Post by just_an_ant on Jan 28, 2006 22:25:52 GMT -5
Wish this "board" had a "links" place where I could put all my various links and those from bestUSA 
thedisneyblog.typepad.com/tdb/pixar/
FishbowlLA takes a look at some of the details in the buyout agreement as it was outlined in SEC filings by both companies. Talent flight seems to be one of the main concerns.
Among those who must join Disney include "Finding Nemo" director Andrew Stanton; "Monsters, Inc." director Pete Docter; "The Incredibles" director Brad Bird; director/writer Bob Peterson; story artist Brenda Chapman; editor Lee Unkrich; and sound designer Gary Rydstrom.
And it doesn't stop there. John Lasseter gets 'green light' rights (which Iger can veto, of course). I also like this little touch, "The groundbreaking animation company will, however, stay in Emeryville, California, with a sign at its gate that 'shall not be altered' from 'Pixar.'" See this Reuter's article for more details.
The Joy of Tech renders his take in this funny cartoon. (Picture Steve Jobs in Mouse Ears and Mickey and Goofy sporting iPods.) Anybody think this would make a great t-shirt?
Over at NekoFever they thinks Disney has bought its soul back and we should be readying ourselves for the second coming of hand-drawn animation at Disney.
Lasseter is the man responsible for the excellent treatment of Studio Ghibli movies in the localisation process and he obviously realised what the rest of us knew - the last few Disney movies had nutsty box office receptions because they were nuts, not because people didn’t want to see the hand-drawn medium. With Pixar remaining autonomous but actually showing influence over Disney, are there any negative sides to this purchase?
I hope that could be true. Lasseter and Catmull insist they'll use whatever medium they think is best for the story they want to tell. Studio chief thingy Cook has said exactly that as well. Good sign, I think.
Emphasis Mine, who alas offers no direct link to their stories, observes the potential for a Steve Jobs takeover at Disney and wonders what Bob Iger is thinking.
Of course Jobs today is saying he doesn't want to be Chairman of the Disney Board, that anything beyond a seat on the Board "isn't on my radar." Horsenuts. On the Closing Bell segment cited above, answering a question about a possible clash of Disney and Pixar cultures in the new animation mix, Jobs let slip something about how maybe Pixar's culture will spill into other areas of Disney to make for an improved and better company. Iger must have been biting his tongue---literally.
Widge at the always interesting NeedCoffee.com has a list of 10 suggestions for the new company. His point about the muppets bears repeating here:
Don't Forget the Muppets. No, no. We don't mean do CG Muppets. But like anything else, it doesn't matter what kind of creation it is, be it felt, CG or cel--if there's not a good story, if you don't understand the characters, you are in for a world of suck. All you need to do is see what Disney's done with the Muppets since they bought them. Put them in Pixar's jurisdiction. We trust them to do the right thing and make these characters live again.
I was thinking exactly the same thing.
Mike at Notes from the Metaverse is a little more reserved:
No matter what you read or hear about how powerful Steve Jobs is going to be in all this Disney business, remember this basic rule of acquisitions (especially in the tech industry): It is never good to be the acquired company. The acquiring company always says "We want to learn from this hip, successful, non-stodgy company so we can loosen up ourselves." It never happens.
We can hope this time is different.
As I noted earlier one of the Catmull and Lasseter's first steps was to call off production on Toy Story III at the quasi-secret animation studio 'Circle 7'. Here's a blog entry from someone that claims to work at Circle 7. Looks like the mood over there is grim:
The whole situation is nerve-wracking. It seems that half of the people didn’t bother to show up to work today. Can’t blame them. There really isn’t any work to do without a project although luckily were still on payroll. Itd be bad for the companies rep if they lay people off unsympathetically, so I imagine it'll take a while to do so. There were supposedly meetings today meant to shed some light on the situation between the pixar guys and upper management from circle seven. It doesn’t seem like anything has been resolved. So basically we’ve got a really nice expensive studio which is practically a ghost town at this point (more)
I can't imagine what that's like. But I have heard that management expects to find work for the Circle 7 employees elsewhere in the company.
thedisneyblog.typepad.com/tdb/pixar/
FishbowlLA takes a look at some of the details in the buyout agreement as it was outlined in SEC filings by both companies. Talent flight seems to be one of the main concerns.
Among those who must join Disney include "Finding Nemo" director Andrew Stanton; "Monsters, Inc." director Pete Docter; "The Incredibles" director Brad Bird; director/writer Bob Peterson; story artist Brenda Chapman; editor Lee Unkrich; and sound designer Gary Rydstrom.
And it doesn't stop there. John Lasseter gets 'green light' rights (which Iger can veto, of course). I also like this little touch, "The groundbreaking animation company will, however, stay in Emeryville, California, with a sign at its gate that 'shall not be altered' from 'Pixar.'" See this Reuter's article for more details.
The Joy of Tech renders his take in this funny cartoon. (Picture Steve Jobs in Mouse Ears and Mickey and Goofy sporting iPods.) Anybody think this would make a great t-shirt?
Over at NekoFever they thinks Disney has bought its soul back and we should be readying ourselves for the second coming of hand-drawn animation at Disney.
Lasseter is the man responsible for the excellent treatment of Studio Ghibli movies in the localisation process and he obviously realised what the rest of us knew - the last few Disney movies had nutsty box office receptions because they were nuts, not because people didn’t want to see the hand-drawn medium. With Pixar remaining autonomous but actually showing influence over Disney, are there any negative sides to this purchase?
I hope that could be true. Lasseter and Catmull insist they'll use whatever medium they think is best for the story they want to tell. Studio chief thingy Cook has said exactly that as well. Good sign, I think.
Emphasis Mine, who alas offers no direct link to their stories, observes the potential for a Steve Jobs takeover at Disney and wonders what Bob Iger is thinking.
Of course Jobs today is saying he doesn't want to be Chairman of the Disney Board, that anything beyond a seat on the Board "isn't on my radar." Horsenuts. On the Closing Bell segment cited above, answering a question about a possible clash of Disney and Pixar cultures in the new animation mix, Jobs let slip something about how maybe Pixar's culture will spill into other areas of Disney to make for an improved and better company. Iger must have been biting his tongue---literally.
Widge at the always interesting NeedCoffee.com has a list of 10 suggestions for the new company. His point about the muppets bears repeating here:
Don't Forget the Muppets. No, no. We don't mean do CG Muppets. But like anything else, it doesn't matter what kind of creation it is, be it felt, CG or cel--if there's not a good story, if you don't understand the characters, you are in for a world of suck. All you need to do is see what Disney's done with the Muppets since they bought them. Put them in Pixar's jurisdiction. We trust them to do the right thing and make these characters live again.
I was thinking exactly the same thing.
Mike at Notes from the Metaverse is a little more reserved:
No matter what you read or hear about how powerful Steve Jobs is going to be in all this Disney business, remember this basic rule of acquisitions (especially in the tech industry): It is never good to be the acquired company. The acquiring company always says "We want to learn from this hip, successful, non-stodgy company so we can loosen up ourselves." It never happens.
We can hope this time is different.
As I noted earlier one of the Catmull and Lasseter's first steps was to call off production on Toy Story III at the quasi-secret animation studio 'Circle 7'. Here's a blog entry from someone that claims to work at Circle 7. Looks like the mood over there is grim:
The whole situation is nerve-wracking. It seems that half of the people didn’t bother to show up to work today. Can’t blame them. There really isn’t any work to do without a project although luckily were still on payroll. Itd be bad for the companies rep if they lay people off unsympathetically, so I imagine it'll take a while to do so. There were supposedly meetings today meant to shed some light on the situation between the pixar guys and upper management from circle seven. It doesn’t seem like anything has been resolved. So basically we’ve got a really nice expensive studio which is practically a ghost town at this point (more)
I can't imagine what that's like. But I have heard that management expects to find work for the Circle 7 employees elsewhere in the company.