Pixar fans.. RIP Newt

darth_myeek

darth_myeek

Sr Member
Pixar’s planned film Newt, a story of the last two newts on the planet who happen to not stand each other but ultimately have to find a mate to save the species, has reportedly been canned. The film was set to be Pixar's 2012 release, but a comment over at the Animation Guild Blog from Disney's Floyd Norman says of the project, "Oh, and ‘Newt' is dead", adding later on that "Naturally, our pals up north run a tight ship, so it's not polite to provide details at this time."

The film was to have been directed by Gary Rydstrom, who had already helmed the Pixar short Lifted (which played before Ratatouille in cinemas). And while Pixar itself hasn't confirmed the news, the speculation is now that Monsters Inc 2 will be pushed forward to fill the summer 2012 slot that Newt had been earmarked for.

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Ya we kind of figured. Disney has also canned King of the Elves and The Snow Queen. A lot of Disneys best animators are apparently applying at DreamWorks. Very sad time at Disney.
 
Wonder what is going on. For a moment, looked like Disney was poised to really push the animation hot and heavy. Now this. I wonder of the lack of viewers on the last few animation films is suddenly killing the push for new animation.
I don't think its an animation issue but rather just the economy. Hate to see them do a 180 after the sudden direction they were taking to bring it all back.
 
As of this morning a HUGE meeting was being called with all the big wigs. Apparently some movers in the Disney dynasty aren't too happy with Disney putting all their eggs in Pixars basket. Pixar is great, we can all agree BUT Disney has a reputation to uphold as well.

Btw, the Princess and the Frog did very well. Exactly what they wanted. They just need to redesign their whole story lines. Get Jeff Lasseter on to some Disney labeled stuff. Pixar has a strong base to be successful for a while
 
Lassiter is pretty over extended as is from what I hear. Hard to have second thoughts with the Pixar expansion in Canada as well. I think they are going to have to remember that the storyline takes precedent over the art. If they are running into as many story line problems as it sounds, then do what they always do, get the right talent to rewrite until it is done correctly.

As far as animation, I really though Lassiter had pushed so hard for the drawn format that it was a given Disney would have just as much a role in the film industry as Pixar does. There is no reason they cannot do both. I do think Pixar was pushing hard for quite a bit of more films to be out, but as long as they keep the quality up, its not a bad thing.

As long as they do not pull an Eisner and start throwing out a ton of hurried material and be happy with what sticks. That's a dangerous mentality to fall into and I can understand the big wigs getting worried that they are falling into the same trap as before.
 
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Good points tripoli.

I know that a few big name actors are trying to push for more 2D animation. There was rumors that because Up got Oscar attention, they pretty much decided to invest more in Pixar. Now tho I feel Up was incredible, I do believe it was only included because they increased the nominees to 10. How quickly they forgot it was good ole classic Disney talent that scored them their first Best Picture nod with Beauty and the Beast.

That's it! I'm going to that meeting! Lol
 
That's quickly forgotten because it was JK era. People tend to frown on it, but I thought some of the stuff the studio produced at that time was brilliant.
 
All the Disney animators going "back" to Dreamworks? That would be the second exodus of this kind. The first happened when Eisner shut down ALL hand drawn animation and also when he turned down the purchase / partnership with Pixar!

With the success of Up and Princess and the Frog AND John Lassiter's push for more hand drawn animated feature films I don't think Disney is going to have a problem.
 
The fact however is that Disney does have a problem. The question remains for how long but for now, the envelope IS being pushed and we all are feeling it here.
 
I know a couple of hand drawn animators that jumped ship from Disney to Dreamworks back in that first exodus. They count themselves very fortunate to still be working, all things considered in that field.
 
The funny thing is that Disney is helping DreamWorks financially in more ways than just helping them distribute. I am sure Disney will come back from this. Well I hope so anyway. lol
 
I was at the briefing earlier with my bosses. Apparently Walt Disney's family pressed the issues of throwing films such as King of the Elves, Snow Queen, etc. ALSO, the renaming of Rupunzel. Their is built up animosity towards Pixar which is causing huge divide because as I stated, Disney is basically turning over the hat to Pixar. There is a meeting next week with the heads and thats where a lot of decisions will begin to take shape.
 
My gosh, THE only good thing in my opinion about anyone jumping ship to Dreamworks is the quality of their releases will come up the scale. Every time I see a dreamworks release, I see horrible character design, subpar plots and story arcs, crappy animation stylization and over relying on pop culture references to tell their stories.

I hope Disney/Pixar can find harmony, especially with both units historical success. What made Pixar great I hope doesnt get diluted with the ever changing Disney model and I hope Pixar doesnt take away from the fantasy of Disneys capability.
 
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"I hope Disney/Pixar can find harmony, especially with both units historical success. What made Pixar great I hope doesnt get diluted with the ever changing Disney model and I hope Pixar doesnt take away from the fantasy of Disneys capability."

Exactly.

That's why it is so important that Pixar does keep to its roots as well Disney does so. Lassiter has started that change back to the animation appreciation of old Disney, yet the Park and news like this shows a heavy lean to a mostly Pixar theme. Both business units need to keep a strong hold on their identities and take from their already built inherited strengths.

To see good talent jump to the competition is a bad thing from the Disney view point. It leads to a past perception of instability that Lassiter was suppose to bring back to the animation studios.

I honestly think he may have too much on his plate and need to take a step back for a moment to realize the focus of the long range Disney strategy. I hope that in the near future, this does not become a serious issue that causes more fragmentation. Its a time when both studios must take each others strengths while maintaining their individuality.
 
Its a shame when the "it guys" get to much dumped on them, its a sign of bad management from the higher up brass.

When someone is successful at something, they tend to get more dumped on them hoping for more of the same success. This isn't limited to Disney/Pixar, this happens in Fortune 500 companies constantly. Overload the successful person who brought you fame and you don't support them or give them the tools they need or worse yet, they reassign them to take over another area and butt heads. Therein lies the problem.

Good managers/COO's/CEO's recognize strengths and weakness and play to those, while reinforcing what brought that person success. If Disney/Pixar could put the reigns on that, listen to the right things when the bottom line is revenue instead of sparring over control, they could really succeed like never before. When internal sparring matches occur, theres too many cooks in the kitchen.

Love or hate Apple Inc., AT&T capitalized on their success and piggybacked on the cool factor, so much that it catapulted them to #8 on the fortune 500. They did it sight unseen with the iPhone. Jobs & co. pitched the iPhone to AT&T without the product in hand nor showing it to them and AT&T knew a real game changer and signed on. I believe if Disney put more faith in the Pixar brand instead of spreading them thin but let them flourish, they would have a similar story. Maybe with Jobs on the board that can happen?

Sorry for the diatribe, but I enjoy these types of discussions.
 
Diane Disney was on the Disney lot today and there was talk of her addressing the board on a few levels including that of talk of traditional 2D animation abandonment. She mentioned that she is getting whiplash from the constant change of path and also enforced that a clear path must be set.

She also mentioned Disney is wasting money by ditching films already in progress and she threw harsh words at the CEO saying that Disney had long since established it's name before Pixar. She joked and mentioned, 'what's nex, Disneyland turns into Pixarland?'.

On a happier note, got to see some storyline work in Pixars The Bear and the Bow. Pretty cool story.
 
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