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> 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 Di

by 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...
- froo 18y ago
  When I say Dreamworks, I mean Dreamworks in terms of PDI Dreamworks Animation SKG... the animation division. That article you quoted is irrelevant, it talks about Dreamworks Pictures (the non animation division) which is doing horribly (can you name anything of late that they've released that did well?) Perhaps instead of reading an article from a blogger and becoming an instant expert, it would be wise to read the annual reports sometime which are freely available. Or even just read some of the press releases from the company itself.. I'll give you a headstart. http://ir.dreamworksanimation.com/dwa/opencms/company/news/news.jsp?nId=1259568 http://ir.dreamworksanimation.com/dwa/opencms/company/news/n...

by froo 18y ago

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...

froo 18y ago
When I say Dreamworks, I mean Dreamworks in terms of PDI Dreamworks Animation SKG... the animation division. That article you quoted is irrelevant, it talks about Dreamworks Pictures (the non animation division) which is doing horribly (can you name anything of late that they've released that did well?) Perhaps instead of reading an article from a blogger and becoming an instant expert, it would be wise to read the annual reports sometime which are freely available. Or even just read some of the press releases from the company itself.. I'll give you a headstart. http://ir.dreamworksanimation.com/dwa/opencms/company/news/news.jsp?nId=1259568 http://ir.dreamworksanimation.com/dwa/opencms/company/news/n...