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Pixar Animation Studios (/ ˈ p ɪ k s ɑːr /) is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Since 2006, Pixar has been a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, a segment of the Walt Disney Company.
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- 1995. Toy Story, the world’s first computer animated feature film, is released in theaters on November 22. It opens at #1 that weekend and will go on to become the highest grossing film of the year, making $192 million domestically and $362 million worldwide.
- 2001. Monsters, Inc. is released in theaters on November 2, accompanied by the short film “For the Birds.”
- 2002. “A Bug's Land”, a themed land based on A Bug’s Life, opens at Disney California Adventure Park.
- 2003. Finding Nemo is released in theaters on May 30, accompanied by a re-mastered version of “Knick Knack.”
- Overview
- History of Pixar
- Executive leadership
- Exhibitions
- Short films ("Shorts")
- Feature film traditions
Pixar Animation Studios is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California and a part of the The Walt Disney Studios. The studio has earned 27 Academy Awards, eight Golden Globes, and three Grammys, along with many other awards and acknowledgements.
It is best known for its CGI-animated feature films created with PhotoRealistic RenderMan, its own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan image-rendering application programming interface used to generate high-quality images. Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm before it was acquired by Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs in 1986. The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion; the transaction made Jobs the largest shareholder in Disney. It is currently one of the main four Disney branches, the other three being the Disney Animated Canon, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Star Wars.
Pixar has produced twenty-six feature films, beginning with Toy Story in 1995, which is best known for being the first full-length feature film made in CGI animation format ever.
Eighteen of the films has received both critical and financial success, with the notable exceptions being Cars 2, The Good Dinosaur, Onward, and Lightyear. The former, which, although was a financial success, received substantially less praise than Pixar's previous films, while the latter, although met with favorable reviews, was a considered a box office flop (mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020). As of December 2013, its feature films have made over $8.5 billion worldwide, with an average worldwide gross of $607 million per film. In addition, a good majority of the films produced by Pixar are among or have been the top 50 highest-grossing animated films of all time, with Finding Nemo (#47), Finding Dory (#32), Toy Story 3 (#26), and Incredibles 2 (#15) all currently in the top 50 highest-grossing films of all time.
Since the award's inauguration in 2001, most of Pixar's films have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, with ten winning; Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3, Brave, Inside Out, Coco, Toy Story 4, and Soul. Up and Toy Story 3 are two of only three animated films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
On September 6, 2009, executives John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich were presented with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement by the Biennale Venice Film Festival. The award was granted by Lucasfilm founder George Lucas.
Early history
Pixar was founded as The Graphics Group, one third of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm which was launched in 1979 with the hiring of Dr. Ed Catmull from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), where he was in charge of the Computer Graphics Lab (CGL). At NYIT, the researchers pioneered many of the CG foundation techniques—in particular the invention of the "alpha channel" (by Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith); years later, the CGL produced an experimental film called The Works. After moving to Lucasfilm, the team worked on creating the precursor to RenderMan, called REYES (for "renders everything you ever saw") and developed a number of critical technologies for CG—including "particle effects" and various animation tools. The team began working on film sequences with Industrial Light & Magic on special effects in 1982. After years of research, and key milestones in films such as the Genesis Effect in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and the Stained Glass Knight in Young Sherlock Holmes, the group, which numbered about 45 individuals at the time, was purchased in February 1986 by Steve Jobs shortly after he left Apple Computer. Jobs paid $5 million to George Lucas and put $5 million as capital into the company. A factor contributing to Lucas' sale was an increase in cash flow problems following his 1983 divorce, which coincided with the sudden drop-off in revenues from Star Wars licenses following the release of Return of the Jedi. Pixar spun off from Lucasfilm as a result. The newly independent company was headed by Jobs, who served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pixar. Dr. Edwin Catmull served as Chief Technology Officer and Dr. Alvy Ray Smith as Executive Vice President and Director. In 2001, Edwin Catmull was named President of Pixar. Initially, Pixar was a high-end computer hardware company whose core product was the Pixar Image Computer, a system primarily sold to government agencies and the medical community. One of the buyers of Pixar Image Computers was Disney Studios, which was using the device as part of their secretive CAPS project, using the machine and custom software to migrate the laborious ink and paint part of the 2-D animation process to a more automated and thus efficient method. The Image Computer never sold well. In a bid to drive sales of the system, Pixar employee John Lasseter—who had long been creating short demonstration animations, such as Luxo Jr., to show off the device's capabilities—premiered his creations at SIGGRAPH, the computer graphics industry's largest convention, to great fanfare. As poor sales of Pixar's computers threatened to put the company out of business, Lasseter's animation department began producing computer-animated commercials for outside companies. Early successes included campaigns for Tropicana, Listerine, Life Savers, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. In April 1990, Jobs sold Pixar's hardware division, including all proprietary hardware technology and imaging software, to Vicom Systems, and transferred 18 of Pixar's approximate 100 employees. The same year, Pixar moved from San Rafael to Richmond, California. During this period, Pixar continued its relationship with Walt Disney Feature Animation, a studio whose corporate parent would ultimately become its most important partner. In 1991, after a tough start of the year when about 30 employees in the company's computer department had to go (including the company's president, Chuck Kolstad), which reduced the total number of employees to just 42, Pixar made a $26 million deal with Disney to produce three 3D computer-animated feature films, the first of which was Toy Story. At that point, the software programmers, who were doing RenderMan and CAPS, and Lasseter's animation department, who made television commercials and a few shorts for Sesame Street, was all that was left of Pixar. Despite the total income of these products, the company was still losing money, and Jobs often considered selling it. Even as late as 1994, Jobs contemplated selling Pixar to other companies, among them Microsoft. Only after confirming that Disney would distribute Toy Story for the 1995 holiday season did he decide to give it another chance. The film went on to gross more than $350 million worldwide. Later that year, Pixar held its initial public offering on November 29, 1995, and the company's stock was priced at US$22 per share.
Disney
Pixar and Disney had disagreements after the production of Toy Story 2. Originally intended as a straight-to-video release (and thus could've been part of Pixar's three-picture deal), the film was eventually upgraded to a theatrical release during production. Pixar demanded that the film then is counted toward the three-picture agreement, but Disney refused. Pixar's first five feature films have collectively grossed more than $2.5 billion, equivalent to the highest per-film average gross in the industry. Though profitable for both, Pixar later complained that the arrangement was not equitable. Pixar was responsible for creation and production, while Disney handled marketing and distribution. Profits and production costs were split 50-50, but Disney exclusively owned all story and sequel rights and also collected a distribution fee. The lack of story and sequel rights was perhaps the most onerous aspect to Pixar and set the stage for a contentious relationship. The two companies attempted to reach a new agreement in early 2004. The new deal would be only for distribution, as Pixar intended to control production and own the resulting film properties themselves. The company also wanted to finance their films on their own and collect 100 percent of the profits, paying Disney only the 10 to 15 percent distribution fee. More importantly, as part of any distribution agreement with Disney, Pixar demanded control over films already in production under their old agreement, including The Incredibles and Cars. Disney considered these conditions unacceptable, but Pixar would not concede. Disagreements between Steve Jobs and then Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner made the negotiations more difficult than they otherwise might have been. They broke down completely in mid-2004, with Jobs declaring that Pixar was actively seeking partners other than Disney. Pixar did not enter negotiations with other distributors. After a lengthy hiatus, negotiations between the two companies resumed following the departure of Eisner from Disney in September 2005. In preparation for potential fallout between Pixar and Disney, Jobs announced in late 2004 that Pixar would no longer release movies at the Disney-dictated November time frame, but during the more lucrative early summer months. This would also allow Pixar to release DVDs for their major releases during the Christmas shopping season. An added benefit of delaying Cars was to extend the time frame remaining on the Pixar-Disney contract to see how things would play out between the two companies. Pending the Disney acquisition of Pixar, the two companies created a distribution deal for the intended 2007 release of Ratatouille, in case the acquisition fell through, to ensure that this one film would still be released through Disney's distribution channels. (In contrast to the earlier Disney/Pixar deal, Ratatouille was to remain a Pixar property and Disney would have received only a distribution fee.) The completion of Disney's Pixar acquisition, however, nullified this distribution arrangement. Unlike the earlier Pixar/Disney deal used for the earlier films, this one has the following caveats: •Pixar is responsible for 100% of the production costs. •Pixar owns the film and the rights to the characters. •Disney is paid only a straight distribution fee.
Acquisition by Disney
Disney announced on January 24, 2006 that it had agreed to buy Pixar for approximately $7.4 billion in an all-stock deal. Following Pixar shareholder approval, the acquisition was completed May 5, 2006. The transaction catapulted Steve Jobs, who was the majority shareholder of Pixar with 50.1%, to Disney's largest individual shareholder with 7% and a new seat on its board of directors. Jobs' new Disney holdings exceeded holdings belonging to former CEO Michael Eisner, the previous top shareholder, who still held 1.7%; and Disney Director Emeritus Roy E. Disney, who held almost 1% of the corporation's shares. Pixar's shareholders received 2.3 shares of Disney common stock for each share of Pixar common stock redeemed. As part of the deal, John Lasseter, by then Executive Vice President, became Chief Creative Officer (reporting to President and CEO Robert Iger and consulting with Disney Director Roy Disney) of both Pixar and the Walt Disney Animation Studios, as well as the Principal Creative Adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, which designs and builds the company's theme parks. Catmull retained his position as President of Pixar, while also becoming President of Walt Disney Animation Studios, reporting to Bob Iger and Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studio Entertainment. Steve Jobs' position as Pixar's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer was also removed, and instead, he took a place on the Disney board of directors. Lasseter and Catmull's oversight of both the Disney and Pixar studios did not mean that the two studios were emerging, however. In fact, additional conditions were laid out as part of the deal to ensure that Pixar remained a separate entity, a concern that analysts had expressed about the Disney deal. Some of those conditions were that Pixar HR policies would remain intact, including the lack of employment contracts. Also, the Pixar name was guaranteed to continue, and the studio would remain in its current Emeryville, California location with the "Pixar" sign. Finally, branding of films made post-merger would be "Disney•Pixar" (beginning with Cars). Jim Morris, producer of WALL-E, has been named general manager of Pixar. In this new position, Morris is in charge of the day-to-day running of the studio facilities and products. There were additional conditions laid out as part of the deal to ensure that Pixar remains a separate entity, a concern that many analysts had about the Disney deal : •If Pixar should pull out of the deal, they must pay Disney a penalty of US $210 million. •The Disney board would include Steve Jobs. •John Lasseter has the authority to approve films for both Disney and Pixar studios, with Disney CEO Robert Iger carrying final approving authority. •The deal requires that Pixar's primary directors and creative executives must also join the combined company. This includes Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Brad Bird, Bob Peterson, Brenda Chapman, Lee Unkrich, and Gary Rydstrom. •There would be a steering committee that will oversee animation for both Disney and Pixar studios, with a mission to maintain and spread the Pixar culture. This committee will consist of Catmull, Lasseter, Jobs, Iger, Cook, and Tom Staggs. They would meet at Pixar headquarters at least once every two months. •Pixar's HR policies would remain intact, including the lack of employment contracts. •Ensures the Pixar name would continue, and that the studio would remain in its current Emeryville, California location with the "Pixar" sign. •Branding of films made post-merger would "Disney Pixar".
Up until his death in late 2011, Jobs continued in his role as chairman and was also the company's CEO. Catmull remains president. Lasseter —a two-time Academy Award-winning director and animator— oversaw all the company's projects as Executive Vice President of the Creative Department until 2018, when he left Pixar and Pete Docter became the new E...
Pixar: 20 Years of Animation
Pixar held one such exhibition, from April to June 2010, at Science Centre Singapore, in Jurong East, Singapore. It was their first time holding an exhibition in Singapore. The exhibition highlights consist of work-in-progress sketches from various Pixar productions, clay sculptures of their characters, and an auto-stereoscopic short showcasing a 3D version of the exhibition pieces which is projected through 4 projectors. Another highlight is the Zoetrope, where visitors of the exhibition are shown figurines of Toy Story characters "animated" in real-life through the zoetrope. The logo is the same as the 1995 version, except as the screen darkens to reveal only Luxo's light, "20 Years of Animation" appears on-screen, with Luxo's light as the "0".
Pixar: 25 Years of Animation
Pixar celebrated 25 years of animation in 2011 with the release of its twelfth feature film Cars 2. Pixar had celebrated its 20th anniversary with the first Cars. The Pixar: 25 Years of Animation exhibition was held at the Oakland Museum of California from July 2010 until January 2011. The exhibition tour debuts in Hong Kong and was held at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin, between March 27 and July 11, 2011. includes all the artwork from Pixar: 20 Years of Animation, plus art from Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, and Toy Story 3.
The Science Behind Pixar
The Science Behind Pixar is a traveling exhibition, developed by the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts in collaboration with Pixar, that teaches about the production pipeline at Pixar in the form of the filmmaking process. The exhibition's tour started at the Museum of Science in mid-2015 and is expected to last ten years with limited tour availability beginning in 2021.
•The Adventures of André and Wally B. (1984, Lucasfilm, prior to the creation of Pixar)
•Luxo, Jr. (1986, became the source of today's Pixar logo and is an Academy Award nominee and released with Toy Story 2 in 1999 complete with an introduction about the titular lamp becoming a mascot)
•Red's Dream (1987)
•Tin Toy (1988, Academy Award winner 1988 released on various home video releases of Toy Story since 2000)
•Knick Knack (1989 and released with Finding Nemo in 2003, albeit remastered, and is the final pre-1995 short to be released with a feature film)
•Geri's Game (1997, Academy Award winner 1997 and released with A Bug's Life in 1998)
The Pixar Format
All Pixar features have a common theme. The setting of the film is always a world in which people/creatures/objects that are not commonly thought to have normal everyday lives live in societies resembling modern American society. For example: •Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, Toy Story 4, and Toy Story 5 — Toys come to life and have adventures when their owners are away. •A Bug's Life — Insects live in harmony and have their own hierarchy and tiny little cities. •Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University — Horrifying monsters live everyday lives in their own community. Scaring kids is just their day job. •Finding Nemo and Finding Dory — The ocean, like Earth's land mass, has its own cities, schools, and communities ruled by fish. •The Incredibles and Incredibles 2 — Superheroes live among us and take ordinary jobs and have ordinary problems, such as a greedy boss or a troublemaking son. •Cars, Cars 2, and Cars 3 — Vehicles live by themselves without humans. •Ratatouille — A rat visits Paris and wants to cook. •WALL-E — A little robot finds adventure in space. •Up — An old man's house gets lifted by balloons and he finds adventure. •Brave — In a kingdom, a rebellious princess wants to live as freely as she desires. •Inside Out and Inside Out 2 — Taking place inside a girl's mind, five emotions have conflict helping her adjust to a new life in a new place. •The Good Dinosaur — A young dinosaur tries to find his way home with the help of a strange caveboy. •Coco — A living boy ends up in the Land of the Dead, a place where people live as skeletons after they die. •Onward — Takes place in a world consisting of fantasy creatures that depended on modern appliances and abandons magic. •Soul — A jazz performer's soul wants to try and get back into his original body after an accident. •Luca — A young sea monster explores the surface above the ocean and shape shifts into a human. •Turning Red — A confident thirteen-year-old "poofs" into a giant red panda whenever she gets too excited or stressed due to her ancestor's mystical connection with red pandas. •Lightyear — Buzz Lightyear, a young astronaut, tries to find a way back home through space and time, while also confronting a threat to the universe's safety after being marooned on a hostile planet. •Elemental — Personifications of fire, water, earth, and air live together in a world separated of the Earth. •Elio — An 11-year-old boy finds himself transported across the galaxy and is mistaken for the intergalactic ambassador of our planet Earth.
John Ratzenberger
John Ratzenberger, most widely known as the postman Cliff Clavin from the television sitcom Cheers, is always a character voice, referred to by the studio as their "good luck charm". The following is a list of his roles: •Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, and Toy Story 4 — Hamm (a piggy bank) •A Bug's Life — P.T. Flea (the manager of a traveling insect circus/a fly in his soup at the Bug Bar; his favorite role) •Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University — The Abominable Snowman (a yeti) •Finding Nemo — the ringleader of a school of moonfish •The Incredibles and Incredibles 2 — The Underminer (a supervillain) •Cars, Cars 2, and Cars 3 — Mack (a Mack truck). This includes in-jokes parodying his use as a voice and characters in parodies of Toy Story ("Toy Car Story"), Monsters, Inc. ("Monster Trucks, Inc."), and A Bug's Life (using Volkswagen Beetles) and how the voice is the same. •Ratatouille — Mustafa (the head waiter) •WALL•E — John (one of the human passengers aboard the Axiom •Up — Tom the construction foreman •Brave — Gordon the Guard •Inside Out and Inside Out 2 — Fritz (one of the mind workers who built the new expanded console at the Emotions' Headquarters in Riley's mind) •The Good Dinosaur — Earl •Finding Dory — Bill (a crab) •Coco — Juan Ortodoncia (a skeleton) •Onward — Fennwick (a construction worker)
Joe Ranft
Like John Ratzenberger, Pixar animator Joe Ranft had made the voice of characters in all the Pixar films until "Cars", which was completed after his untimely passing and noted in the credits of the film. The following is a list of his roles in the first seven Pixar movies: •Toy Story — Lenny the Binoculars •A Bug's Life — Heimlich the Caterpillar/additional voices including the fly who demanded a refund •Toy Story 2 — Wheezy the Penguin/Heimlich the Caterpillar during the outtakes. •Monsters, Inc. - Pete "Claws" Ward/additional voices •Finding Nemo — Jacques the Shrimp •The Incredibles — additional voices •Cars — Red the fire truck and Peterbilt (released posthumously)
6 days ago · Pixar, motion-picture studio, from 2006 a wholly owned subsidiary of the Disney Company, that was instrumental in the development and production of computer-animated films in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Pixar’s feature-length releases, which consistently achieved worldwide commercial.
Pixar Animation Studios (Pixar) is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. Pixar is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.
Pixar Animation Studios (/ ˈ p ɪ k s ɑːr /) or simply Pixar, is an American animation studio. It is known for its advanced CGI productions. It has been a partner of Disney for many years.
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