5 ms·

Pixar is struggling. Unclear how much is related to Disney+ strategy (where they release via Disney+ rather than in theatres) and Covid restrictions, but its r

Pixar is struggling. Unclear how much is related to Disney+ strategy (where they release via Disney+ rather than in theatres) and Covid restrictions, but its recent releases have struggled financially (numbers from Wikipedia): * Onward - $140M * Soul - $120M * Luca - $50M * Turning Red - $20M * Lightyear - $226M It used to be that Pixar films regularly got past $1B in revenue. This new reality where they gross very little is strange. And this new reality likely means that Pixar has to reduce costs.

lawn 3y ago
It's disappointing because both Luca and Turning Red were great, and Soul wasn't shabby at all. Haven't seen Lightyear and Onward was boring.
- jcranmer 3y ago
  The Luca and Turning Red numbers are very disappointing, it seems, because they didn't receive any theatrical release in the US. Comparing them to Coco's numbers, it seems from the countries they did receive a theatrical numbers, they'd post several hundred million in revenue in non-COVID times. Onward snuck in just before the COVID lockdowns, so it does represent a "real" box office bomb compared to Luca/Turning Red.
  - radicaldreamer 3y ago
    Onward was in theaters for only a few days before the lockdowns started. It was actually the last movie I saw in theaters prior to covid.
- theGnuMe 3y ago
  I enjoyed Lightyear but it sounds like I am the exception. The plot was a little too complicated for a kid though and my kids don't ever want to rewatch it. In contrast my kids loved the new Mario movie which I thought was not very good. However, we all liked the sonic movies so... <shrug>.
BlackjackCF 3y ago
I think it really is the Disney+ strategy. I only know about these movies BECAUSE I have Disney+. I used to see ads for Pixar movies everywhere. Now? Not so much…
agloe_dreams 3y ago
Disney is trying a little too hard and working a little too fast to get every last penny, nothing really is well marketed and the releases are not a big deal. The world moved on to the MCU. The wild part is that I loved Soul. Definitely the most adult-focused movie Pixar ever made.
toyg 3y ago
- Competitors have caught up and now the market for animated family movies is utterly saturated. Old formulas are not enough to stand out. - They overproduce. They used to make roughly 2 movies over 3 years; now they often release more than one movie per year. - John Lasseter was "metoo'd" in 2017. They've not had any real success since - the last bonanzas were two sequels in 2018 and 2019.
- khazhoux 3y ago
  > - Competitors have caught up and now the market for animated family movies is utterly saturated. Old formulas are not enough to stand out. The competitor landscape has not changed significantly in the last decade.
  - toyg 3y ago
    Illumination started in 2010 and they've been on an absolute roll since. The pot that used to be owned by Pixar and Dreamworks is now a solid 3-way split pretty much every year as a minimum, with Sony and Warner also posting the occasional dark horse (Lego, Spider-Man, etc). Where before one could see a clear difference in animation quality between 3D productions, nowadays they're all pretty much excellent.
    - khazhoux 3y ago
      Sure, but Illumination basically took the spot Blue Sky had before. My point being that there's not a sudden glut of new studios -- it's still Pixar, DWA, plus a couple of other top studios. I really don't think the market is any more saturated today than a decade ago. I agree with you on Lasseter, btw. It does seem that his departure was the start of Pixar's creative gap.
prewett 3y ago
It seems to me that John Lasseter was responsible for a lot of the creativity.
- bhouston 3y ago
  Sometimes when you have a very strong leader, he prefers people around him that are yes men. That works in part because the strong leader has the right intuition and direction and doesn't need it to be filled by others. But when that leader leaves, the environment was built around him having the big ideas and direction and everyone else is was mostly good at following him. I think this happened at Pixar. So it isn't that Lasseter is irreplaceable, it is that they didn't foster internally the next generation of leaders. And that in turn makes it looks like Lassater was a unique genius.
tiffanyh 3y ago
Turning Red, Soul, and Luca - where all launched on Disney+ the same day it hit theaters. It's hard to drive box office sales, when you're using it as a lose leader to drive Disney+ subscriptions. Who takes the blame for poor box office sales in this scenario? Doesn't seem like the directors fault.
- tzs 3y ago
  Luca never really hit theaters. It had one week in one theater in the US. It only got a normal theatrical release in countries where Disney+ was not available.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
flumpcakes 3y ago
I was a huge fan of Pixar films, but honestly a lot of their films have just been really bad. I enjoyed Lightyear, Turning Red, etc. but they weren't nearly as good as their previous films. It's now put me off seeing most of what Pixar puts out, they all look like the same film. On the other hand, other animation studios are putting out some really good films, the two animated Spier-Man films, the Puss in Boots sequel, etc. Pixar needs to raise it's game and try telling more interesting stories.
eldritch_4ier 3y ago
Just anecdotal but none of their recent work is really that inspiring or extraordinary, especially compared to alternatives. It's hard to articulate it but its like they've lost their touch and are now pumping out corporate-approved / critic-approved slop instead of their previous "more authentic" work.
- khazhoux 3y ago
  I don't think the problem is that they're "corporate-approved", but agree with your sentiment. * Luca - Cute visuals but the story was not aiming very high. Huge missed opportunity with the underwater world, which was bland and almost like they ran out of time to flesh it out. * Onward - A mess of a story that never got refined. Lots of ideas loosely coupled. When the most memorable aspect is walking pants, you have a problem. * Soul - This one came so close to greatness. I definitely felt the creative team pouring themselves into this, but it somehow didn't click like its spiritual cousin Inside Out (a hilarious and tear-jerking masterpiece, Pixar at its best). The "core" of Soul was a bit confused, I thought: you search for a purpose, but you don't really need a purpose, and you should let go of your purpose...?
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

lawn 3y ago

It's disappointing because both Luca and Turning Red were great, and Soul wasn't shabby at all. Haven't seen Lightyear and Onward was boring.

jcranmer 3y ago
The Luca and Turning Red numbers are very disappointing, it seems, because they didn't receive any theatrical release in the US. Comparing them to Coco's numbers, it seems from the countries they did receive a theatrical numbers, they'd post several hundred million in revenue in non-COVID times. Onward snuck in just before the COVID lockdowns, so it does represent a "real" box office bomb compared to Luca/Turning Red.
- radicaldreamer 3y ago
  Onward was in theaters for only a few days before the lockdowns started. It was actually the last movie I saw in theaters prior to covid.
theGnuMe 3y ago
I enjoyed Lightyear but it sounds like I am the exception. The plot was a little too complicated for a kid though and my kids don't ever want to rewatch it. In contrast my kids loved the new Mario movie which I thought was not very good. However, we all liked the sonic movies so... <shrug>.

BlackjackCF 3y ago

I think it really is the Disney+ strategy. I only know about these movies BECAUSE I have Disney+. I used to see ads for Pixar movies everywhere. Now? Not so much…

agloe_dreams 3y ago

Disney is trying a little too hard and working a little too fast to get every last penny, nothing really is well marketed and the releases are not a big deal. The world moved on to the MCU. The wild part is that I loved Soul. Definitely the most adult-focused movie Pixar ever made.

toyg 3y ago

- Competitors have caught up and now the market for animated family movies is utterly saturated. Old formulas are not enough to stand out. - They overproduce. They used to make roughly 2 movies over 3 years; now they often release more than one movie per year. - John Lasseter was "metoo'd" in 2017. They've not had any real success since - the last bonanzas were two sequels in 2018 and 2019.

khazhoux 3y ago
> - Competitors have caught up and now the market for animated family movies is utterly saturated. Old formulas are not enough to stand out. The competitor landscape has not changed significantly in the last decade.
- toyg 3y ago
  Illumination started in 2010 and they've been on an absolute roll since. The pot that used to be owned by Pixar and Dreamworks is now a solid 3-way split pretty much every year as a minimum, with Sony and Warner also posting the occasional dark horse (Lego, Spider-Man, etc). Where before one could see a clear difference in animation quality between 3D productions, nowadays they're all pretty much excellent.
  - khazhoux 3y ago
    Sure, but Illumination basically took the spot Blue Sky had before. My point being that there's not a sudden glut of new studios -- it's still Pixar, DWA, plus a couple of other top studios. I really don't think the market is any more saturated today than a decade ago. I agree with you on Lasseter, btw. It does seem that his departure was the start of Pixar's creative gap.

prewett 3y ago

It seems to me that John Lasseter was responsible for a lot of the creativity.

bhouston 3y ago
Sometimes when you have a very strong leader, he prefers people around him that are yes men. That works in part because the strong leader has the right intuition and direction and doesn't need it to be filled by others. But when that leader leaves, the environment was built around him having the big ideas and direction and everyone else is was mostly good at following him. I think this happened at Pixar. So it isn't that Lasseter is irreplaceable, it is that they didn't foster internally the next generation of leaders. And that in turn makes it looks like Lassater was a unique genius.

tiffanyh 3y ago

Turning Red, Soul, and Luca - where all launched on Disney+ the same day it hit theaters. It's hard to drive box office sales, when you're using it as a lose leader to drive Disney+ subscriptions. Who takes the blame for poor box office sales in this scenario? Doesn't seem like the directors fault.

tzs 3y ago
Luca never really hit theaters. It had one week in one theater in the US. It only got a normal theatrical release in countries where Disney+ was not available.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

flumpcakes 3y ago

I was a huge fan of Pixar films, but honestly a lot of their films have just been really bad. I enjoyed Lightyear, Turning Red, etc. but they weren't nearly as good as their previous films. It's now put me off seeing most of what Pixar puts out, they all look like the same film. On the other hand, other animation studios are putting out some really good films, the two animated Spier-Man films, the Puss in Boots sequel, etc. Pixar needs to raise it's game and try telling more interesting stories.

eldritch_4ier 3y ago

Just anecdotal but none of their recent work is really that inspiring or extraordinary, especially compared to alternatives. It's hard to articulate it but its like they've lost their touch and are now pumping out corporate-approved / critic-approved slop instead of their previous "more authentic" work.

khazhoux 3y ago
I don't think the problem is that they're "corporate-approved", but agree with your sentiment. * Luca - Cute visuals but the story was not aiming very high. Huge missed opportunity with the underwater world, which was bland and almost like they ran out of time to flesh it out. * Onward - A mess of a story that never got refined. Lots of ideas loosely coupled. When the most memorable aspect is walking pants, you have a problem. * Soul - This one came so close to greatness. I definitely felt the creative team pouring themselves into this, but it somehow didn't click like its spiritual cousin Inside Out (a hilarious and tear-jerking masterpiece, Pixar at its best). The "core" of Soul was a bit confused, I thought: you search for a purpose, but you don't really need a purpose, and you should let go of your purpose...?

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]