News
Pixar hit streak questioned with 'Up'
April 6, 2009 – Pundits are downbeat on prospects that the latest Disney/Pixar animation film will achieve the box office and merchandising riches of past Pixar films such as Finding Nemo and Toy Story.
A New York Times article notes that a lot is at stake for Up, which Disney will premiere May 29. The 3-D animated film Up cost $175 million to make and Disney paid $9 billion to buy Pixar in 2006.
Says the NY Times article: “Pixar’s last two films, Wall-E and Ratatouille, have been the studio’s two worst performers, delivering sales of $224 million and $216 million respectively, according to Box Office Mojo, a tracking service. Attendance for Pixar films has also dropped sharply over the years, suggesting that ticket price inflation helped prop up overall sales for Wall-E and Ratatouille.”
The high water marks are $405 million in domestic box office for Finding Nemo and $5 billion in retail merchandise sales for Cars, which did a blockbuster $244 million in box office.
What worries Wall Street is that Pixar seems to be self indulgent. While that has worked in the past, a relentless orientation to break with animation conventions could end up at some point boring audiences.
Wall-E pushed the envelope with vast portions of the film having no dialog, but the cutesy robots still captivated audiences. For Up, there is very little movie merchandise coming out because the film – about an old balloon salesman who goes on a odyssey – doesn’t have elements lending themselves to products, notes the NY Times article.
“We make these films for ourselves,” Up co-director Pete Docter told reporters. “We’re kind of selfish that way.”
Notes the article by Brooks Barnes, “Inside the studio, executives are bullish on [Up], particularly because focus groups have responded favorably. The company added that it does not expect every Pixar movie to become a franchise. After Up, the overtly commercial Toy Story 3 arrives in 2010 and Cars 2 in 2011, and there is much talk that a sequel to Monsters Inc. is in the works."
For related texts, click links below:
www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/business/media/06pixar.html
www.marketingmovies.net/news/comic-con-review-knocks-disneys-up/