Movieline claims that Pixar is currently developing Planes, a feature-length semi-sequel/spinoff of Cars, with plans to release it direct to home video. The various aircraft seen in Cars would take center stage.The idea of Pixar doing direct-to-video sequels or spinoffs is astounding for long-time watchers of the studio. On the face of it, it doesn't sound like anything the studio would do. To many, direct-to-video is synonymous with low-quality flicks made only for the money, and members of Pixar's "brain trust" said as much about the cheap direct-to-video releases Disney put out in '90s.
But at the same time, it's a very intriguing idea. Like it or not, Pixar is part of The Walt Disney Company and must create value for shareholders. Profitable direct-to-video releases are an excellent way of doing that.
But Pixar must go about it very carefully, as you can be sure they would. Any deterioration of quality —real or perceived— could be extremely damaging to the Pixar brand. A direct-to-video release would inevitably be measured against the studio's previous theatrical successes.
If the story is correct, Planes would most likely be produced at Pixar Canada, the Vancouver satellite charged with developing ancillary releases based on legacy characters from Pixar's feature films. A great opportunity for the artists there to grow creatively.
It's possible that Planes could be one of those "half-hour television specials" Ed Catmull suggested Pixar Canada could do; the Disney Channel or ABC could be great venues. But a television special would be far less lucrative.
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Think about Prep & Landing. It was a WDA venture but still part of the animation group. That was a very satisfying 30 minutes for me (except the commercials). It was a 30 minute story and would not have made a good feature film.
So there is a niche that needs to be filled with stories that are developed that are more than a short (10 minutes) to a feature film in the 90-120 minutes. If done right it would be awesome.
Disney / Pixar may be finding too that shorts are not proving to be an adequate proving grounds for developing future directors. Having something in the middle will help further develop talent as they work out succession plans for the current generation of artists and technicians. I hope they do because I want more than 11 great films. I want 111 at whatever length of time they take.
Wow pixar sure is doing alot!!
PIXAR is NOT doing "Planes".
Hm, I can see it being a 30 min special setup instead of a feature length setup for many of the same reasons SLC mentions.
Though they gotta be careful I think too, each time I see how succcesful Cars has been it makes me sad that A Bug's Life has become the black sheep of the Pixar family.
I'm sorry, but this is incredibly scary. This can't do anything but water down the quality of Pixar's productions. I hope Pixar's core of creative talent can keep things on track without too much interference from Disney in the name of "shareholder value." The highest-grossing movie of the year isn't good enough?
Any direct to video will destroy the Pixar brand.
Direct to video is one reason Disney animation tanked.
If true it is the start of the disneyfication and dilution of the Pixar brand.
If this really is going to be a television special, than I think it could be great. The expectations aren't as high as they would be for a feature film, so they could tell an interesting story on a smaller budget and still create an entertaining project.
IF, however, this is going to be a feature length direct-to-video movie with the purpose of being a cheap way to make extra money, then I'm a little concerned. Even if it turns out to be very good, it could still be a problem in the long run. Expectations are very different for full-length movies than they are for shorts, and even a slight loss of quality could start registering doubt in Pixar from viewers. Disney's direct-to-video sequels didn't start off terrible, but as they went along less and less effort was put into them, and I think the reason Disney has had so much trouble with their animation department this past decade is largely because people stopped taking them seriously after the cheapquels.
Anyway, that's more worst-case scenario. I'm sure that both Disney and Pixar have learned from Disney's mistakes, and any efforts at restarting direct-to-video sequels would be handled differently. Direct-to-video has a bad reputation now, but then so did theatrical sequels, and Pixar is currently doing an excellent job at changing peoples minds as to what a good sequel should be.
The last 3 pieces of news on this site have been disheartening. :[
I trust Pixar; They won't mess this up. This happens at least once every year. Pixar announces some new project or film or something. If it even looks the slight bit questionable, people start thinking that this is Pixar's first bad move. Case in point: Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, and Toy Story 3. Early on during the public announcements of these films, people could only think about how they could fail. I'm sure people had similar thoughts about Cars and the Cars Toons, too. See how those turned out? Not bad, right?
Now, with the announcement of Cars 2, Monsters Inc. 2, this "Planes" film, and other things like a 3D Ratatouille, it's the same thing all over again.
Now, the comment I wantd to make:
Wouldn't it be cool if some of the planes from this video made a cameo appearance, with the same voice actors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFZaodOnfJ0 ? The video in question is an ad called "You Pay, Corporate Jets Play", with anthropomorphic planes in the style of Pixar's Cars.
@SLC: I agree that a large part of their reason for this is developing rising talent, but I wish they used these short, relatively inexpensive projects to try out hi-risk ideas, not pump out sure-fire, but creatively dull, money-makers.
Yikes. Is Disney management picking up where Michael Eisner left off? And isn't that part of why Eisner was let go?
Too bad Roy Jr. isn't around to talk sense into anyone.
EVERYBODY RATE "TOY STORY 3" WITH 10 STARS ON IMDb!!! IT WAS THE 6th HIGHRATED FILM OF ALLTIME AND NOW IT IS THE SEVENTH!!!
Sorry folks, but as great as Pixar is. They are no longer the ArtHouse studio we want them to be. They've had 10 films to build up their rep in the industry, very few people will question their abilities now. With that, they need to please the shareholders and bring in money to keep the suits happy.
I am personally fine with them doing a Direct-To-Video project as long as it's done well. The problem with the Disney sequels is they were outsourced, rushed production and were super low-budget. If Pixar keep the animation/story/development in house then there is no reason it shouldn't be enjoyable.
Ugh. Cars was decent, but I don't even want a sequel, much less a pointless spin-off. What a waste of talent.
Why is Pixar suddenly making a ton of sequels all the sudden? What do they think they're doing? Where has their creativity gone? Toy Story 3 is the beginning of Pixar's downfall, I shouldn't wonder. Direct-to-video sequels, faugh!
Direct to home video does not mean low-quality. It's a new era and the theaters are no longer the only legitimate outlet for this media. If you've seen Disney's TinkerBell features (especially the second), then you already know that.
From #61 to #57 this week (http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross?region=world-wide)...Not only TS3 won't pass "Finding Nemo", I am afraid that it wan't manage to pass "Up"...
The "Planes" movie is not being made by Pixar...it's being developed and produced at DTS and John Lassester is in charge of that division. A Disney director has been attached and they've been working on it for over a year. The only connection to Pixar is that JL involves some of his story people to help out. It's the same way he runs the Tinker Bell franchise.
I've heard from a very reliable source inside the studio that this is, in fact, NOT being done by Pixar. It is a WDAS production, much in the same line that Prep and Landing was.
Why would they wrote that Pixar made it, if it is not. Anyway it is a great movie and my kids love it.
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