Apple acquiring Pixar?

nah, Pixar is its own brand, leaving Disney means it finally has the ability to do big films without that Disney branding, considering Disney has that very loyal following. I think the 2 should remain apart, i see no benefits from Apple being part of Pixar.
 
Hmm. So, I wonder what studio will end up distributing "The Incredibles".

The trailer is listed under "Disney" on Apple's QT trailers page, but the article says the Disney/Pixar deal was for 5 films - and I count 5 already:

Toy Story
Toy Story II
A Bug's Life
Monsters Inc.
Finding Nemo

IF you haven't yet watched the trailer for "The Incredibles" - watch it asap. Absolutely hilarious.

(Lest anyone be confused, the following films are neither Pixar nor Disney:
Shrek
Antz
Ice Age)
 
brianleahy said:
(Lest anyone be confused, the following films are neither Pixar nor Disney:
Shrek
Antz
Ice Age)
Click to expand...

Indeed, they were made by DreamWorks IIRC. The whole article is just speculation and even it seemed to conclude that an Apple/Pixar merger wouldn't be very beneficial. There just didn't seem to be any real facts in there, drawing in the title of a post from a Yahoo forum for example. And it is CNN, who's coverage I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw it.
 
Studios 'falling all over themselves' for Pixar
January 30, 2004 - 12:45 EST** Following the news that the Pixar-Disney distribution talks had ended, several of the large film studios wasted no time to express interest in an alliance with Pixar and its "picture-perfect" record of smash hits. Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer all said Thursday that they would pursue a partnership with Pixar. "Every other studio will be falling all over themselves to cut a deal with Pixar," said John Tinker, research analyst with Blaylock & Partners.

http://www.macminute.com/2004/01/30/pixar
 
brianleahy said:
Hmm. So, I wonder what studio will end up distributing "The Incredibles".

The trailer is listed under "Disney" on Apple's QT trailers page, but the article says the Disney/Pixar deal was for 5 films - and I count 5 already:

Toy Story
Toy Story II
A Bug's Life
Monsters Inc.
Finding Nemo

IF you haven't yet watched the trailer for "The Incredibles" - watch it asap. Absolutely hilarious.

(Lest anyone be confused, the following films are neither Pixar nor Disney:
Shrek
Antz
Ice Age)
Click to expand...

"The Incredibles" will be the fifth film. Even though Toy Story 2 was a Disney/Pixar film it did not count. It was not in theaters, it went strait to DVD. I may be wrong on that.
 
It was not in theaters, it went strait to DVD. I may be wrong on that.
Click to expand...

Afraid you are; I saw it for the first time in a theater. (In fact, it preceded my owning a DVD player - and may even have preceded the first DVDs by a year or two. I actually owned TS on laserdisc before the DVD release came out a while later...)

However, I can believe perhaps that one was not part of the 5-picture contract mentioned.
 
brianleahy said:
Afraid you are; I saw it for the first time in a theater. (In fact, it preceded my owning a DVD player - and may even have preceded the first DVDs by a year or two. I actually owned TS on laserdisc before the DVD release came out a while later...)

However, I can believe perhaps that one was not part of the 5-picture contract mentioned.
Click to expand...

Toy Story 2 was released in 1999 long after DVD players.
 
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=1&u=/nm/20040131/media_nm/industry_disney_dc

Reuters said:
[size=-1] Pixar still has two movies to deliver under its current deal, including "The Incredibles," due in theaters in November, and "Cars," which will be released next year.
Click to expand...

------

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040130/ap_en_mo/pixar_disney_29

AP said:
[/size]
Click to expand...
AP said:
[size=-1]A person familiar with the talks said negotiations broke down because Pixar wanted to reclaim the copyrights to the five films it has produced with Disney so far, plus the two left in the deal. Such an accommodation would have presumably revoked Disney's right to make sequels and potentially denied the company millions of dollars in future profits. [/size]

[size=-1] Pixar also wanted to pay Disney a flat distribution fee on all future films, including "The Incredibles" and "Cars." Disney was willing to adjust its compensation on the two remaining films, but would not agree to return the copyrights, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Click to expand...
[/size]
 
Pixar and iTMS for video that directly sell over the Internet ?
Both outside of Apple of course.
 
The real question for me is: How much money (or what else) did Steve Jobs really _want_ from Disney that a deal could not be found? ;-)
 
brianleahy said:
Hmm. So, I wonder what studio will end up distributing "The Incredibles".

The trailer is listed under "Disney" on Apple's QT trailers page, but the article says the Disney/Pixar deal was for 5 films - and I count 5 already:

Toy Story
Toy Story II
A Bug's Life
Monsters Inc.
Finding Nemo
Click to expand...

Both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 do not cound toward the five. Just got this info from pixar.com:

"In May 1991, Pixar entered into the Feature Film Agreement with Walt Disney Pictures for the development and production of up to three computer animated feature films to be marketed and distributed by Disney. It was pursuant to the Feature Film Agreement that Toy Story was developed, produced, and distributed. In February 1997, Pixar entered into the Co-Production Agreement (which superseded the Feature Film Agreement) with Disney pursuant to which we, on an exclusive basis, agreed to produce five original computer-animated feature-length theatrical motion pictures for distribution by Disney. Pixar and Disney agreed to co-finance the production costs of the Picture, co-own the Picture, co-brand the Pictures, and share equally in the profits of each Picture and any related merchandise as well as other ancillary products, after recovery of all marketing and distribution costs, a distribution fee paid to Disney, and other fees and costs, such as participations to talent and the like. The first two original Pictures under the Co-Production Agreement were A Bug’s Life and Monsters, Inc., which were released in November 1998 and November 2001, respectively. Toy Story 2, the theatrical sequel to Toy Story, was released in November 1999, and is also governed by the Co-Production Agreement although it does not count towards the five original Pictures. We are currently in various stages of production on the remaining three Pictures under the Co-Production Agreement."
 
These kind of deals pop up all of the time, and although it sounds interesting, even the most cursory examination shows it would be a failure.

For Apple to purchase Pixar, Apple -- and by extension, its shareholders -- would want something more from them that a feature movie every two years or so.

In this scenario, you have to wonder just how Pixar would choose to differentiate themselves as a named division within Apple.

Filemaker did it for long enough because there was enough of an idea, philosophy and product to make that work. Pixar, with Jobs at the helm ideas, philosophies and products in spades, but just not the ones that Apple need to make that all-important dovetail fit with their portfolio.

So even if Pixar did see an avenue to clearly differentiate themselves, at what cost would this come about? In the short term, they're going to loose money. They can either make movies or do the new thing, not both.

In time, with a huge recruitment drive, they might overcome this .. but it's that issue of time. If time was a woman, then she's going to be like my girlfriend; she impatient and she wants everything yesterday.

Sounds like a shareholder to me...
 
fryke said:
The real question for me is: How much money (or what else) did Steve Jobs really _want_ from Disney that a deal could not be found? ;-)
Click to expand...

He wanted the right to make a new iMac with the half ball base and two smaller round screens ->A looking like a Mickey :)
 
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