February 04, 2004 - Too good to be true? Well, today's Hollywood Reporter reveals that Pixar Animation Studios and Marvel Enterprises have held meetings to discuss a potential partnership. Marvel's wealth of ripe-for-development comic properties and Pixar's awesome animation and storytelling artistry would be an insanely cool combo.
THR quotes Marvel vice chairman Peter Cuneo as saying, "Pixar has an incredible record," referring to the studio's five blockbuster films for Disney.
This news comes on the heels of reports that Disney and Pixar's partnership is ending, after contract renewal talks went south last week. Regarding the breakup, Pixar honcho Steve Jobs said in a statement, "After 10 months of trying to strike a deal with Disney we're moving on. We've had a great run together – one of the most successful in Hollywood history – and it's a shame that Disney won't be participating in Pixar's future successes." No new distribution deal is expected just yet, but you can bet that studios like Warner Bros. and Fox are trying to work it out.
Pixar has a flawless track record and it'd be interesting to see them tackle something so tonally different from the film's they've made thus far – a non-comedic, CG-animated project based on a Marvel property. Fantastic Four, The Sub-Mariner, and Captain America are just a few promising titles that come to mind.
There's no word on how serious the talks are getting between the two entities, but we'll keep you posted. One thing is certain, the sky's the limit for John Lasseter and his creative crew now that they're free of Eisner's corporate clutches.
I almost crap in my pants, reading that, hehehe Marvel Comics.. Mmmmmmm
I don't know - I'm having trouble digesting this idea since the last Marvel movie I saw was "Daredevil" - I simply can't think of that movie within 30 minutes of thinking of any one of the Pixar movies ....
I think this is idea is both excellent and odd. Excellent because I've loved all of the Marvel comics film adaptations and I love Pixar, but odd because Pixar thus far has been known for their original story ideas. If they team with Marvel, they'll be making CGI adaptations of their comics as opposed to original films like when they started out. At the same, though, I'd really like to see Pixar adapt SOMETHING just to see how they'd do it (I've wanted to see them do the Narnia books, but that's being turned into a Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings type of live action film franchise, so that's out). In the end, though, I don't think the teaming up will happen unless Pixar finds some sort of partial contract where they can do stuff for Marvel but also do stuff for another studio.
I think now that Pixar are splitting from Disney, they want to do something that will be a co-production (share the cost) and feature well known characters (so the story and design work can be speeded up).
Basically, they need to get something out soon(ish) to bring money in. They may have a large stock pile of money and have reported their biggest profits ever, but any company has to have a constant stream of money coming in to remain viable. Remember, Lucasfilm had not only Star Wars money coming in, but also money from their THX, Skywalker sound and ILM faclilities for years and years before the prequels were made.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are more meetings with other owners of existing characters in the near future...
ohmahaaha wrote:I don't know - I'm having trouble digesting this idea since the last Marvel movie I saw was "Daredevil" - I simply can't think of that movie within 30 minutes of thinking of any one of the Pixar movies ....
Neat. Maby it will make Eisner appreciate them more no that Pixar has left Disney.
"I have this tremendous energy. I just loved and love life. I love it today. I never want to die."
~Jayne Meadows Allen~
