The board of Pixar Animation Studios, the digital animations company, is set to meet tomorrow to approve the company’s $7bn (Ł3.9bn) takeover by Disney. #
This is the end.
Beautiful friend, the end.
Update: It seems there are still “muddy waters”:http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/22/disney_swaps_stock_f.html
Update: It’s over.
Pixar should have split long ago. Too bad their movies were so good, they needed sequels which Disney owned rights too.
Why god, why? Well, it was good, no great while it lasted.
This may sound naive, but I don’t really think that Pixar will automatically decline as a result of this merger. There’s a chance that all the talent will bolt from Pixar, I guess, or that they will be consumed, chewed, and spit out by the Disney corporate types, but I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that Pixar will influence Disney, not vice versa.
I agree with Kiera. I don’t think that Pixar will decline as long as Disney doesn’t let their corporate division mess with the core Pixar team. Let’s hope that they maintain the same relationship that they had while the were separated and working together; we just might see some great new movies (and perhaps some sequels)!
-Chasen
I agree with the last two comments, this should be a big win for everyone. John Lasseter will likely be overseeing all animation at Disney, which is good for everyone. Pixar will probably become the computer animation division and hopefully Lasseter will bring back traditional animation at Disney, possibly with Brad Bird at the helm?
I think the concern that Disney will consume Pixar is unwarrented. A lot of the Pixar people are former Disney people/fans and I think the Disney people wish they were more like Pixar. I think this will be a big win for both companies.
Remember that Disney purchased Miramax years ago, and their output only got better and stronger after the merger (the eventual Weinstein defection notwithstanding). I’m not convinced that this is the worst thing that ever happened.
I can see an entire DVD store filled with Pixaresque sequels to all of the Disney standards. Ugh. “Cars” will be the last truly original Pixar film, I just know it. Disney is a money machine a la Lucas Arts bent on maximizing profit from a whole new generation of girls and boys.
I agree with Michael, here. ‘Tis the end of an era of brilliant film-making.
I still have some hope. It’ll be interesting to read about the agreement and see how Jobs’s big stake in Disney will affect things.
Why cant I ever be part of a 7 billion dollar deal? I think Disney will do fine with Pixar movies. They’ve always come out with good films, and my nephews and nieces love them
Have hope my friend, have hope.
@trench – Your nephews and nieces may like them but the Pixar films (rather than the Disney/Pixar films) are for all generations aswell as cinematic masterpieces rather than the trosh that comes out nowadays. I used to get very excited when I heard a Pixar film’s coming out
(snip) … The Pixar films (rather than the Disney/Pixar films) are for all generations aswell as cinematic masterpieces rather than the trosh that comes out nowadays… (/snip)
To the best of my knowledge, all feature length Pixar films that have been released to date were distributed by Disney.
crosses fingers
I did write a long post with all the movies of Pixar and a whole load more but the AJAX Monster eat it.
Basically I said, whoops. I think you maybe right too. Who looks like an idiot now (me).
I thought Incredibles was awfull. And my favourite movie in the whole world is Monsters Inc. There earlier work such as A Bugs Life and Toy Story was innotive which has been getting less and less.
Trench: You can! Just make 6 movies better than Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles :)
Oh ye(s) of little faith.
I have a lot more faith in Jobs and the method to his apparent madness.
It’s a sad end for such a good animation studio. I raise my glass in rememberence of Pixar and I mourn with the reason that it will be Disney running the agency from now on.
There was a time when Pixar was a good animation studio and a great company. I guess that time is gone now?
that is so sad. disney owns everything. isn’t capitalism great?
No. He owns (close to) 51% of Pixar so that’d make him the biggest single shareholder of Disney when the deal goes through – it’d work out to be a tad more than 5% of the outstanding shares.
Did sound a bit much :)
no…
[blockquote removed]
No. He owns (close to) 51% of Pixar so that’d make him the biggest single shareholder of Disney when the deal goes through – it’d work out to be a tad more than 5% of the outstanding shares.
I did some re-reading after your claim (because you didn’t offer a link or a source) and found other sources that support your claim that he’d hold about 6% of Disney but that would still make him majority shareholder. Aside from the reams of information on this possible sale, I can only lend my opinion that Pixar is going to gain from this deal, not fail.
It’s officially over. :(
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/24/news/companies/disney_pixar_deal/index.htm?cnn=yes
Yup. Straight from the horse’s mouth:
Pixar
Disney
Honestly, what bugs me most about this “Pixar is dead” conversation is that most of you aren’t really invested in learning a good gawddamned thing about the subject AND when the time finally rolls around where we learn one way or another if this deal is truly sour or sweet, the only one coming back to either serve crow or eat it will be me —- which sux.
Hey Mary, your sheep are over there.