It really was a smart move when Pixar and Disney merged with the Pixar people still being in control of what they do (with Steve Jobs the majority owner sitting on the Disney board and John Lasseter pretty much being in charge of everything). But not all is happy happy joy joy in the mouse house these days. Appearently there is some huge infighting going in between the marketing folks on the Disney side and the Pixar Side.
You see, that Pixar people are VERY unhappy with how the Disney folks handled the marketing for Ratatouille (one of the best films of the year). So, Pixar has taken their next film, WALL-E, out of their hands and will be overseeing the marketing of the film themselves. But man… it sounds like the Disney folks are NOT HAPPY about that at all. IMDB has this from an unnamed Disney source:
something that has apparently infuriated the Disney marketing staff. Hill quotes one unnamed studio insider as saying that Ratatouille “was a very difficult picture to sell during an incredibly competitive summer. … They’re now being complete bastards about the WALL-E trailer, insisting that only they know the proper way to promote their next picture. … But that’s okay. Let them call the shots on WALL-E’s marketing campaign. Next year, they’ll be the ones who’ll be taking the fall when that Andrew Stanton film doesn’t measure up to expectations.”
Ouch! I guess not is all well over at the big happy Disney/Pixar family. The folks at Disney should keep their mouths shut. While they are much bigger than Pixar… they need Pixar a whole hell of a lot more than Pixar needs them, and they’re all under one roof now so they should just learn to get along.
On the other side of things… the Disney source does have a point… as magnificent as Ratatouille was… it was a hard film to market… I mean… it’s about a Rat who cooks. How do you really pitch that? I guess the Pixar people had different ideas and thought they could have done it better… and with their track record, I’m inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. We’ll just have to wait and see how Wall-E does I guess.
After cars I think people just kind of went …. Eh it’s another one.
Although I still saw it and thought it was 10 times better then cars!
I don’t think Disney really had much to do with it.
__________________
Didn’t this “story” break from Jim Hill’s blog? From what I’ve read, you’d have a hard time fidning someone so consistantly anti-Pixar. Admittedly, it doesn’t help when all his sources appear to be Disney bean counters, which never provides a balanced picture.
Here’s a Brad Bird interview which refreshingly shows what Pixar thinks about Box Office success:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22368740-5006023,00.html
(Numbers are Australian)
Pixar knows what its doing, all of their movies are top notch, and Wall-E looks & sounds like it could be a potential masterpiece. Once a full length trailer for Wall-E is released people will start to get real excited for it. I actually like this concept for a Pixar film better than others. Does anyone know if Jeff Garlin is the only voice in the film, or are there rumors of others?
“Torture porn” is not as disgusting as an entire movie about a rat with your food. A Saw movie is more kid friendly than this animated episode of “Fear Factor”. Now if they make a sequel where the rat is cutting up those Veggie Tales and serving them up with the pig from Charlotte’s Web, that I’d see!
Yeah, I actually agree that the marketing wasn’t great on Ratatouille. I have not yet seen it. And while I trust it will be good because it’s PIXAR and they just can’t make a bad movie if they tried, none of the marketing told me not to wait till it was rentable. The marekting should be good enough that I’d rather see it soon and in theatre instead of wait and see it on dvd.
Let me provide a rebuttal though, Cars didn’t grab me into the theatre either. In fact, I just watched it this past weekend. It was good. I knew it would be. But I never felt that need to see it sooner, and that’s what their marketing needs to give me to get me there.
And just to be sure, I am certain my resistance wasn’t because the movies were ‘kids’ movies, because I saw Shrek 3 and TMNT both while they were in theatre.
It’s not hard marketing a cartoon… It’s a cartoon! You don’t market a cartoon to young adults. You market to parents and kids (hello! McDonalds!). Seriously, I don’t think Pixar will f*ck up marketing next year, and Disney will be forced to shut up.
I think that the expectations for Pixar films have gotten out of control. Everyone expects them to hit a grand slam every time. A movie about a cooking rat that makes $200 million is a pretty good hit in my opinion. Pixar has consistantly made one great movie after another without compromising themselves or having huge name stars voice their characters. I say let them keep doing what they’re doing.
The Disney Marketing rep is being a goof. For the following reasons:
* Pixar is a brand now – just mention of the name will sell tickets. Period.
* It’s a “kids” film. The animation was top notch and the story was kid-friendly. Put enough pratfalls, jokes and big reactions in a trailer, and it will draw this demographic.
* The whole “rats v. eating” thing. The only people who could validly use this are those who don’t enjoy Pixar or Animation at all – or don’t have kids. It’s not Pixar’s core market anyway – so what’s it matter? You don’t get a few jaded ‘Cinema’ snobs or a few frat boys & girls. Fine.
I loved the trailers – but I was a guaranteed B.I.S. (Butt In Seat) regardless. A moderately trained monkey with a Sharpie could have marketed this film, IMHO. Damn thing sold itself.
i thought disney did a great job of marketing ratatoiulle.
i was stoked from the first teaser that had remy talking to the camera.