Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I have nothing to add to this exhaustive report, except to say that Brad Bird rocks the house and if I have to wait until 2004 for his next film, I may go stark raving mad. Otherwise, nice work.
Hi Harry,
This is your pal in Room A113. You recently published an article titled " Pixar's Latest Schedule... No 2004 film...". This is not true. The source you quoted for this article was Pixar's 10-K, and Pixar has made virtually the same statements it's 10-K's about every one of it's films. A statement such as "due to the strain on our personnel from the effort required for creative development of a new film it is possible that we would be unable to release a successive new film in 20XX, blah, blah blah" is just lawyer-speak to get Pixar off the hook from lawsuits by angry shareholders if Pixar has to slip a release date.
Pixar held their Annual Shareholders meeting on Friday, September 14th and gave out the following information (as written by Anastasia-X at Yahoo):
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Steve Jobs (Pixar CEO) gave a summary of where Pixar is today
+ Pixar now has over 600 employees. The staff has been increased in order to meet current production schedules.
+ The studio in Emeryville was fully bought and paid for using profits from A Bug's Life
+ Pixar has approximately 276 million dollars in cash and zero debt
+ Monster's Incorporated is on schedule to release on November 2nd
+ Finding Nemo is in production and will be released during the summer of 2003
+ Brad Bird's first Pixar film releases in 2004
+ John Lasseter's next film releases in 2005
+ In 2005 the Disney contract will be completed
Steve talked a little about the end of the Disney contract in 2005
+ Indicated that Pixar has a great relationship with Disney
+ Indicated that, in 2005, they might like to negotiate a new contract with Disney
+ Indicated that Pixar has large cash reserves and hopes to continue releasing quality movies
+ Indicated that if all goes well then they will be negotiating from a very good position
+ Indicated that Disney was not the only possible partner
* I don't recall if he mentioned whether or not Pixar would consider going it alone
Steve then talked about Monster's Inc. and introduced Disney's marketing campaign
+ Will have the biggest marketing campaign in Disney's history (Approx. $175Mil)
+ Months of October and November will be "Monsterized". (Restaurants, stores, theaters, etc.)
+ Promotional partners include: Pepsi, Kellogs, Kraft, Frito Lay, Tropicana, Dreyers
+ Promotional partners include: Toys R Us, Wal Mart, Hasbro
+ Promotional partners include: McDonald's and Knight Ridder
+ Over one hundred thousand displays containing Monster's Inc. merchandise presented nationwide
+ Over three hundred fifty million products will carry the Monster's Inc. logo
+ Some items are already beginning to roll out
+ Peter Doctor is the Director of Monsters. (Studied under John Lasseter for over 10 years)
+ Monster's is a great film, second to none of Pixar's prior films
Steve gave the audience a 10-minute sneak peek of Monster's Inc.
+ The animation is a small leap beyond that shown in Toy Story 2
+ The characters are fairly likeable and fun to watch
+ The story is very creative and will be fun for both parents and children
+ The audience gave forth a few hardy laughs (but not as many as the TS2 sneak peek)
(IMHO, Monsters Inc. will be a blockbuster and will be one of the top releases during the holidays - A.)
