Pixar

1. Pixar By: Sara Baker

2. Information • Pixar animation studios is an American computer animation film studio • Known for its CGI animated feature films created with PhotoRealisticRenderMan • Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm before its spin-out as a corporation in 1986 with funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder

3. Movies • The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion, a transaction which made Jobs Disney's largest shareholder • Pixar has produced thirteen feature films : • Toy Story (1995) • A Bug’s Life (1998) • Toy Story 2 (1999) • Monsters Inc. (2001) • Finding Nemo (2003) • The Incredibles (2004) • Cars (2006) • Ratatoullie (2007) • WALL-E (2008) • Up (2009) • Toy Story 3 (2010) • Cars 2 (2011) • Brave (2012)

4. Movies cont. • Twelve of the films have received both critical and financial success, with the notable exception being Cars 2, which, while commercially successful, received substantially less praise than Pixar's other productions • As of February 2013, its feature films have made over $7.7 billion worldwide • average worldwide gross of $596 million per film • Both Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3 are among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and all of Pixar's films are among the 50 highest-grossing animated films, with Toy Story 3 being the all-time highest, grossing over $1 billion worldwide. • The studio has earned 27 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and 11 Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgements

5. History • Pixar was founded as The Graphics Group, which was one third of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm that was launched in 1979 • In 1982, the team began working on film sequences with Industrial Light & Magic on special effects • Pixar was a high-end computer hardware company whose core product was the Pixar Image Computer, a system primarily sold to government agencies and the medical community. • As poor sales of Pixar's computers threatened to put the company out of business, • Jobs invested more and more money and took more and more ownership away from the management and employees • after several years John Lasseter owned essentially all the company for a total investment of $50 million

6. Pixar and Disney • Pixar and Disney had disagreements after the production of Toy Story 2. Originally intended as a straight-to-video release (and thus not part of Pixar's three-picture deal), • Pixar demanded that the film then be counted toward the three-picture agreement, but Disney refused • Pixar later complained that the arrangement was not equitable • Pixar was responsible for creation and production, while Disney handled marketing and distribution. • Profits and production costs were split 50-50, but Disney exclusively owned all story and sequel rights and also collected a distribution fee. • The lack of story and sequel rights was perhaps the most onerous aspect to Pixar and set the stage for a contentious relationship • Disagreements between Steve Jobs and then Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner made the negotiations more difficult than they otherwise might have been. • They broke down completely in mid-2004, with Jobs declaring that Pixar was actively seeking partners other than Disney

7. Pixar Shorts • All subsequent Pixar Feature Films have been shown along with a theatrically released Pixar-created short. • Other Pixar shorts, released only on home media, were created to showcase what Pixar can do (either technologically or cinematically), or were created specifically for a client.

8. Links • About them: http://www.pixar.com/about/Our-Story • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBH1dcHoL6Y : celebrating 25 years • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYsJTJ--uoU :history