobs said Thursday.

Pixar, which co-produced last year's top-box office draw, "Finding Nemo," said it will look for an agreement that allows it to retain ownership of future movies.

Under Pixar's current deal with Disney, the two companies share box office receipts and licensing revenues while Disney retains the right to make sequels to movies such as "Toy Story" and "Monsters Inc."

"After 10 months of trying to strike a deal with Disney, we're moving on," Jobs said in a statement. "We've had a great run together -- one of the most successful in Hollywood history -- and it's a shame that Disney won't be participating in Pixar's future successes."

Pixar has two movies yet to deliver under its current Disney deal, including "The Incredibles," due in theaters in November, and "Cars," which will be released next year.

Pixar Animation Studios is ending talks aimed at continuing its relationship with The Walt Disney Co. and will seek a deal with another studio, Pixar chief executive Steve Jobs said Thursday.

Pixar, which co-produced last year's top-box office draw, "Finding Nemo," said it will look for an agreement that allows it to retain ownership of future movies.

Under Pixar's current deal with Disney, the two companies share box office receipts and licensing revenues while Disney retains the right to make sequels to movies such as "Toy Story" and "Monsters Inc."

"After 10 months of trying to strike a deal with Disney, we're moving on," Jobs said in a statement. "We've had a great run together -- one of the most successful in Hollywood history -- and it's a shame that Disney won't be participating in Pixar's future successes."

Pixar has two movies yet to deliver under its current Disney deal, including "The Incredibles," due in theaters in November, and "Cars," which will be released next year.


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...04,1,7861008.story?coll=orl-dp-weekend-2-main
 
Snapper Bean

Snapper Bean

Active Member
Wow. Interesting that this hits right now before the Philadelphia March Board gathering. I'm a Disney fan but right now I think Pixar has the stroke in this negotiation. Given the relative lack of success of Brother Bear and other Disney produced material, right now Disney needs Pixar's creativitity more than Pixar needs Disney's distribution. This is a big blow but until they sign a deal elsewhere this really isn't over...its merely entered a different more threatening stage of negotiations.

Snapper Bean
 
mkt

mkt

When a paradise is lost go straight to Disney™
Premium Member
<img src="http://www.dtmpower.net/forum/images/smilies/repost.gif">

sorry travis.. lol
 
TravisMT81

TravisMT81

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
well put it in the damn news forumn :lol: I have been without a computer for 4 days and I just got my new Dell tonight. And I posted that from work so I really didn;t have time to browse on company time lol.
 
Shaman

Shaman

Well-Known Member
Originally posted by TravisM
well put it in the damn news forumn :lol: I have been without a computer for 4 days and I just got my new Dell tonight. And I posted that from work so I really didn;t have time to browse on company time lol.
Click to expand...

You're forgiven....don't worry about it... :lol:
 
colliera

colliera

Member
Maybe a tactic

Several financial analysists have noted as elsewere in the thread that Steve Jobs may be using this as a hard nosed tactic to bring Disney around. Personally I'd walk away and never look back.

It's rumored that a few other studios have already approaced Jobs with better deals.
 
prberk

prberk

Well-Known Member
To me, the most important part of the story was found in the last paragraphs of the 1/30/04 Orlando Sentinel story (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...30,1,5279841.story?coll=orl-dp-weekend-2-main) about the breakup:

For some in the Pixar family, a split would have significance beyond dollars and cents: Lasseter is a former Disney animator.

Roy Disney said it was Lasseter who told him about the collapse of negotiations.

"He feels as awful as I do about this," Roy Disney said in a phone interview. "He said he's a Disney man, as are so many of the guys up there. Disney blood flows through their veins."

That says it all...
 
CTXRover

CTXRover

Well-Known Member
Originally posted by prberk
To me, the most important part of the story was found in the last paragraphs of the 1/30/04 Orlando Sentinel story (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...30,1,5279841.story?coll=orl-dp-weekend-2-main) about the breakup:

For some in the Pixar family, a split would have significance beyond dollars and cents: Lasseter is a former Disney animator.

Roy Disney said it was Lasseter who told him about the collapse of negotiations.

"He feels as awful as I do about this," Roy Disney said in a phone interview. "He said he's a Disney man, as are so many of the guys up there. Disney blood flows through their veins."

That says it all...
Click to expand...

Sounds like the folks at Pixar wanted to see a new deal made too. :(
 
mkt

mkt

When a paradise is lost go straight to Disney™
Premium Member
Originally posted by Bill
Dude... big news... Dells are, well, :hurl:
Click to expand...

not worse than a Mac... hehe.

At least with a Dell their hardware isn't bad, so you can reformat/reinstall an OS on it and have a decent system
 
S

swrdfghtr

New Member
Re: Maybe a tactic

Originally posted by colliera
Several financial analysists have noted as elsewere in the thread that Steve Jobs may be using this as a hard nosed tactic to bring Disney around. Personally I'd walk away and never look back.

It's rumored that a few other studios have already approaced Jobs with better deals.
Click to expand...

Warner, Sony, and Fox all approached Pixar. Pixar did the right thing and asked them to back off until neogitations with Disney came to some kind of conclusion, which they now have.

Industry analysts do not believe this is over. The deal Pixar is lookin for is a lot like Lucas', where Fox gets a 7.5% flat fee for distributing the film. The other studios may not feel that's enough cash to bring Pixar on board; Warner has certainly not proven themselves in the animated feature arena.

And it's not the whole picture. Lucas can support a deal like that because he has seperate companies handling things like product licensing and merchandising; Pixar does not because Disney has done that. So in order to really make money from their films, Pixar is going to have to build entirely new businesses which are completely apart from filmmaking.

To address an earlier comment on this thread, Disney has never had Pixar's creativity, or Disney would produce nothing but hits. What Disney has had - and still needs - is the earning power of a Pixar film. Pixar's proposed deal did not offer this earning power. And Pixar quite definitely needs Disney's (or someone's) distribution channels; that's why they're talking to other studios.

Disney probably still has the best distribution channel for Pixar films, in fact. They have agreements with channels like McDonald's that really help drive film attendance, for example. It's difficult to say if Pixar films would be grossing a quarter billion dollars without Disney's unique marketing machine. Certainly, they would do well - they're great films - but they may have earned millions less, which places some definite value on the Disney end of the partnership, too.

There's this pervasive feeling throughout Disney fandom that Disney has been getting a free ride from Pixar. Not entirely true. Pixar would likely be nowhere without Disney, and Disney would certainly be a billion or so poorer without Pixar. But it has been a partnership, else Jobs and company would not have spent ten months trying to keep it going. It's just that both companies are in different places than they were when the original deal was inked, and it's possible that neither of them can get what they need from each other anymore. So Jobs is off to see if there's a fit with someone else... and he may, in the end, be back talking to Eisner.
 
colliera

colliera

Member
Market Maturity

While CG productions of some sort have been around since the time of TRON fully CG features as produced by Pixar are still evolving and the entire CG market is in a fast growth period and will be for a few more years before it levels out. Pixar is without a distribution channel but having to give up 67% of the profit is still too high. Granted Disney shared the production costs and provided the distribution but as Disney always has done with it's creative talent their contribution's worth amounted to nothing. Oh the corporate Disney likes to market how creative and magical they are and charge the high dollar for it but actual compensation to the talent has historically been poor.

While Walt lost his creative product (Oswald the Rabit) to his distribution channel at least Jobs sees it for what it's worth. Walt built his own distribution channel with Buena Vista. Jobs has already been down that road with Apple.

Should he create his own new distribution channel? Not when a new deal would get him one alreadly in place. Warner is just part of the puzzle. Time Warner HBO is what he would really have at his disposal. If it becomes Sony then its Sony Columbia. Fox while perhaps the weaker of the three and willing to give up more to Jobs is also News Corporation. All three are multi-nationals that a reach beyond plush toys.

What business is/should Pixar be in? If it's what the parks became under Pressler/Harris then maybe he should be talking to the Gap.
 

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