Monday, October 17, 2011

Not Forced On Him

... by the House of Mouse.

John Lasseter talks to the Times and says he makes what he wants to make.

... [O]ne matter [Mr. Lasseter] addressed head-on was the assumption by some that “Cars 2” had been forced out of him by Pixar’s corporate parent, the Walt Disney Company, as a greedy grab for sales of related merchandise, a central current of the negative reviews.

“I don’t know what to say about that,” he said. “Well, I guess I do. It’s not true. It’s people who don’t know the facts, rushing to judge. I recognize my place in the Walt Disney Company, but my job, my focus, my deepest desire is to entertain people by making great movies, and we did that with ‘Cars 2.’ ” ...

So have we got that, ladies and gents? John Lasseter loves Cars, loves the franchise, and did #2 of his own free will.

So it ain't the evil conglomerate, it's the creative head of the animation division. And the picture made half a billion dollars so who are we to judge? (Also, just so you know, I have no opinion on the matter as I've never seen the Cars features.)

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a load of bull-honky and everybody knows it. No way is Lasseter going to admit that Disney is pushing Pixar to do sequels of many of it's films. And remember Disney is in the 'money making business' not the 'entertain people by making great movies' business. It was a cash grab pure and simple. And like Cars 2, the new Monsters film is heading down the same road. Just hope Pete Docter can pull a better story out of his hat.

Anonymous said...

I know some Lasseter fan-boys, who don't love the Cars kiddie movies, want to assume that the corporate masters forced the creation of Cars 2 (and Planes, and the other spin-offs that are coming), but the truth is that Cars was Lasseter's personal project, more than any film he's made. He adores the franchise and is eager to continue to explore it. I know this because I've worked on one of those spin-offs, and I've seen John's enthusiasm.

John's in the lucky position of doing whatever he wants, and so far always making money with it.

Anonymous said...

Big deal. Disney forced them to make Toy Story 2 and 3 but those were actually good movies. I believe he likes Cars 2 just as much as the Tinkerbell DVDs he's been shilling. And oh yeah he has also made Disney a mecca for artists as awesome as Pixar!!!

Anonymous said...

Since when did people who don't have the first clue what they're talking about speak with so much authority? Oh yeah, since the internet.

Here's some friendly advice from a working pro to an oddly bitter fanboy: enjoy these movies for what they are, and get out of the house and off the internet more. You'll look back in 5 years and thank me.

Anonymous said...

<>
BRAVO!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Disney has ALWAYS been in the business to make Money. Even Walt. It's what they DO with the money that will continue to count...and for all the griping, I don't hear anyone hoping David Stainton comes back to run Disney Feature Animation. Disney's less in the "animation" business than it is in the "great film" business--as it has always been. Here's hoping they spend their money wisely on great stories with great characters.

Anonymous said...

WDAS has a great lineup of films, for what it's worth. That makes me happy at least. Seems like Pixar and Disney might be swapping their creative roles a bit, with Poxar being safe and Disney taking chances

Anonymous said...

Poxar. I like that.

Anonymous said...

Got to love unintentionally hilarious typos.

Mesterius said...

Only 9 comments so far?? Come on, people! I wanna see unverified gossip and boiling discussions between 200 anonymous commenters! Why do you think I come to this site?

Anonymous said...

No one forced Lesseter to make Cars 2.
It was his own choice when he decided he wanted to make millions of dollars in exchange for a formulaic sequel. (-"Here at Pixar we only care about, story, story and story. Of course that comes just after money, money and money"- JL)
You can't never be rich enough. even when you only spend money in hawaiian shirts and toys.
Ka-shing!

Anonymous said...

If they want to continue exploiting, I mean, exploring the worlds of their own films, why not make Incredibles 2? That was one film that practically SCREAMED sequel.

Mesterius said...

"No one forced Lesseter to make Cars 2.
It was his own choice when he decided he wanted to make millions of dollars in exchange for a formulaic sequel."

Speculate about the motivations for making Cars 2 as much as you want, but that sequel was not formulaic. It was completely different from the first movie in terms of story, style and tone. The only major similarity between Cars and Cars 2 is that they're both pretty mediocre compared to most of Pixar's other output.

el diablo said...

Not all of us are gulible enough to believe John's claims. I stopped believing in Santa Claus, the easter bunny and faeries loooong ago....

d.

Jonathan Lyons said...

Remember, the man has hundreds, if not thousands of employees depending on him to make sound business decisions.

Anonymous said...

@Mesterius

Cars 2 was completely formulaic, just a different formula from the first one. Bumbling idiot is mistaken for a spy - yeah never been done.

The sad thing is that Mater's Tall Tales are better.

Anonymous said...

There will be no Incredibles sequel anytime soon, as according to the trades Brad Bird is busy lining up his next few live action films (as is Andrew Stanton).

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute...you assume the decision to do an Incredibles sequel depends on whether Bird is available to direct it?
LOL....sorry, but I doubt it even depends on whether he likes the idea or not, though if DISNEY and JL decide it's in the company's best interests to do a sequel they will probably compensate Bird enough so he doesn't shoot his mouth off in the press. Obviously he can be bought or he wouldn't have done MI 25 or whatever it is.

Anonymous said...

Last thing The Incredibles needs is a sequel. It was a unique story that would be turned into a superhero cliche if a sequel was made.

Anonymous said...

So there was a screening of Brave recently (a rather disappointed-sounding review was posted and then removed from AICN last night). Anyone here see that? Anyone who's seen the Chapman version know how this version differs/compares?

Anonymous said...

What did the review say?

Steve Hulett said...

Ah. So there you go.

An early screening. With early reactions.

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