I’m sure you guys know about Michael Eisner (President of the W. Disney Company 1984-2005). He’s probably most known for the guy that held up the acquisition of Pixar by Disney, and is probably the person that was smack bang in the middle in the fiasco of the “after the 5-movie partnership deal”.
I’m currently reading DisneyWar (great book if you’re up for it) and I’m actually quite surprised on how much Pixar is all over Disney’s 90s-00s history. It gets me pondering on how Pixar would be doing now if Eisner didn’t leave the company, and Iger didn’t speed up the acquisition. To think that Pixar could actually be in the hands of Sony Pictures (at one point they were actually in talks with Sony when the talks with Disney/Eisner dried up, according to Steve Job’s biography, iCon), Pixar wouldn’t be the same as it is today
… Thoughts on Michael Eisner & his part in the history of Pixar?
I bought that book recently Phileas for a buck. I had seen it hardcover and softcover in a decent used bookstore and figured it must be worth something. How far along are you? Do they go a lot into the theme parks? Do they discuss the spread of investments, panorama of entertainment, or just a lot of boardroom politics? I am interested in what that company is like for someone who is above the level of general worker (ticket taker, tour guide, costumed, rides and exhibit operators), someone who might have to interact with the way things are done there.
That book is in my car’s backseat now, as sometime soon I intend to either start reading it, or scanning it, or reading a review somewhere online.
Well remember that pixar was very active in the older movies of disney, as Pixar supplied them with the toold to make those great epic scenens everyone remember.
The big wilderbeast horde going into the canyon in the Lion king? Thank pixar for it.
the ballroom dance scene in Beauty and the Beast?
The flying out of the cave while it was colapsing in alladin? All thanks to a program called Renderman from pixar, so yeah they had some influence back in those days. But if the graphics and the animation was done by Pixar or Disney I dont know.
But I do know that it is for the best of both parties that they are still together these days. I dont think Pixar would be able to expirement with new movie formats as much as they did if they were under an other company’s lead.
I actually don’t think Pixar would be all too different. They pretty much made all their movies by themselves, with little input from Disney. When they were looking for new partners, they were just tryng to find a deal where they could remain Pixar, and not change the “culture”. Sony would have most likely done the same thing Disney had been doing, just distribution.
I’ve actually finished the book as of last night! Took a while to read it, but it’s a good read. After you’ve finished it, you just realise that Eisner’s ego is twice as big as Steve Jobs, and egomaniac vs egomaniac isn’t good. It goes quite a lot into the events of Jobs/Eisner stopping the talks about the acquisition of Disney, and how the following “Save Disney” events (run by Roy Disney & co) was affected by the cease of the merging talks. Gripping stuff.
But if you’re reading it purely for an insight into Disney, you’ll be disappointed. It does talk about it, but only to an extent, and a lot of it is about Euro Disney/Paris Disneyland because of the events relating to it with Eisner. There is a looooooot of boardroom politics in the book, so if you hate it, it’s not the book for you. But it’s a good book if you’re up for it.
It’s a pity, because when you think of Pixar, you think of Toy Story, A Bugs Life, The Incredibles, and so on… but you forget about Renderman! Totally agreed!
You’ve got a point, although other distributors may have a say in production, so it could be different, but you’ve got a point there.
