Steve Jobs’ Pixar has a whale of a hit on it’s hands with “Finding Nemo.”
“Finding Nemo could be swimming to a new record: biggest animated movie ever. Already, the tale of a father clownfish who searches the oceans to find his missing son has topped The Matrix Reloaded as summer’s biggest film, with $274.9 million,” reports Andy Seiler for USA Today.
“If the film continues to attract large schools of moviegoers, it could top the current record holder, 1994’s The Lion King, which made $312.9 million, or $378.9 million in 2003 dollars.”
Full article here.
Go fish go!
The thing that pisses me off is that I constantly hear this film referred to as a Disney Movie. Pixar needs to cut their ties to Mickey as soon as possible. They now easily have enough clout to stand on their own two legs.
It kind of goes to show that G rated movies tend to do better than PG, PG-13, and R rated movies. If the movie makers are truly out just to make money, why don’t they release more G movies? Perhaps because it’s not just about money, but about some other agenda? …
yes the article did not say a single word about the movie being made by pixar. It just has disney as producers of both nemo and the lion king. Yes i say make a bidding war for Pixar. Who ever wants to partner with Pixar has to pony up the cash now. Pixar has too much clout on its own now, and imagine the toys and merchandising it sells. Billions of dollars, easy. Disney owned the Anehiem Angels, and after they had won the World Series, they charged 17 dollars for the upper deck seats. After someone had bought out the team, the seats cost only 12 dollars. Disney was the premium, but not anymore.
I agree, however, Pixar needs to find a distribution partner first.
Whatever Jobs does, Pixar cannot afford to lose John Lasseter. He is the creative genious behind Pixar’s successful formula.
One thing I would like to see is Jobs actually use a render farm made out of Macs instead of Wintel boxes.
I understand that he cannot appear biased to his Pixar stock holders, but if Pixar finds the Xserve overpriced and underpowered, how can he convince others to buy them?
Hopefully with the IP over firewire and 64 bit G5, Jobs as Apple CEO might be able to convince his alter ego (Pixar CEO) that an Xserver based renderfarm using dual G5’s is cost effective and not an overpriced piece of art for a select few people.
I like the Powerbook and OS X. I have an old Powerbook. I am waiting for the G5 Powerbook, but I know it will be out of my price range. Apple is comming out with new innovative products, however, it appears to imply, “if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it” mentality.
If Jobs wants to get people to switch, he has to make products for the masses, not for a niche market.
So.. if Jobs works for Pixar..
Why can’t I buy the Finding Nemo soundtrack at the iTunes Music Store?
Disney Soundtracks part of Hollywood Records – not part of iTMS.
5 years ago, Disney’s name carried much bigger clout in animation and as a stamp of approval to consumers. CG animation was seen as ‘cold’ (at that time, the computer generated lines were a little too sharp) I’m sure that was part of the deal at the time to give the Pixar name credence – CG shorts were amusing or interesting but no one was quite sure they could sustain a whole movie. Obviously – by Toy Story2, the Disney name in front of a Pixar movie is pretty much a tack-on to consumers and anybody else.
John Lassetter signed a 10-year deal about 4 years ago.
BTW, it’s much easier to make an R movie. Look at a typical Steven Segal movie. You just need a minimal excuse for a plot, throw in some nudity, lots of swearing, lots of killings and some ass kicking, your movie is done.
PG-13 – harder because you can only have a few swear words, minimal nudity and non-brutal killing. Obviously you have to have plot and real characters, otherwise, people will notice that not much is happening.
G/PG – Before(20-30 years ago), kids had a few Tv shows directed towards them so they were willing to watch anything targeted towards them on the big screen (well almost – Disney’s Gus was going a bit too far) but now with 5-6 cable networks that are devoted exclusively to them plus nearly 4-5 hours a day of other stations with kids programming, what’s left?
As a result of that (and other cultural changes), kids grow up so much faster – PG is really for 9 year old kids these days but what’s left to put on the big screen they can’t see everyday on TV already?
Great! Wow! Where’s my share! Whos cares!
Funny, I haven’t seen the film yet, but judging by the trailer it is the least interesting film Pixar has ever done.
I guess that’s why it’s more popular 🙁
My first reaction to the trailers was exactly the same as buddy’s. However, after catching several reviews�and knowing Pixar’s record for producing great flicks�I decided to check it out. IMHO, this may be the best movie that Pixar has released. The detail is incredible, the colors are stunning, and there are so many clever jokes that I missed a number of them due to laughter. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to see it again. I would recommend the movie on the strength of the character, Dory (voiced by Ellen Degeneres), alone. She was hilarious! (Sorry about the length of the post.)
movie goer:
“One thing I would like to see is Jobs actually use a render farm made out of Macs instead of Wintel boxes.”
I read an article recently on Maccentral about this exact thing. Pixar wants to know how many people would be interested in purchasing their Renderman software for the Mac. “After running our RenderMan benchmarks, we can now say that the G5 is the fastest desktop in the world,” Pixar president Ed Catmull
Finding Nemo has been the best Pixar film yet! IMHO. Loved it! Two fins up!
Regarding Pixar using Wintel boxes, they are actually Intel based Blade servers running Linux. So at least they are not running Windows. I agree with LouKnee Tune, how cool would it be if this movie had been rendered in OS X? Maybe someday.