Pixar

Why Pixar Doesn’t Have a ‘Mission Statement’

mission statement

“Why the president of Pixar doesn’t believe in mission statements” – from Simone Stolzoff at Quartz:

Mission statements get plastered on office walls and then forgotten about, which is why Ed Catmull, the president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, doesn’t believe in them.

At messaging company Slack’s annual summit last week, Catmull told the crowd that Pixar, which he cofounded, doesn’t have a mission statement. “When you come up with a mission statement, you come up with an answer,” Catmull said. “And an answer is the wrong place to start a discussion.”

If you’ve been following the recent controversies surrounding Pixar and its treatment of employees, you have cause to be worried about the future of the animation studio. But the above is a good point for Catmull to make. He explains that any “mission statement” for a business should be an “ongoing dialogue among employees,” as Stolzoff describes it.

Go on…Why Pixar Doesn’t Have a ‘Mission Statement’

This New ‘Incredibles 2’ Short Film Is About Edna and Jack Jack

auntie edna

Yesterday on Twitter, Incredibles 2 director Brad Bird teased the release of a new short film that will reveal what took place the night Edna Mode babysat Jack Jack.

Fans of the movie should remember about midway through the film, a weary Mr. Incredible handed Jack Jack off to an unassuming Edna Mode for a night off, only to find both characters in transformed spirits the morning after. So…what happened?

Go on…This New ‘Incredibles 2’ Short Film Is About Edna and Jack Jack

Comic: Boo and Randall, Meet Lilo and Stitch

boo and randall

“Lizard of Badness” comic made by DeviantArtist coffeebandit, who has made a few other humorous mashups of Pixar characters, many of them centered around the Monsters Inc. antagonist.

For example, “what if” Randall was at one point Violet’s monster? One invisibility powered hero meets an invisibility powered villain.

violet and randall

You can view the artist’s full collection here. I definitely recommend.

 

Surprise, ‘Incredibles 2’ Is Pixar’s Biggest Box Office Hit Ever

incredibles 2

What does the success of Incredibles 2 mean for Pixar, Disney, and everyone else? Especially if they didn’t love the studio’s latest sequel? 

From Jessica Rawden at Cinemablend:

Previously, that accolade went to Finding Dory, a movie that grossed a little bit over $486 million domestically and a little over a billion worldwide. Incredibles 2 has been a much bigger winner domestically, making more than $602 million in North America and another $562.5 million worldwide. It’s current total has it at $1,164,826,913 (via Box Office Mojo), which means it has topped the movie that just kept swimming to become Pixar’s highest grosser. It’s also notable because a few weeks ago, the sequel was already the first animated movie to gross over $500 million domestically, and now it’s north of $600 million.

As Rawden mentions, Frozen is still the highest grossing animated film of all time, but Incredibles 2 is hot on its heels, just recently surpassing Minions.

Now, box office only says so much about the quality of a film, but it does paint a compelling picture, one that at this point can’t be denied. In order for Pixar to maintain their high standards with original content, they made the controversial decision to bank on sequels over a decade back. We now see Finding Dory and Incredibles 2 to be among the most profitable films of all time, animated or otherwise, and on the horizon there’s Toy Story 4 and a slew of original stories essentially funded by this box office success.

Go on…Surprise, ‘Incredibles 2’ Is Pixar’s Biggest Box Office Hit Ever

Snarcasm: A Bug’s Life vs. Antz vs. the Rest of Us

bugs life

It’s been 20 years since 1998, and you know what that means! Blog posts about films from 20 years ago / 1998!

And there are some great stories to pick from. Eight-year-old Jon Negroni was too busy stuffing his face with Warheads (the candy, dummy) on multiple schoolyard dares, so he/me didn’t get a chance to litigate the Antz vs. A Bug’s Life debate, unless you count my Hopper alarm clock as a stake in what is obviously a very petty fight between DreamWorks and Pixar that has never officially ended.

That’s where Bill Bradley comes in, writing for Huffpost Culture, and aside from having a name that would make Lois Lane blush, BB has the serious press credentials necessary to remind you why it’s pointless arguing about two movies that are barely similar where it counts, but similar enough where it generates heated arguments based on grudges that don’t really affect you in real life. So, the internet, basically.

Go on…Snarcasm: A Bug’s Life vs. Antz vs. the Rest of Us

Some of the Best Pixar Video Essays You Can Watch Right Now

From Will DiGravio at Film School Rejects:

If you’re reading this website, or live on this planet, I don’t need to explain to you why Pixar is worthy of its own video essay guide. In fact, I am probably doing Pixar and its body of work a disservice by lumping them all into one guide. All I will say is: Here are five video essays about Pixar you should watch.

Will’s list is wonderful (and his previous video essay guide for “your favorite cartoons” is also worth a look).

There’s a lot in these videos some of you super fans will no doubt have heard before, like how Pixar uses music to make us cry, or how the animation studio pays homage to classic films.

Go on…Some of the Best Pixar Video Essays You Can Watch Right Now

Snarcasm: This WALL-E Theory Makes So Much Sense That It Doesn’t

wall-e theory

Snarcasm is an editorial column I do when I read something so upsetting, I have to publish something snarky and sarcastic about it. Thanks for indulging, and definitely take everything you’re about to read incredibly seriously.

Hi. Fan theories are both the best and the worst. Kind of like people! But you can’t say the same about Pixar’s WALL-E, a triumph of animated cinema about the reckless, capitalist dangers of mankind passively wreaking havoc on the environ—

“Sinister WALL-E fan theory will change the way you watch the sweet Pixar film forever”

Oh, OK. I forgot we were watching this “sweet Pixar film” all wrong. How, exactly, was WALL-E some sort of overtly nice and go-lucky tale, considering all the dystopian apocalyptic subject matter?

Go on…Snarcasm: This WALL-E Theory Makes So Much Sense That It Doesn’t