Randy Newman thanks you
Over at the San Francisco Chronicle, C.W. Nevius talks about attending an open house at the Pixar studios on the celebration of 10 years since the release of Toy Story. Among other things, Pixar finally tells the story of how Disney treated the project in the early stages.
Disney, which was bankrolling the project, peppered the young animators with notes and suggestions. The story was too juvenile, the higher-ups said, and the characters had to be edgier. Afraid to trust themselves, Lasseter and his crew tried to follow all the directions.
It was, nearly everyone agrees, a train wreck. Disney hated the movie and the idea—and shut it down.
...
Lasseter recalls that he “begged’’ for two weeks to fix things. The animators went back, took out all of Disney’s suggestions and made the movie they wanted to make in the first place.
And, naturally, when they screened the new version, Disney execs loved it. There’s your corporate minds at work: First they screw it up and hate it, and then don’t even realize that they’re watching what they hated in the first place.
This would be funny, if not for the fact that Disney recently announced their intention to release a Toy Story 3 – whether or not Pixar is on board.
Does anybody really feel that the corporation that nearly ruined the original pic in the first place should be allowed to handle the next sequel all by itself?
August 25th, 2005 at 4:18 pm
I don’t think anyone should be allowed to handle a Toy Story sequel if Pixar isn’t on board, much less these kind of halfwits. Then again, I don’t know that we need a sequel to Toy Story, even with Pixar involved.
August 26th, 2005 at 11:52 am
Fred –
I had to edit the post. Wrong word choice made it seem like I supported Disney doing the sequel by itself.
Good point, by the way. Firmly on your side.