This week, the LA Times reported: “On Friday, Pixar debuts the highly-anticipated third chapter of its popular "Toy Story" saga, to be followed in the next two years by new installments of "Cars" and "Monsters, Inc." Pixar won't have another original movie until 2012.” The articles goes on to paint Pixar as selling into Disney’s pressure to produce “franchise” movies that will gross as much, if not more, in consumer products. This may sell newspapers, but let’s examine the facts:
Toy Story 2 was the result of a Disney directive to Pixar. Originally, Disney had positioned the film as a low cost, low quality, direct-to-video release. Pixar convinced Disney to make Toy Story 2 as a theatrical release and it did what many critics said was the impossible…improve on a near perfect original.
This article leads readers to believe that Disney CEO Bob Iger forces Pixar to “franchise” movies. In April of 2009 Doug Creutz, vice-president of Cowen and Company Investment Bankers said, “The worries keep coming, despite Pixar’s track record, because each film it delivers seems to be less commercial.” Iger’s response, “We seek to make great films first. If the film gives birth to a franchise, we are the first to leverage such success. A check the boxes approach to creativity is likely to result in blandness and failure.”
So why not give Pixar a break? Their first sequel in 11 years…let’s wait and see if it has the same magic as Toy Story and Toy Story 2. My money is on Iger, Catmull and John Lasseter.
They all get it…make a great product and the bottom line will follow.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Innovate the Pixar Way Book Review
"I have recently finished your book, Innovate the Pixar Way, and I will have to say, it was excellent. It was an approach to business success, unlike anything I have ever read before. Yet, it was so much more than that. It's not just about short-term fixes, but long-term, truly sustainable goals I think everyone can and should learn.
To be honest, I do not really read many business books. I have worked in small business for much of my adult life, mostly restaurants, so I have had plenty of exposure to how a business is run. I picked up your book at first because of my interest in Pixar. I have been a fan of the studio since I first saw Toy Story in theaters as an 11 year-old girl, and have followed it closely ever since. I can say now that I have learned more about Pixar, not only why I am so attracted to the studio in the first place, but also what makes them succeed.
I agree fully with the principals or re-awakening that inner child. Not the immature parts, but that sense of wonder, exploration, and discovery that we are all too often told to put aside once we grow up. I also enjoyed the long-term planning and risk taking, as opposed to the short-term gain and thinking I have seen all too often. If more companies had followed these principals in the first place, I dare say that we would not be in the mess we are in now. And that goes for everybody. As you put it so well, "Childhood is not an age, but rather a state of mind."
As I write this, I cannot help but to think back to when Toy Story first came out. Plenty of people told me that it was a neat thing, but that it would never last. Traditional animation was still king, and most people just assumed it would always be that way. Once again, short-term thinking. People kept telling me things, like, "Oh, this isn't going to last...it's too expensive...the technology's just not there right now." I did not believe a word of it. I already knew that technology would only get faster and cheaper. I knew that something had happened, something big, and it was not going to go away.
I understood only two things. That this was just the beginning, we were going to see more CGI films, some good and some bad, and that I wanted to be part of it. Toy Story is one of three key influences in my life that encouraged me to become a storyteller.
I have already recommended the book to my boss, the owner and manager of the Puyallup Alfy's, an Everett-based company (I wrote the history of the Puyallup location on the company's web site). I would strongly recommend your book to every manager, supervisor and employee in any business, all over the world. If there is one thing, that I have read recently, that will help us get out of this recession for good, it is your work. At a time when most private companies are cutting back, Pixar is expanding. I think we can all take a lesson from that.
Thanks for the continued inspiration and keep up the good work."
Tiffany from Seattle
To be honest, I do not really read many business books. I have worked in small business for much of my adult life, mostly restaurants, so I have had plenty of exposure to how a business is run. I picked up your book at first because of my interest in Pixar. I have been a fan of the studio since I first saw Toy Story in theaters as an 11 year-old girl, and have followed it closely ever since. I can say now that I have learned more about Pixar, not only why I am so attracted to the studio in the first place, but also what makes them succeed.
I agree fully with the principals or re-awakening that inner child. Not the immature parts, but that sense of wonder, exploration, and discovery that we are all too often told to put aside once we grow up. I also enjoyed the long-term planning and risk taking, as opposed to the short-term gain and thinking I have seen all too often. If more companies had followed these principals in the first place, I dare say that we would not be in the mess we are in now. And that goes for everybody. As you put it so well, "Childhood is not an age, but rather a state of mind."
As I write this, I cannot help but to think back to when Toy Story first came out. Plenty of people told me that it was a neat thing, but that it would never last. Traditional animation was still king, and most people just assumed it would always be that way. Once again, short-term thinking. People kept telling me things, like, "Oh, this isn't going to last...it's too expensive...the technology's just not there right now." I did not believe a word of it. I already knew that technology would only get faster and cheaper. I knew that something had happened, something big, and it was not going to go away.
I understood only two things. That this was just the beginning, we were going to see more CGI films, some good and some bad, and that I wanted to be part of it. Toy Story is one of three key influences in my life that encouraged me to become a storyteller.
I have already recommended the book to my boss, the owner and manager of the Puyallup Alfy's, an Everett-based company (I wrote the history of the Puyallup location on the company's web site). I would strongly recommend your book to every manager, supervisor and employee in any business, all over the world. If there is one thing, that I have read recently, that will help us get out of this recession for good, it is your work. At a time when most private companies are cutting back, Pixar is expanding. I think we can all take a lesson from that.
Thanks for the continued inspiration and keep up the good work."
Tiffany from Seattle
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