Tue, November 16, 2004
Disney, Pixar, and Toy Story 3—1:46 PM
Arksie was kind enough (and alert enough!) to pass on the following link:
Disney Booting Up 'Toy Story 3' [HR]
Ah, yes. The threat of creating Toy Story 3 without Pixar's involvement has been around for a while. I touched on some possible scenarios in this column a while back. My full length review of the current state of 3D animation (complete with lots of raving about The Incredibles) is forthcoming – I've had so little time to work on it, I've decided to take a week and a half off work to try to get it done.
In a nutshell, we still have plenty of outs. All the story says is Disney is ramping up its 3D division, with plans to produce Toy Story 3. Well, they've been effectively "ramping up" 3D ever since they laid off 70% of their 2D work force in the wake of the devastating returns for Home on the Range, and with Chicken Little coming out, it makes sense they'll expect to make more 3D movies. Thus, ramping up. They've had "plans" to make Toy Story 3 forever. That doesn't necessarily mean there will be a Pixar-free Toy Story 3.
This may be just more bluffing to make Pixar nervous, or steal some of the news cycle on the boffo success of The Incredibles. Note that Disney wouldn't comment on the story.
It's entirely likely that Tom Hanks won't sign on to a Toy Story movie without John Lasseter, who runs Pixar and directed the first two films. (I'd have said "Tom Hanks and Tim Allen won't sign on..." but given the state of upcoming releases, it's clear that there's not very much Tim Allen says no to.) Maybe Hanks's contract from the first two films locks him in, I don't know. But he'd be crazy to come back without Pixar, and Disney would be nuts to try to make a Toy Story movie without him.
Disney and Pixar may still patch things up. Pixar has proved (once again) (as if it needed proving) (I mean, seriously) that their films are incredibly popular with audiences. (No pun intended.) Even with their own 3D division, Disney stands to make more money from a distribution deal with Pixar than it stands to make competing against them. Keep in mind, the deal Pixar wants – similar to the one George Lucas has with Fox – grants Disney a percentage of profits; that percentage is high when Pixar movies make lots of money. (Note: Pixar movies make lots of money.) Michael Eisner is on his way out, and Disney's board is increasingly wary of tying their future to his psychotic whims. Eisner is the main obstacle in the Pixar negotiations, having personal problems with Pixar CEO Steve Jobs. If Eisner is hauled out of the negotiating room and a deal is hammered out with Pixar, Toy Story 3 would go away.
If Disney does move forward with production on Toy Story 3, they might release it straight to video. It's in keeping with their current raid-the-vault, clean-up-on-the-home-video-market strategy (and it was the original plan for Toy Story 2). Even if they start Toy Story 3 with a theatrical release in mind, they might choose to go with a shorter, cheaper, home-video release (making Chicken Little cost a third less than Toy Story 2). Nobody holds The Return of Jafar to the high standards of Aladdin – when Disney sees that it's impossible to manufacture the heart and soul of Pixar, they may dump Toy Story 3 on video where the expectations are lower. While still hurtful to the Pixar brand (which is tied inexorably to the Toy Story brand in the minds of most viewers), this would be less destructive than a high profile theatrical release (and, quite likely, a high profile theatrical flop).
So, for now, I'm not panicking that much. Although I certainly acknowledge that the idea of Toy Story 3 makes me shudder. It's further proof that Disney has lost its way: back when Disney was an imagination factory first and a global conglomerate second, they'd never sacrifice the creative sanctity of a long-standing relationship between its characters and an audience just for sour grapes.
