Pixar to Disney: Buh-bye!

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Friday, January 30, 2004

After producing a string of commercial blockbuster cartoons, it appears that the partership between Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures is coming to an end. Yesterday Pixar CEO Steve Jobs said that, after ten months of failed negotiations with Disney, Pixar would begin seeking a new distribution partner for its future film creations.

"We've had a great run together - one of the most successful in Hollywood history - and it's a shame that Disney won't be participating in Pixar's future successes," said Jobs in a company release statement.

What exactly Pixar was seeking in a new contract with Disney isn't clear, but according to some sources Pixar wanted not just a sweeter deal for future profit participation on new films but also the copyright to the movies already created for Disney, such as the two TOY STORY films, MONSTERS INC. and FINDING NEMO. Disney's agreement with Pixar ends with the delivery of CARS in 2005. THE INCREDIBLES, the second-to-last Pixar-created movie for Disney, comes out this November.

The announcement means that one of the most profitable and treasured producers of movies in Hollywood is now looking for a new home to hang their hat. It's believed that Pixar will have no shortage of suitors trying to woo them in the following months.

If this latest bit of news isn't a covert way of Pixar playing hardball in the public spotlight and it is the end of the collaboration, Disney will still be left with a valuable legacy. The company retains all rights to make sequels or spinoffs from any of the films created by Pixar during their tenure with Disney -- meaning, TOY STORY 3 could conceivably happen one day even though it won't be Pixar's computers that will be rendering the new adventures of Buzz and Woody.



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