06/21/2010

What's the Toy Story with Pixar's enduring appeal?

Fans of all ages refuse to grow out of the Toy Story brand - but Hollywood can't afford to get complacent if it wants to stay ahead of the global game

Toy Story in 3-D
Toy box office success ... Toy Story 3. Photograph: Disney/Pixar
  1. Toy Story 3 3D
  2. Production year: 2010
  3. Country: USA
  4. Directors: Lee Unkrich
  5. Cast: Don Rickles, Joan Cusack, John Ratzenberger, Laurie Metcalf, Michael Keaton, R Lee Ermey, Tim Allen, Timothy Dalton, Tom Hanks, Wallace Shawn
  6. More on this film

The Pixar factor

Pixar maintained its unblemished record as the company's 11th release, Toy Story 3, launched at the top of the charts through Disney over the weekend. Arguably the most astonishing production house ever to come out of Hollywood, Pixar is a phenomenon. Its films all combined have grossed several billion dollars globally, almost every one is widely admired by critics, and several have won Oscars. The enduring appeal of the brand was demonstrated by the impressive $109m (£73m) launch, which shows that, 15 years after the first Toy Story appeared in cinemas, fans of all ages are still willing to turn out.

The number is significant in that Toy Story 3 is only the third animated feature to gross more than $100m in its opening weekend, Shrek Forever After and Shrek 2 being the other two. We can expect more and more 3D-animated features to achieve this in the years to come and every studio executive wants a good animation property. While they are labour-intensive, often taking several years from inception to delivery, well-rendered animated movies based on solid storytelling tend to yield high returns. The trick is to keep the production costs down and, as the sector matures, we are seeing this start to happen.

Live-action movies continue to struggle this summer, but I'm convinced this is nothing more than a blip; an unfortunate confluence of poorly executed material. It will pass. Hollywood will always churn out movies of varying quality – there will be plenty more shockers and delights in the years ahead. The question is, when will the theatrical experience level out – and what will that level be?

Read more at The Guardian

 


Jun 21, 2010 1:54:48 PM | Current Affairs, Entertainment, Film, Movies

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What's the Toy Story with Pixar's enduring appeal? Fans of all ages refuse to grow out of the Toy Story brand - but Hollywood can't afford to get complacent if it wants to stay ahead of the global game Toy box office success ... Toy Story 3. Photograph: Disney/Pixar Toy Story 3 3D Production year: 2010 Country: USA Directors: Lee Unkrich Cast: Don Rickles, Joan Cusack, John Ratzenberger, Laurie Metcalf, Michael Keaton, R Lee Ermey, Tim Allen, Timothy Dalton, Tom Hanks, Wallace Shawn More on this film The Pixar factor Pixar maintained its unblemished record as the company's 11th release, Toy Story 3, launched at the top of...