Inside look at Pixar Animation Studios
EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- Like Jonah in the Biblical tale, the Pixar Animation Studios has been swallowed by a whale.
But it will be business as usual, even in the corporate belly of the Walt Disney Company, which bought the now legendary Pixar in a $7.4-billion share swap earlier this year.
"I'm not worried," John Lasseter, the creative heart of Pixar and the director of four of its seven feature films so far, told the Toronto Sun this week.
"It's funny," he said at the Pixar Animation Studios in this funky industrial town across the Bay from San Francisco, "I'm the least worried of everybody outside of here because I know these people. I know what this place is built upon. It is built upon this passion -- that people love what they do.
"Culture is very important here. I think we recognize that what we do have at Pixar is a unique culture. Frankly, when Disney decided they wanted to buy Pixar, the entire deal was predicated upon the protection of that culture, so Pixar culture could continue exactly that way off into the future."
That can only be good news for audiences, the families who thrilled as Pixar became one of the most phenomenal success stories in Hollywood history. Like Disney used to be, Pixar is now a guaranteed entertainment brand name in animation. The studio boasts a string of seven all-original features, each a huge hit.
The Pixar films are: Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004) and now Cars (2006), which is coming to DVD on Tuesday. The next theatrical release is Brad Bird's Ratatouille, due June 29, 2007.
The first seven earned a total worldwide box office of nearly $3.7 billion. The per-picture average is the highest ever (albeit with a limited number of titles compared to other studios). The lowest, by a whisker, is the still impressive $362 million worldwide for Toy Story, the ground-breaking film that was Hollywood's first all-digital animated feature. The highest Pixar box office tally (second only to Shrek 2 -- all-time among animated films) was the $864.6 million worldwide for Finding Nemo. Pixar has generated mega-millions more in DVD sales, although exact figures are not available. But Finding Nemo vaulted into place as the best-selling DVD ever when it was first released.
The first six titles were also all Academy Award nominees, with four winning at least one Oscar each. Cars is expected to generate a best animated feature nomination for 2006. Lasseter is optimistic that Ratatouille will continue the golden streak because Bird, a college buddy who conjured The Incredibles for Pixar, is a filmmaking genius who has fashioned another dazzler. "It's about a rat who wants to be a fine chef in Paris, France, and it's fantastic," Lasseter said.
Working as a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney will not change a single frame of Ratatouille or any other future project, Lasseter promises. Nor will it change the physical environment. Pixar people will remain ensconced in their own studios here. It is a free-spirited place where the breakfast nook has a dozen-plus different cereals, where there is no time clock to punch, where there is no dress code, and where people amuse or refresh themselves in a gym, at a massage centre, at a movie theatre, on outdoor volleyball and soccer fields, in the Olympic-like pool with its swimming lanes, or on walkabout in the acres of green space surrounding the new but retro-built studio.
"It hasn't changed at all," Lasseter repeated about the way Pixar does its creative work. "The whole merger was based on (how) the culture here is so special. Everything is protected. It is meant to be exactly the way it is."
Despite Lasseter's confidence, the concern over Pixar is legitimate. Disney invested heavily in Miramax, the "indie" mini-major studio founded by Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Disney's parenting under CEO Michael Eisner proved to be thorny. Censorship intruded on some risque titles. Interference became the norm. The relationship soured. Eventually, the bombastic brothers were pushed out of The House of Mouse and started a fresh enterprise, the Weinstein Company. But Disney now owns the valuable Miramax film catalogue and its clutch of Oscar winners.
In the case of Pixar, the relationship with Disney head office soured long before the merger because of the contentious terms of the distribution deal Pixar had with Disney. While Pixar made its films in splendid isolation, Disney distributed them, took 50% of the profits and owned the sequel rights. Among the hot button issues was Disney's plan to make Toy Story 3 independent of Pixar. Under Eisner, the distribution deal was also going to end after Cars.
But, when Eisner was pushed out in a palace revolt, which was fuelled among other reasons by the Pixar blowup, the landscape changed. New Disney CEO Robert Iger was eager to find common ground. That became the complicated merger. Some observers believe that, while Disney technically owns Pixar, it is Pixar people who will eventually end up running all of Disney.
Pixar certainly has a huge stake in Disney. Pixar original Edwin Catmull, who joined it when it was still a high-tech computer graphics research group within George Lucas' empire, is now president of both Pixar and of Disney Studios. Lasseter, who was fired by Disney as a young animator before coming to Pixar two decades ago, is now chief creative officer of both Pixar and Disney animation.
Steve Jobs (famous both as a co-founder of Apple and as the one who revitalized the computer company) is the man who bought Pixar from Lucas in 1986, giving it the Pixar brand name. As a result of the Pixar stock swap, Jobs is now the largest individual stockholder in Disney. So the elements are in place to keep Pixar from going down the slippery slope that doomed Miramax.
Lasseter said he is not in a position yet to make any pronouncements about what will happen at Pixar past Ratatouille, although four other unnamed features are already in production. Nor is he free to talk about what he will do with the faltering Disney animation studio, although he stopped work on the rogue version of Toy Story 3 and is rumoured to have started it up again as a legit Pixar production with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen reprising their roles. The one confirmed Disney animated release is Meet The Robertsons, due next March.
"I'm busy at Pixar and at Disney animation helping with the new movies," Lasseter said. As for details, he added, "I'm not really ready to talk about that right now."
On a personal basis, Lasseter is stretched for time, he admitted, but that is nothing new. "Time has always been a challenge for John Lasseter. It's like, no matter what I do, it seems like there is not enough time." That made his commitment of a day to help launch the Cars DVD extraordinary because Lasseter has made few media statements about the new world order at Disney and Pixar since the Disney acquisition was first announced in January and then completed in May.
A lot of the Cars animators and artists are true believers in the Pixar culture. In an interview for the Cars DVD, production designer Bob Pauley called the studio zeitgeist "the Church of Pixar -- you just have faith." That means, no matter what problem arises in the making of a film, the Pixar creative team will find a solution, he said. "You just have faith that we're going to be able to push through it."
As for the Disney merger specifically, Pauley says he has no fear at all: "No! the biggest fear is that there's just too many good things to work on. They know. They're not going to change this, not with John. He cares so much. I'm just so excited because there's a lot of good stuff happening. We all know we're very lucky, that's the thing."
For Thomas Jordan, the character shading supervisor on Cars, the merger is a positive thing for the artists at both studios. "I think we've learned a lot more about each other since the merger. So it's been fun to learn how to do things and share with them how we do things."
Part of how Pixar does things is the attention to detail, an exhausting process that takes four to six years on each feature film, from idea to theatrical release. While Disney tried to shave that process to two years, Pixar will not.
Bill Cone, a production designer on Cars, said that Lasseter, the co-director, set the tone on that project. "One of his constant statements on this film was: 'The devil is in the details!' And it's true ... It's because they don't stop. We get the time."
One animator spent six months producing the complex lighting for traffic in a five-second scene during which the lead character, Owen Wilson's race car Lightning McQueen, returns to L.A. at night on the freeway. Another team spent seven months working on dust storms the cars kick up when driving on dirt in Arizona.
"It's a cultural thing," Cars effects supervisor Steve May said of the Pixar way of doing things. "We kind of envision ourselves as craftsmen. We want to build things in a way that shows we care.... This studio is kind of unique because it's built around the directors. I would say that that is the most important thing -- and that the studio is creatively oriented, rather than being driven by schedules and monetary goals."
PIXAR'S STORY
1979: George Lucas launches the Computer Graphics Group with Edwin Catmull from the New York Institute of Technology as the ideas man. Develops futuristic but not ultimately successful Pixar Image Computer.
1984: Catmull hires animator John Lasseter after he is fired by Disney.
1985: Lucas sells the unit to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs for $5 million and he re-launches it as Pixar, a word that combines "pixel" with "art".
1986: Lasseter directs his first Pixar film, the short Luxo Jr., which is nominated for an Oscar.
1989: Lasseter's short Tin Toy wins an Oscar and inspires the development of Toy Story as a feature.
1995: Toy Story, directed by Lasseter, launches the Pixar success story.
2006: Disney buys Pixar in a stock swap valued at $7.4 billion.
This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Slings & Arrows winners in Geminis final gala
Major awards honouring the best in Canadian English television were doled out Saturday night in a live broadcast from a Vancouver-area resort.
The 21st Annual Gemini Awards were held for the first time outside of Toronto at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond, B.C.
Comedian Shaun Majumder from CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes got the show rolling, extolling the natural virtues of the West Coast namely the fresh air and Vancouver's nude beach.
Martha Burns captured the first award of the night best actress in a continuing leading dramatic role for her part in the comedy Slings & Arrows, Season 2.
"Everyone on that show was either very, very funny or very patient," Burns said in her speech, adding that she would thank her "leading man" at home. Husband Paul Gross also starred in the series as the main character, eccentric theatrical artistic director Geoffrey Tennant.
Mark McKinney made it a stellar night for Slings & Arrows: He was awarded best actor in a continuing drama.
The former Kid in the Hall read off a list of producers, actors and directors in his speedy acceptance speech, while declaring that "I am so glad to be a Canadian actor."
McKinney was also a writer on the show, which garnered three other Geminis prior to the Vancouver gala: best direction in a drama, best writing in a drama and best supporting actress for Susan Coyne.
It then grabbed best drama, beating out Moccasin Flats, ReGenesis and CBC's This Is Wonderland.
Majumder thanks 'the people of Canada' for Gemini
Majumder and fellow comedian Mark Critch took the stage to accept the Gemini for best comedy ensemble for their work on This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
The pair effusively thanked their producers "who could fire us at any moment."
Human Trafficking, about the modern-day slave trade, nabbed the best miniseries honour.
Kevin Newman captured the top award for Best News Anchor, his second Gemini, beating out the CBC's Peter Mansbridge and Norma Lee McCleod.
Meanwhile, the CBC's Ron MacLean was honoured as best sports host for Hockey Day in Canada.
Actress Evangeline Lilly, of ABCs Lost, handed Marilyn Denis the award for best lifestyle host. Denis hosts the local Toronto daytime show Cityline.
Other awards given out include:
- Best comedy program or series: Corner Gas.
- Best social/political documentary: House Calls.
- Best direction in a dramatic program or miniseries: Tim Southam One Dead Indian.
- Best writing in a dramatic program or miniseries: Andrew Wreggitt, Hugh Graham One Dead Indian.
- Best writing in a comedy or variety program or series: Mary Walsh, Ed MacDonald Hatching, Matching & Dispatching, Episode 5.
- Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a dramatic program or miniseries: Tom McCamus Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story.
- Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a dramatic program or miniseries: Wendy Crewson The Man Who Lost Himself.
Winners are voted by members of The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, a professional association of 4,000 industry professionals.
Saturday night's gala marked the fourth night of awards for the Geminis.
Awards were also given out in Toronto on Oct. 16, 17 and 18 in various categories, including acting, directing, writing, editing as well as news, documentary, lifestyle and youth programming.
The winners of documentary, news and sports awards are:
- Best history documentary program: Breaking Point CBC Television, Jacqueline Corkery.
- Best biography documentary program: Braindamadj'd, Take II Apartment 11 Productions, CBC Newsworld; Jonathan Finkelstein, Allan Joli-Cur.
- Best science, technology, nature, environment or adventure documentary program: Being Caribou National Film Board of Canada; Tracey Friesen, Rina Fraticelli.
- Best performing arts program or series or arts documentary program or series: Prisoners of Age the Eyes Project Development Corp.; Stan Feingold.
- Best sports program or series: Hockey Brawl: Battle on Thin Ice Ocular Productions Inc., Behind the Brawl Inc., Numan Films, Ocular Productions; Jeff Newman, Robert Sauvey, Shawn Watson.
- Best live sporting event: 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship: Gold Medal Game TSN; Mark Milliere, Jon Hynes.
- Best news special event coverage: CBC News: 60th Anniversary of V-E Day Mark Bulgutch, Tom Dinsmore, Fred Parker.
- Best direction in a news information program or series: Michael Gruzuk, CBC News: Marketplace,for Chasing the Cancer Answer.
- Best direction in a documentary program: Paul Nadler Braindamadj'd, Take II.
- Best direction in a documentary series: David Rabinovitch Secret Files of the Inquisition Tears of Spain.
- Best direction in a live sporting event: Paul Hemming, 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship: Gold Medal Game.
- Best photography in an information program or series: J. P. Locherer C.S.C., Damir Chytil C.S.C. Forensic Factor, Betrayed.
- Best photography in a documentary program or series: Franηois Dagenais C.S.C. No More Tears Sister.
- Best picture editing in an information program or series: Aileen McBride CBC News: Marketplace, for Chasing the Cancer Answer.
- Best picture editing in a documentary program or series: Howard Goldberg How William Shatner Changed the World.
- Best sound in an information/documentary program or series: Steve Cupani Extreme Weather: Wind and Water.
- Best original music score for a documentary program or series: Bertrand Chenie, Perreault Dancer.
- Best news magazine segment: CBC News: The National for Suzanne Paul Kennedy, Eric Foss, Catherine McIsaac, Alex Shprintsen.
- Best sports play-by-play or analyst: Chris Cuthbert, Glen Suitor CFL on TSN: Wendy's CFL Live: Calgary at Saskatchewan.
- Outstanding technical achievement: OpenGear Multi-Definition/Multi-Function Terminal Equipment Platform.
The winners of lifestyle, children's and youth awards are as follows:
- Best General/Human Interest Series: Stuntdawgs Omni Film Productions Limited, David Gullason, Gabriela Schonbach.
- Best Lifestyle/Practical Information Series: Til Debt Do Us Part Money Test Productions Inc., Jamie Brown.
- Best Animated Program or Series: Bromwell High Decode Entertainment Inc., Hat Trick Productions Ltd., Steven DeNure, Neil Court, Anil Gupta, Jimmy Mullville, Beth Stevenson, Mario Stylianides, Cheryl Taylor.
- Best Pre-School Program or Series: Gisθle's Big Backyard: Here, There and Everywhere TVOntario, Marie McCann, Gisθle Corinthios, Pat Ellingson, Ericka Evans.
- Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series: The Morgan Waters Show CBC Television, Martin Markle, Rachel Bartels, Jonathan Farber.
- Best Cross Platform Project: www.regenesistv.com, Xenophile Media Inc., Patrick Crowe, Keith Clarkson, Evan Jones, Shane Kinnear, Thomas Wallner.
- Best Direction in a Lifestyle/Practical Information Program or Series: Trevor Grant Chef At Home - Hors d'Oeuvres Party.
- Best Direction in a Children's or Youth Program or Series: Paolo Barzman 15/Love - Volley of the Dolls.
- Best Writing in a Children's or Youth Program or Series: Jordan Wheeler, renegadepress.com - The Rez.
- Best Production Design or Art Direction in a Non-Dramatic Program or Series: Andrew Kinsella Canadian Country Music Awards.
- Best Original Music Score for an Animated Program or Series: Jeff Danna, Steve Sullivan Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends: The Prince, the Princess and the Bee.
- Best Lifestyle/Practical Information Segment: On The Road Again - Film Club, CBC Television, Malcolm Hamilton, Louisa Battistelli, Aldo Columpsi, Roger Lefebvre.
- Best Performance in a Childrens' or Youth Program or Series: Ksenia Solo, renegadepress.com - Fear.
- Best Host in a Lifestyle/Practical Information, or Performing Arts Program or Series: Sean Cullen What Were They Thinking? Big Breakfast.
Award winners for acting, directing and technical categories include:
- Best Direction in a Variety Program or Series: Mario Rouleau Voices of Soul.
- Best Direction in a Performing Arts Program or Series: Tim Southam Perreault Dancer.
- Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series: James Allodi Naked Josh II: Fake It Till You Make It.
- Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series: Danny Nowak, CSC The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess.
- Best Photography in a Comedy, Variety or Performing Arts Program or Series: David Franco Burnt Toast.
- Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series: Dean Soltys Canada Russia '72.
- Best Picture Editing in a Comedy, Variety or Performing Arts Program or Series: Allan MacLean, Miles Davren The Rick Mercer Report: Episode 13.
- Best Sound in a Dramatic Program: Lou Solakofski, Yvon Benoit, Garrett Kerr, Martin Lee, Sid Lieberman, David McCallum One Dead Indian.
- Best Sound in a Dramatic Series: Sylvain Bourgault, Eric Ladouceur, Charlie Jade Spin.
- Best Sound in a Comedy, Variety or Performing Arts Program or Series: Dave Rose, Michael Lacroix, Kirk Lynds, Donna Powell, Lou Solakofski Burnt Toast.
- Best Production Design or Art Direction in a Dramatic Program or Series: Guy Lalande Human Trafficking.
- Best Costume Design: Mariane Carter Human Trafficking.
- Best Achievement in Makeup: Donald J. Mowat, Paula Fleet, Jane Meade Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story.
- Best Visual Effects: Tom Turnbull, Ian Britton, Robert Crowther, Graham Cunningham, Matthew Hansen, Mary Holding, Ariel Joson Terry.
- Best Original Music Score for a Program or Miniseries: Jonathan Goldsmith Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making.
- Best Original Music Score for a Dramatic Series: Jim McGrath Degrassi: The Next Generation 5, Our Lips Are Sealed, Part I.
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries: Judah Katz Canada Russia '72.
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries: Lushin Dubey Murder Unveiled.
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series: Paul Soles Terminal City: Episode 6.
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series: Susan Coyne Slings and Arrows Season 2: Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair.
- Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Program or Series: Mark McKinney, Robson Arms Season 1: Material Breach.
- Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series: k.d. lang, Words to Music: The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
- Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program or Series: Johnny Wright, Tara Birtwhistle, Jesus Corrales, Dmitri Dovgoselets, Amanda Green, Vanessa Lawson, Chelsey Lindsay, Sarah Murphy-Dyson, Janet Sartore-De Luca, CindyMarie Small, Jo-Ann Sundermeier, Zhang Wei-Qiang The Tale of the Magic Flute.
- Best Achievement in Casting: Jenny Lewis, Sara Kay Heyday!
'Borat' earns glorious $26.4M in debut
LOS ANGELES - Sacha Baron Cohen's Kazakh alter-ego Borat made glorious returns at the box office, surprising Hollywood with a No. 1 debut.
"Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," 20th Century Fox's big-screen incarnation of Cohen's Kazakh journalist from "Da Ali G Show," took in $26.4 million during its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"This picture was playing to full houses," said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution at 20th Century Fox. "The planets aligned, the moons aligned, the stars aligned, and everything came together perfectly for us on this weekend."
Box-office analysts had expected Disney's "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause," with Tim Allen returning as St. Nicholas, to win the weekend. It was No. 2 with $20 million, followed by the Paramount-DreamWorks animated comedy "Flushed Away" in third place with $19.1 million.
With great Internet buzz and a built-in following from "Da Ali G Show," "Borat" succeeded where another cyber-sensation, "Snakes on a Plane," failed. "Snakes" opened last summer to modest crowds despite months of Internet hoopla.
The raucous, raunchy "Borat" follows the adventures of British comedian Cohen's TV journalist from Kazakhstan in a blend of fiction and improvised comic encounters as he travels the United States, meets and mocks Americans and reports back to his home country.
"It is what you go to the theater for," said Hutch Parker, the studio's head of production. "You get that infectious, outrageous, interactive experience. There are people yelling at the screen, there are cheers."
"Borat" played in only 837 theaters, fewer than one-fourth the count for "The Santa Clause 3" and "Flushed Away." Averaging a whopping $31,511 a theater, "Borat" easily outdistanced "The Santa Clause 3," which averaged $5,784 in 3,458 cinemas and "Flushed Away," which averaged $5,152 in 3,707 theaters.
Fox plans to expand "Borat" to as many as 2,500 theaters this Friday.
"The Santa Clause 3" pits Allen's St. Nick against Jack Frost ( Martin Short) as they battle for control of Christmas. "Flushed Away" features the voices of Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet in the story of a pampered pet mouse forced to make his way among sewer rats.
The two movies split the family audience, but their opening weekends were solid starts for the holiday season. Disney and Paramount expect their movies to hang tough through year's end, even with the Warner Bros. animated penguin tale "Happy Feet" coming just before Thanksgiving.
"The Thanksgiving holiday is going to be just rocking," said Disney head of distribution Chuck Viane.
The previous weekend's top movie, Lionsgate's horror sequel "Saw III," held up solidly at No. 4 with $15.5 million, raising its 10-day total to $60.1 million.
However, the strong crop of new movies and holdovers did not quite stack up to the same weekend a year ago, when "Chicken Little" opened at No. 1 with $40 million and "Jarhead" debuted at No. 2 with $27.7 million. This weekend's top 12 movies took in $116.2 million, down 3 percent from the same period last year.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," $26.4 million.
2. "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause," $20 million.
3. "Flushed Away," $19.1 million.
4. "Saw III," $15.5 million.
5. "The Departed," $8 million.
6. "The Prestige," $7.8 million.
7. "Flags of Our Fathers," $4.5 million.
8. "Man of the Year," $3.8 million.
9. "Open Season," $3.1 million.
10. "The Queen," $3 million.