Revisiting the studio’s early highs (one lunch led to $6B at the box office), creative struggles (stale IP, original flops) and why "Inside Out 2" could trigger a renaissance.
In the 400m hurdles a lot of runners seem to struggle clearing the last 2 hurdles cleanly, while their brain is low on oxygen. No more painful than the 400m, but more difficult to finish strong.
That "memoir by Pixar’s former chief financial officer Lawrence Levy," "To Pixar and Beyond" (2016), mentioned in that long pull quote, is itself a fascinating read.
Pixar originally envisioned itself in the business of making hardware (the Pixar Imaging Computer) for high-end computer imaging and animation. They then sold off that tech and pivoted to licensing their RenderMan software (still used even today), which runs on third-party workstations. Yet that wasn't enough to keep Pixar in the black. They were still floundering financially, kept afloat mostly by increasingly-reluctant infusions of cash by Steve Jobs.
The idea of making a feature-length movie, not just the shorter films which demonstrated their tech, had long been part of Pixar's grand goals. Yet the project which developed Toy Story was a true Hail Mary. Had that movie not succeeded, after its years in painful gestation, it's entirely possible the company might have folded. And at multiple points, the prospects that this movie would come out at all, much less that it would be commercially viable, looked bleak.
All of this is chronicled in Levy's book, along with the hard business decisions and myriad twists and turns along the way that contributed to Pixar's survival in those early years. Recommended!
In the 400m hurdles a lot of runners seem to struggle clearing the last 2 hurdles cleanly, while their brain is low on oxygen. No more painful than the 400m, but more difficult to finish strong.
That makes a lot of sense. Watching them at that last jump always stresses me out
Great read! ~ Typo ;)
"Inside Out 2 buys the animation studoi some time"
Thanks for the read, Simon! And will fix
That "memoir by Pixar’s former chief financial officer Lawrence Levy," "To Pixar and Beyond" (2016), mentioned in that long pull quote, is itself a fascinating read.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28114529-to-pixar-and-beyond
Pixar originally envisioned itself in the business of making hardware (the Pixar Imaging Computer) for high-end computer imaging and animation. They then sold off that tech and pivoted to licensing their RenderMan software (still used even today), which runs on third-party workstations. Yet that wasn't enough to keep Pixar in the black. They were still floundering financially, kept afloat mostly by increasingly-reluctant infusions of cash by Steve Jobs.
The idea of making a feature-length movie, not just the shorter films which demonstrated their tech, had long been part of Pixar's grand goals. Yet the project which developed Toy Story was a true Hail Mary. Had that movie not succeeded, after its years in painful gestation, it's entirely possible the company might have folded. And at multiple points, the prospects that this movie would come out at all, much less that it would be commercially viable, looked bleak.
All of this is chronicled in Levy's book, along with the hard business decisions and myriad twists and turns along the way that contributed to Pixar's survival in those early years. Recommended!