The Inquisitr » pixar

Marvel and Disney Together Is a Bit Weird

Kyle Brady — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:42:58 +0000

By way of introduction, Marvel is now owned by Disney. Yes, as of yesterday, the decades-long king of children’s entertainment, the reinventor of fairy tales, and clearing house for all things Mouse has ownership of one of the leading comic entertainment enterprises that is not necessarily known for being child-friendly.

I find this a bit weird.

Marvel’s cornerstones over the last seven decades have been Spiderman, The X-Men, The Hulk, Captain America, and a handful of other big-name titles, most of which have either already seen the silver screen or are slated to in the coming years. In fact, Marvel proved in 2000 that a comicbook-based movie could be not only highly successful but quality entertainment as well, arguably starting the the modern age of book-to-screen transfers that has produced gems like The Dark Knight along with utter abominations such as Punisher: War Zone.

But for Disney to purchase Marvel is a decision that makes me curious: besides the obvious financial benefits of merging two of the most successful entertainment operations of all time, what motivations could the Head Mousekeeter have? Disney’s productions, like Cinderella, The Lion King, and Bolt, are very different from the graphic and dark nature Marvel usually favors.

To be fair, a few of Disney’s arms produce slightly less G-rated material, such as Pixar’s Wall-E or ABC’s Lost, but even then the themes, or visuals, don’t approach the supreme violence of Wolverine, the adult lifestyle themes of Spiderman, or even the complex continuity of the Marvel Universe. So it makes sense that Disney has announced no intentions, for the foreseeable future, of influencing the production staff of Marvel, or even of disrupting the movies-in-progress.

This is good news, so long as they keep their promises – a cheery, joke-telling, lighthearted Logan would be entirely more disturbing than his modern depressive, angry, violent self. Perhaps Disney is truly interested in simply the financial benefits of owning the massively successful enterprise and will truly leave it to operate on its own, much as they have with Pixar.

Or maybe Disney is curious about turning Marvel’s creative talents inward to their own core cast of characters, in order to produce more adult-themed versions of popular titles.

Now that I can get behind.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

Pixar grants dying girl’s final wish

Kim LaCapria — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:30:44 +0000

Colby Curtain, 10, was dying of vascular cancer and had one last wish- to see the new Pixar film Up.

But Colby was too sick to go to a theater. Initial plans to obtain a wheelchair for the girl fell through and her condition deteriorated. A family friend reached out and called the company to explain the family’s predicament. Pixar came through.

According to the OC Register, Colby’s mom Lisa spoke to her daughter about Pixar’s plans:

“Do you think you can hang on?” Colby’s mother said.

“I’m ready (to die), but I’m going to wait for the movie,” the girl replied.

On June 10th, the company flew a representative to Colby’s home with a DVD copy of the movie for a private viewing, as well as a bag of stuffed animals, an “adventure book” and a movie poster. Too ill to even see, Colby’s mom Lisa described most of the film to Colby as she listened.

Seven hours later, Colby died. Her mother described her gratitude for Pixar’s efforts on her daughter’s last day on Earth, and added:

“I just know that word ‘Up’ and all of the balloons and I swear to you, for me it meant that (Colby) was going to go up. Up to heaven.”

First Toy Story 3 Trailer Released

Duncan Riley — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:45:58 +0000

Pixar has released the first teaser trailer Toy Story 3.

Still 12 months away from being released, the Toy Story 3 trailer is a real teaser, in that it actually provides no information about the movie. Instead, we get reintroduced to the main characters from the previous two films.

Details of the story line are a little thin, with the only synopsis reading “Woody, Buzz, and the rest of their toy-box friends are dropped off at a day-care center after their owner, Andy, who is fond of his toys, departs for college.”

Toy Story 3 is due out June 18, 2010.

Former Pixar Exec Joins Second Life Team

JR — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:53:35 +0000

An executive from Pixar Animation Studios has joined Linden Lab to help revitalize its Second Life virtual world program. Howard Look has been appointed senior vice president of customer applications and will be in charge of upcoming Second Life improvements and added features.

Look most recently served as vice president of software for Pixar and is credited with helping develop its world-famous filmmaking system. His resume also includes a stint at TiVo, where he was vice president of application software and user experience. He played a “key role in defining TiVo’s functionality and user experience,” his bio states. Prior to TiVo, he led the Silicon Graphics team that built the world’s first VRML-based 3D workstation. Not too shabby.

Linden Lab isn’t revealing any specifics yet about what sorts of changes could be coming. The Second Life company does say, however, it intends to make its virtual world “more accessible to more people by making it easier to use, more intuitive, and more joyful.”

This is Linden Lab’s second big name hire in recent months. The company snagged former AOL exec Frank Ambrose as its senior VP of global technology in August. Ambrose was hired to work on expanding the Second Life network.

Linden Lab is based in San Francisco.

Second Life