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It's true, Eisner was doing the initial pixar deal but negotiations fell through several times. Actually Bob Iger (Michael Eisner's successor) successfully neg

by froo 18y ago

It's true, Eisner was doing the initial pixar deal but negotiations fell through several times. Actually Bob Iger (Michael Eisner's successor) successfully negotiated and finalised the Pixar deal after he came to the realisation that all of the popular characters in recent memory in their theme parks were (in large) a result of Pixar's work. He came to this conclusion watching a parade while attending the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland. He was more ready to do a proper deal that didn't screw over Pixar (which Eisner had gotten quite proficient at during his time). This resulted in Ed Catmull (then Pixar CEO and Pixar co-founder) becoming president of Disney Animation, John Lasseter (co-founder and director of many fine Pixar films) becoming Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation and Steve Jobs getting a seat on the Disney Board. Anyway, Eisner did nearly kill disney animation (It's not good when they're selling off equipment...) and his predecessor didn't do a very good job either when they decided to drop the use of multiplane camera's to reduce costs. Also the later cel animated Disney films that people loved (beauty and the beast onwards) were helped in part by software that Pixar created (but the name of it escapes me at the moment) So there you go :)

anamax 18y ago
> It's true, Eisner was doing the initial pixar deal but negotiations fell through several times. The "initial pixar deal" was all Eisner, which got Toy Story and so on, happened before 95, which was before Disney purchased ABC (which is how Iger got to Disney). Eisner did flub the final pixar deal, but that happened at the end of his time. Eisner saved disney animation at the beginning of his time. Yes, it slid at the end (although it was still better than when he started). Notice the pattern. > Anyway, Eisner did nearly kill disney animation The movie output (which I provided) doesn't support the "kill" hypothesis. Disney animation was on life-support when Eisner arrived. It got significantly better after he'd been around for long enough to have an impact and improved steadily for quite a while before tailing off at the end of his time. (Animation movies take three years.) > Also the later cel animated Disney films that people loved (beauty and the beast onwards) were helped in part by software that Pixar created Yup, but that's part of how Eisner re-animated disney animation. 2005 Eisner was arguably a disaster. However, 1985 Eisner was a savior and 1995 eisner was a genius.
- froo 18y ago
  > The "initial pixar deal" was all Eisner, which got Toy Story and so on, happened before 95, which was before Disney purchased ABC (which is how Iger got to Disney). Yes, which resulted in Pixar having to give up 50% of the revenue for the films in exchange for Distribution... which is what caused all the friction in the beginning. Pixar felt like they were getting screwed. > 2005 Eisner was arguably a disaster. However, 1985 Eisner was a savior and 1995 eisner was a genius. > Disney animation was on life-support when Eisner arrived Actually I think you have your people wrong. You can credit Katzenberg with the success of those various films. Katzenberg headed up the production of those films in the Late 80's/Early 90's that "saved" Disney animation. Eisner may have been CEO, but he was mostly concerned with operation of the theme parks. It was around 94/95ish that Katzenberg left Disney (I'm not actually sure of the reason) and that's when you'll notice that shortly after Disney produced animation sucked for the most part. Katzenberg ended up founding Dreamworks with Spielberg and they're doing quite well for themselves. Ever noticed that from 94-08 Disney produced mostly poor animation films? Especially when you consider the great run of films that Disney had from 88 (The Little Mermaid) to 94 (The Lion King)... which funnily enough correlates to Katzenberg's time at Disney. Bolt broke the drought and you can credit that to Lasseter's influence since becoming CCO of Disney Animation in 06 as part of the Pixar/Disney deal Say what you want, but Eisner was ill-equipped to run Disney Animation. He just didn't "get it" Bob Iger "gets it" with animation. I'd say this is partially why Dreamworks will now be distributed through one of Disney's subsidiaries in the future (this deal was done very recently)
  - anamax 18y ago
    The initial claim was that Eisner nearly killed Disney animation. When I provided evidence showing that Disney animation got significantly better under Eisner's reign, the claim becomes "someone else made it better" and that Eisner did nothing. Note the unstated retraction of "killed". As far as Katzenberg goes, he wasn't created by Imagineering - he was hired by Eisner. And yes, he eventually left. That's what successful people do in Hollywood - they move upstream. While the Pixar came to resent the original deal, that deal made them and it was a better deal than they could have gotten elsewhere. Everyone who breaks big has the same complaint about their early deals and they're all wrong. > Katzenberg ended up founding Dreamworks with Spielberg and they're doing quite well for themselves. Actually, Dreamworks is circling the drain. They sold the animation division in 2004. They sold the studio in 2005, and the "independent filmworks" division is having trouble raising money for a Spielberg film. The distribution deal with Disney is not from a position of strength, but to keep the company afloat. (If DW becomes a success, they'll hate Disney for that deal when it comes time to negotiate another.) http://www.alexburns.net/2009/02/dreamworks-debt-finance-battle.html http://www.alexburns.net/2009/02/dreamworks-debt-finance-bat...

by froo 18y ago

anamax 18y ago

> It's true, Eisner was doing the initial pixar deal but negotiations fell through several times. The "initial pixar deal" was all Eisner, which got Toy Story and so on, happened before 95, which was before Disney purchased ABC (which is how Iger got to Disney). Eisner did flub the final pixar deal, but that happened at the end of his time. Eisner saved disney animation at the beginning of his time. Yes, it slid at the end (although it was still better than when he started). Notice the pattern. > Anyway, Eisner did nearly kill disney animation The movie output (which I provided) doesn't support the "kill" hypothesis. Disney animation was on life-support when Eisner arrived. It got significantly better after he'd been around for long enough to have an impact and improved steadily for quite a while before tailing off at the end of his time. (Animation movies take three years.) > Also the later cel animated Disney films that people loved (beauty and the beast onwards) were helped in part by software that Pixar created Yup, but that's part of how Eisner re-animated disney animation. 2005 Eisner was arguably a disaster. However, 1985 Eisner was a savior and 1995 eisner was a genius.

froo 18y ago
> The "initial pixar deal" was all Eisner, which got Toy Story and so on, happened before 95, which was before Disney purchased ABC (which is how Iger got to Disney). Yes, which resulted in Pixar having to give up 50% of the revenue for the films in exchange for Distribution... which is what caused all the friction in the beginning. Pixar felt like they were getting screwed. > 2005 Eisner was arguably a disaster. However, 1985 Eisner was a savior and 1995 eisner was a genius. > Disney animation was on life-support when Eisner arrived Actually I think you have your people wrong. You can credit Katzenberg with the success of those various films. Katzenberg headed up the production of those films in the Late 80's/Early 90's that "saved" Disney animation. Eisner may have been CEO, but he was mostly concerned with operation of the theme parks. It was around 94/95ish that Katzenberg left Disney (I'm not actually sure of the reason) and that's when you'll notice that shortly after Disney produced animation sucked for the most part. Katzenberg ended up founding Dreamworks with Spielberg and they're doing quite well for themselves. Ever noticed that from 94-08 Disney produced mostly poor animation films? Especially when you consider the great run of films that Disney had from 88 (The Little Mermaid) to 94 (The Lion King)... which funnily enough correlates to Katzenberg's time at Disney. Bolt broke the drought and you can credit that to Lasseter's influence since becoming CCO of Disney Animation in 06 as part of the Pixar/Disney deal Say what you want, but Eisner was ill-equipped to run Disney Animation. He just didn't "get it" Bob Iger "gets it" with animation. I'd say this is partially why Dreamworks will now be distributed through one of Disney's subsidiaries in the future (this deal was done very recently)
- anamax 18y ago
  The initial claim was that Eisner nearly killed Disney animation. When I provided evidence showing that Disney animation got significantly better under Eisner's reign, the claim becomes "someone else made it better" and that Eisner did nothing. Note the unstated retraction of "killed". As far as Katzenberg goes, he wasn't created by Imagineering - he was hired by Eisner. And yes, he eventually left. That's what successful people do in Hollywood - they move upstream. While the Pixar came to resent the original deal, that deal made them and it was a better deal than they could have gotten elsewhere. Everyone who breaks big has the same complaint about their early deals and they're all wrong. > Katzenberg ended up founding Dreamworks with Spielberg and they're doing quite well for themselves. Actually, Dreamworks is circling the drain. They sold the animation division in 2004. They sold the studio in 2005, and the "independent filmworks" division is having trouble raising money for a Spielberg film. The distribution deal with Disney is not from a position of strength, but to keep the company afloat. (If DW becomes a success, they'll hate Disney for that deal when it comes time to negotiate another.) http://www.alexburns.net/2009/02/dreamworks-debt-finance-battle.html http://www.alexburns.net/2009/02/dreamworks-debt-finance-bat...