Pixar's Onward

[D82]

That's was definitely a loss for Disney. They tried to toss the case out twice and failed and the preliminary hearings were going so well for the plaintiff that the judge actually sent the case to trial. Only then did Disney agree to settle. Sure, legally-speaking a settlement is not an admission of guilt but we all know they never would have done so if the evidence were in their favor. There have been other cases where Disney lost but this is one of the very few (if not only) of the "Disney stole my idea/art and used it in their movie!" type of lawsuits that they "lost".

Yes, you're right, it was a loss for them.

[estefan]

This isn't even the first time someone has tried to sue Disney and Pixar prior to the release of one of their movies. It happened before with "Monsters, Inc" when a songwriter and poet tried to stop the movie from being released, because she had claimed the idea was stolen from one of her poems. The judge dismissed the case.

Disney is infamous for its lawyers and you go up against them at your own risk.

[RyGuy]

I think I never heard how that ended. Well, according to this article, both parties finally reached a deal, so technically they didn't win the lawsuit against Disney. But they achieved much more than others have.

That's was definitely a loss for Disney. They tried to toss the case out twice and failed and the preliminary hearings were going so well for the plaintiff that the judge actually sent the case to trial. Only then did Disney agree to settle. Sure, legally-speaking a settlement is not an admission of guilt but we all know they never would have done so if the evidence were in their favor. There have been other cases where Disney lost but this is one of the very few (if not only) of the "Disney stole my idea/art and used it in their movie!" type of lawsuits that they "lost".

I'm a corporate lawyer by vocation. Cases often are settled even when the evidence is VERY strongly in your favor, simply because it's usually cheaper to settle, than it is to pay all of the costs associated with defending a lawsuit. I wouldn't read culpability into Disney's decision to settle when quite likely, it was practicality.

[Sotiris]

If that's the case, why didn't they settle earlier on and waited for so long to do so? They didn't seem to care about legal fees and cost then.

[RyGuy]

If that's the case, why didn't they settle earlier on and waited for so long to do so? They didn't seem to care about legal fees and cost then.

It's a fair question. There can be a number of reasons why such as the amount of settlement demanded at the outset of the case. That can flow both ways. Plaintiffs might be incentivized to agree to a lesser amount of settlement as discovery (depositions, interrogatories, etc.) highlight some of the weaknesses in their case and they begin to fear that maybe they will get nothing. And on the flip side, as legal bills begin to mount for the defendant, a previously too high settlement request can start to look more attractive.

Of course your theory may also be correct and there is something terrible they are trying to hide. That being said, I think hush money payments usually tend to be exceptionally high and offered exceptionally quickly when your ultimate goal is to bury unflattering facts.

[D82]

Thanks for explaining to us how settlements work, RyGuy. I don't know much about legal stuff. All I know is what I've learned from movies about trials.

Could this be the reason why Disney decided to settle? So they could start working on the sequel?

Taking a slightly different approach toward the festival screened and online short, Disney struck out again this April – which is probably the point at which the checkbook came out to make this all go away as they got ready to officially give the obvious thumbs-up to a Frozen sequel.

Source: https://deadline.com/2015/06/frozen-law ... 201456048/

With the settlement, Disney can fully move forward with the planned Frozen sequel.

Source: https://ew.com/article/2015/06/25/disne ... ettlement/


By the way, here are more details about why Disney lost the second attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed, for anyone interested: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-e ... eat-789593

[D82]

New TV spot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgFVS2CmjEE

[D82]

Another TV spot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jle6UnrhD1Q

[DisneyFan09]

Introducing Onward Featurette
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di1DPydyqdk

[D82]

^Nice featurette. Only one month until the release. I can't wait to see it!

[D82]

Brandi Carlile to Sing End Credits Song for Disney and Pixar's ONWARD
https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/art ... D-20200212

Five-time GRAMMY® Award-winning singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile has been tapped to perform an emotionally poignant song, "Carried Me With You," for the end credits of the upcoming Disney and Pixar film "Onward." The song is written and produced by Carlile, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth, for the original motion picture soundtrack, available digitally from Walt Disney Records on Feb. 28.

"'Carried Me With You. is a song about not taking love for granted-accepting love even when you don't feel like you deserve it," said Carlile. "It's absolutely wonderful to be a part of a Pixar film! I can't wait for my little girls to see it! It'll no doubt have all the wonder, imagination and creative life lessons our family has come to love about Pixar films."

[Sotiris]

Onward is projected to open at $44 million.

https://deadline.com/2020/02/onward-inv ... 202859288/

[Disney's Divinity]

Is Onward about to release?! I thought this was coming later in the year, or at least around summer. I guess it doesn't matter, I'm not seeing it in theaters anyway.

[Sotiris]

Exhibitor-exclusive posters.

https://twitter.com/IMAX/status/1228006780254347264
https://twitter.com/RealD3D/status/1228018298261893121
https://twitter.com/DolbyCinema/status/ ... 4405143553

[blackcauldron85]

Is Onward about to release?! I thought this was coming later in the year, or at least around summer.

Yeah, Onward = March, Soul = summer

[Disney's Divinity]

Oh, wow, Soul's coming out this year? I guess I'm used to 1 PIXAR / 1 Disney or 2 PIXAR / 0 Disney films a year. Feels weird for them to be releasing three in one year, but I guess they want to combat all that talk about how they only make sequels anymore. Onward is pretty close after Mulan, too; I would think those two would be appealing to the same audience.

[Farerb]

Oh, wow, Soul's coming out this year? I guess I'm used to 1 PIXAR / 1 Disney or 2 PIXAR / 0 Disney films a year. Feels weird for them to be releasing three in one year, but I guess they want to combat all that talk about how they only make sequels anymore. Onward is pretty close after Mulan, too; I would think those two would be appealing to the same audience.

Zootopia, Finding Dory and Moana were all released in 2016. Unless you don't count that cause Dory is a sequel/spin off.

[JeanGreyForever]

Zootopia, Finding Dory and Moana were all released in 2016. Unless you don't count that cause Dory is a sequel/spin off.

And that's not even factoring in all the live-action remakes we got that year like The Jungle Book, Alice Through the Looking Glass, and Pete's Dragon.

[D82]

Onward is projected to open at $44 million.

https://deadline.com/2020/02/onward-inv ... 202859288/

That's just slightly higher than the opening of The Good Dinosaur, but it could be worse. I'm more nervous about the quality of the movie itself. It looks good to me so far, but the time of the year they've chosen to release it makes me think they maybe don't have much faith in it, as I've previously mentioned. However, I've seen that it will premiere at the Berlin Film Festival one week before it is released in the US. That probably means Disney will allow journalists to publish their reviews (or at least their first reactions) by then, which looks like a good sign. If the film was very bad, the review embargo wouldn't be lifted until much closer to the day of the release. We'll see.

Onward is pretty close after Mulan, too; I would think those two would be appealing to the same audience.

Yeah, I hadn't realized that until the other day either, they're less than a month apart from each other. And The Call of the Wild from Fox is released just two weeks before Onward. Disney has so many films to distribute now that they're starting to compete with themselves lately.

[Farerb]

I called the Onwards and Mulan situation back in June:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30999&p=721302&hili ... an#p721302

Also I don't think Pixar has faith in Onwards. The last time they released two films in one year was 2015 and we all know what they think about The Good Dinosaur. Onwards is going to be released in the same month as Mulan's remake, I wonder why?!?