Pixar has handled mature themes like racism (Ratatouille), abandonment (Wall-E) and death (Up), so I don’t see why it can’t touch something as simple and beautiful as procreation. It’s not like they haven’t hinted at sensuality before (The Incredibles, Cars, etc.), so why the hypocrisy for Newt? Even Ice Age 2 has a similar theme and that saw a theatrical release, so I’m hoping Newt’s not getting canned just because of the ‘We can’t imply the s-e-x word to kids!’ excuse.
I just hope this is a case of ‘indefinite hiatus’ and not outright ‘giving up’.
Oh yeah, they have touched on mature themes before TDIT, now you mention it. I’ve been a bit blind! XD I would have liked to have seen how they could’ve handled such a theme like procreation.
I doubt it’s because of the perhaps slightly mature theme…As you said thedriveintheatre, Pixar know how to handle something like that. It’s probably more to do with the direction of the film, perhaps not knowing where it’s going, how to conclude it, maybe some parts of it just aren’t fitting right. It happens unfortunately. I hope that despite all of this, Pixar works at sorting these problems out in the same way that they’ve done in the past.
I’m really disappointed Pixar had to shelve this project… I found out about this on Wall-E forums. But I have to side with most of the members there that if Pixar bins a project, it’s probably for the better. I’d rather they stop something if it’s not working out, rather than finish and push it out for a quick buck.
Still, this is the first time Pixar has ‘given up’ on something, and with the rate of their sequel productions, I hope this doesn’t become a recurring feature (And if it’s because of those Disney execs, I’m gonna ‘tar and feather’ them). I’d rather they cancel Monsters Inc 2, and even yes, Cars 2 just so that this can go ahead, but sadly it’s not to be.
I think the disappointment of this is only so strong because right now the majority of films announced by Pixar are sequels and then having to hear that one of the two original ideas they’ve mentioned has been completely discarded. When I read about the similarities with Blue Sky’s Rio being made I could see why that would be the problem. Of course back when Pixar was still making A Bug’s Life and found out that DreamWorks was doing Antz they didn’t shelve that film for having a similar concept. Instead they still went forward with it and as a result the two films went head-to-head in the same year at around the same time, but maybe the “last of their species” concept is just too similar. In all honestly I really like Pixar’s newts in a biology lab over Blue Sky’s macaw in a zoo leaving for South America (which in itself sounds a lot like Madagascar) cause it’s just so much more unique. And how many animated films before have ever centered around newts? Almost none, right?
As for the sequels, I’ll probably still be interested to see Cars 2 and Monsters Inc. 2 but I hope whatever future story ideas they have for something new can make up for the loss of Newt. We really never got to know that much about it anyway except that the brief description of it was so intriguing, especially the part that “love is not a science”.
For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, I made an attempt to design Newt myself in the likely case that this was going to happen: [url]What Newt may have looked like]
Well, darn D8 ! That movie looked really, really cute! I’m an “unlikable” animal person, and…
Well, I guess they’ve had to do that with other concepts before . Darn…
I haven’t been on the forums for a while so I didn’t hear anything about Newt in a long time. After seeing the preview for Alpha and Omega recently I considered the possibility that maybe Newt wasn’t happening anymore. Then I discovered this topic.
Is it possible that Crest Animation took the idea first and Pixar had to scrap it?
Man i was really getting excited for newt when i first heard about it im kinda angry that pixar is dishing out sequels rather then new original storys but if it was shelved it was for a good reason.
John Lasseter has confirmed that ‘Newt’ was cancelled because of Rio.
"“Its story was very similar to a movie that’s out in theaters right now with a blue parrot. Oh my! Wow, we were like … no, there was no … great minds think alike, I guess. It was really pretty similar.” -J Lass
I am not disapointed that newt was cancelled, if for this reason. Newt had very beautiful concept art, but I was so impressed with Rio, I don’t know how it could of been topped! But then again, it’s Pixar. We’ll never know!
this was something everybody knew, however there is an update in the post from The Pixar Blog, in which says that Lasseter was simply commenting on the similarity of elements of the plot’, not in any way confirming that as the cause of Newt being shelved. ( it is obvious Pixar doesn’t want problems)
like someone commented on another post, which I agree 100 percent: RIO had the potencial that wasn’t exploted, that film only focused in the rescue, Newt could have gone to focus on the LAST SPECIES OF THEIR KIND,
I am in fact, disappointed that Newt was cancelled, as I have stated many times before. But this is not because I wish that Pixar released Newt instead of Blue Sky releasing Rio.
I am disappointed because Pixar didn’t have the guts to release Newt anyway. I would have loved to see how Newt would come up against Rio, and I would’ve loved both studios to achieve box-office success. If it was indeed a problem with a rival film, why couldn’t they have just waited a few months or a year and finish the story anyway? Did they care that their biggest rival, Dreamworks, was making Antz on purpose to compete with them (as documented in ‘The Pixar Touch’)? No, they went ahead and made A Bug’s Life, one of their best and most underrated classics.
Did Sony Animation care that Animal Logic got on the jump on them with a penguin movie? No, they simply released ‘Surf’s Up’ a year later.
Did Dreamworks fret that Pixar got Finding Nemo out the gates first? No. Did Disney worry about Madagascar when they chose to release ‘The Wild’? No, although unfortunately ‘The Wild’ was a box-office stinker. Did Dreamworks lose any sleep when Despicable Me had a similar theme to Megamind? Nope.
In fact, Rio was released only a few months after another similarly-themed ‘end of the species’ film. Alpha & Omega.
So it surprises me that Pixar would suddenly do a cop-out just because another studio happens to be making a movie with a similar plot. This is very uncharacteristic of Pixar, a studio which I have always admired for its courage and fortitude.
I’m inclined to think the actual reason is that they didn’t have much of a plot to go on, and that when they saw how personal the project was to Carlos (the director of Rio), they graciously conceded and shelved the project (I read somewhere that Pixar held a meeting with Carlos and when they found out how much Rio meant to him, it played into their cancellation decision. I can’t seem to find the source). Here’s what I wrote in the Rio thread in comparing the two movies’ plots:
…
I actually think Rio’s story is better. I may not know the full details of Newt, but here’s the official synopsis:
Now, from this synopsis, there’s an adventure, most likely a road-trip. I’m not entirely sure what’s the purpose of the adventure, because as far as I can tell, neither of the newts has an owner and thus have no reason to undertake this trip. Maybe there is a purpose, but it’s not explained in this synopsis. Also, they “can’t stand each other” either, and there seems to be no reason why Newt or Brooke can’t just leave the other and go off on their own.
Rio, on the other hand, also has a ‘road-trip’ adventure like Newt. Like Bolt, Blu wants to get back to his owner. And they are a couple who “can’t stand each other”. However, the difference is that they are chained together. This gives them a reason why one party can’t just leave the other. They are, pardon the pun, inseparable. This gives an additional motivation to Blu’s quest to return to Linda. He now has to find a way to break the chain (which is a very clever metaphor for their bond to each other) linking him and Jewel so that they can go on their own separate ways. Blu back to his “cage with the little bell” and Jewel back to her home in the jungle. This, coupled with the fact that Blu can’t fly, makes their journey even tougher and more perilous.
Also, in order to impress Jewel (or at least redeem his character in a way), Blu has to find the courage to do something which he has never done before in his life, yet something which every bird in Rio except him is capable of- to fly. In Newt, there appears to be no ‘disability’ to Newt, except maybe his social inadequacies and timidness, which is also Blu’s character. And, of course, it is a ‘fish-out-of-water’ story like Finding Nemo, Up, and Newt, and it is a ‘survival of the species’ story like Ice Age 2, Dinosaur, and Newt.
…
Again, I will never know the full details of Pixar’s Newt plot, but I really don’t see if there is any emotional resonance or high-stakes for the protagonist to work against. Who will be the villain? A rare-newt poacher? An environmental terrorist? If it’s an internal conflict, what fear or inadequacy will Newt have to face, beyond his social skills? I struggle to see where’s the conflict and challenges that the heroes will face.
It also saddens me that Mr Lasseter took cheap potshots at Blue Sky when he could’ve been more gentlemanly and admitted that they had story problems, which was the official reason they gave when they announced the cancellation of Newt. If word gets around, I hope it doesn’t result in bad blood between the studios, after how Pixar has so graciously let Carlos realize his vision.
I’m sick and tired of bloggers hinting that the underdog studio ripped off the critical darling. There is no evidence that supports that Blue Sky intentionally copied Pixar, and it is more likely this was a divine coincidence.
It is interesting though, having watched Rio, to read Newt and Brooke’s character profiles. There’s even a ‘Rafael’-like Love Guru character in Newt which I would’ve loved to see.
P.S. By the way Mr Lasseter, Blu’s a macaw, not a parrot.
lolz, this comment was icing on the cake. Papagaios e Macaws, same thing right?
I really like your whole post. You really drove home all the animation similarites, I hadn’t even noticed how much until they were all lined up together. And I have no problem with them! Like DP and MM for example. That was only like what, 3/4 months apart? And I liked both, they both had their own feel to them.
I also like that Pixar talked to Carlos, I never knew that. One reason I liked the film so much was you can really feel the love and admiration that Carlos directed for his homeland in the movie. It was beautiful.
I agree, I would of liked to see Newt, it’s hard to compare when one was in such early stages!
