From the business end of the spectrum, Disney and Universal are both replacing their studio heads after sacking the ones they’ve had. Here’s the Reuters article about it: reuters.com/article/industry … AW20091006
Note the lines:
[i]Effective immediately, Ross – who experts say shares Cook’s flair for personal dealings, but is a stranger to the hyper-competitive movie business – will manage all film labels including Walt Disney, Touchstone, Miramax and Disney/Pixar.
“You’re going to see Pixar and Marvel being the primary drivers of production.”
…But Disney counts just Disney-Pixar’s “Up” and Touchstone’s “The Proposal” as bona fide hits this year. It now commands just 11.7 percent of box office market share…[/i]
Disney’s TV groups have always been super money obsessive, which means a ton of material that looks the same and less+less animation. They’re not afraid to end shows anywhere to make their bottom line, even at the start of climaxes. They only care about themselves. The last thing I want is to see that attitude move into the movie area. So help him if he tried to make Pixar do anything that goes against their artistic integrity for DC’s greedy overly-preppy attitude.
Netbug, I wouldn’t get TOO worried about Pixar regarding this whole thing, JL has a high standing at Disney, and Pixar’s already shown that they won’t allow Disney to take creative control of their property, they’d be FURIOUS. Pixar works for itself, it just has Disney as backing.
I do agree though, I’m afraid with what will happen with Disney’s animation (especially considering The Princess and the Frog is coming out soon), but hopefully the guy is new enough, and TPatF will do well enough that he’ll realize people seriously want animation, and maybe push for it. Wishful thinking, sure, but who knows. Might not be so bad. I am a bit suspicious as well, don’t get me wrong, but let’s wait and see.