A sad day in the animated movie world

[thewayne]

Pixar has agreed to be bought out by Disney. It will be interesting to see over the next decade if Pixar scripts are able to maintain their traditional quality.

So last month it was SKG Dreamworks being bought by Paramount, IIRC. So how many studios does that leave?

The article.
The Slashdot thread.

Comments

[cardigirl.livejournal.com]

So how many studios does that leave?

Too few.

Too bad about Pixar; I truly can't imagine Disney will give them the slack they would need to retain their innovative ways.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's my opinion. See my reply to Donkey_Hokey below your post for more of my ramblings. :-)

[donkey-hokey.livejournal.com]

I was wondering why this would happen, after the very public fallout between Disney and Pixar. Then I noticed that after the deal Steve Jobs would become the largest Disney shareholder, and I understood why.

Personally, I don't think it matters who the majority stockholder will be. I think Pixar will begin to suck.

...grr...

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's my opinion. It would be best if Disney took a total hands-off approach on Pixar and let them do what they do best, but I believe that the Disney board is going to micro-manage Pixar so that it has the "Disney" stamp on it, and that will be the tragedy.

I think they'll let Pixar continue as they are for a couple of years, then the Disnification will begin.

Disney's been creatively bankrupt for years (IMHO), and I fear that contagion will spread to Pixar. Even though Jobs may be the majority owner of Disney, unless he's the CEO and can ensure Pixar's independance, it ain't gonna be pretty.

[greyweirdo.livejournal.com]

So how many studios does that leave?
Big studios? Warner, Sony, Paramount and Disney. There are smaller studios like the Winestien's new group but who knows what will come of that.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I thought Sony owned Paramount. Oh, never mind: wasn't it MGM/UA that Sony bought?

[greyweirdo.livejournal.com]

MGM was bought, liqiudated, and now only exists as a memory of old film lovers. Sony only got the MGM films from like 1990 or something like that anyway, everything before 1985 (with a few exceptions) Has been owned by Warner sincen they bought out Turner.

Maybe Sony does own Paramount, I don't know. It's all very confusing and very sad.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's basic major suckage. It (theoretically) is good business sense, but you're reducing diversity. Thus, we end up with all sorts of crappy movies!

[greyweirdo.livejournal.com]

OH wait! Fox is still their own studio aren't they?

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I thought Fox was part of Time/Warner. I dunno.

GET'CHER PROGRAMS! CAN'T TELL YER PLAYERS WITHOUT YER PROGRAMS!

[apostate-96.livejournal.com]

I feel very, very afraid. Given the way Disney was milking Pixar, I'm not sure they didn't make a big mistake by selling out. I hope that they keep their quality high, but I remain skeptical at the moment....