Make an Argument
Why there isn’t another production company quite like Pixar
By Eric Hughes
June 23, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Well, the actuals are in. As you’re probably already aware, Toy Story 3 earned $110.3 million in three days. This bests the studio’s previous weekend warrior, The Incredibles, by about $40 million. At $110.3 million, Toy Story owns the tenth biggest weekend of all time – or second biggest if we’re discussing animated films only.
For a production company that has produced just 11 features in 15 years, I’m fairly certain it’s safe to say that there is no other studio like Pixar working in the film industry today. Here’s why:
I can count on one hand – or better yet, one finger – the number of movies Pixar releases a year
There’s something to be said of a company that releases one solid, well-liked product a year when the bigger guys around it are producing plenty of hits mixed in with a bevy of bombs. At a time when execs are more concerned with what’s in their bank accounts than what’s in, say, the middle of the Gulf of freakin’ Mexico, I find comfort in the fact that a hugely successful production studio like Pixar promotes a “one’s enough” philosophy.
As I said, Pixar has produced and released just 11 features in 15 years. Compare that to a major studio like 20th Century Fox, which has released seven movies so far this year, with 10 more on the way before 2010 is through.
Well, you say, don’t animated movies generally require more time to develop, produce and edit in post? Why yes, yes they do. Just don’t tell that to DreamWorks Animation. That studio has released two features so far this year, with one more – MegaMind – due out in November. Illumination Entertainment, which makes its debut next month with Despicable Me, has three animated flicks on tap for 2011.
Pixar is expected to buck the trend, however, in 2012 when the studio releases one movie, Brave, in the summer and another, Monsters Inc. 2, in the fall.
Money talks
Pixar wouldn’t survive on a movie a year if it weren’t for the studio’s phenomenal success at domestic and foreign box offices. Since 2001’s Monsters Inc. – and before Toy Story 3’s $110.3 million tally – six of Pixar’s seven releases scored anywhere between $60 and $70 million during their opening weekends in the States. That’s remarkably
consistent and, well, unheard of.
Yet the box office strength among Pixar films has always been in their extremely low week-to-week drop offs. Frankly, its movies have better legs than Lady Gaga. The studio’s “weakest” performer is WALL-E, which ended with a multiplier of 3.54 after a $63.1 opening weekend haul. Its best performer: Toy Story, Pixar’s debut film that ended with a tally 6.58 times greater than its opening weekend number.
As for total grosses, no movie in the Pixar family has earned less than $162 million in the States. Actually, excluding Toy Story 3, the studio averages $241.9 per movie domestically. With foreign grosses included, that number balloons to $558.6 million per picture.
Quality is job one
Since the inception of Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards beginning with the 2001 film year, every Pixar movie – seven in all – has been nominated for the prize. Of those, five went on to win the award, including an ongoing three-year winning streak.
At the Golden Globes, which has awarded a Best Animated Feature prize since the 2006 film year, Pixar is batting 1.000. Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up all won – and deservedly so.
Rotten Tomatoes paints a similar picture with the nation’s critics. Including Toy Story 3, Pixar movies average a 95% fresh rating among top critics. Cars was the least liked at 73% positive, while three of Pixar’s 11 movies scored a perfect 100% (Toy Story 3 is just barely short of that mark at 98%).
Sequel? I’ll raise you one more
An important test Pixar passed with flying colors with Toy Story 3 wasn’t mastering the sequel (it did that already with Toy Story 2), but the second sequel. As noted above, Toy Story 3 resonated with critics and fans.
I haven’t had the chance to go out and see Toy Story 3, but will do so on Sunday. This is remarkable in and of itself considering that I can probably count on my hand the number of films I’ve seen this year in theaters. If I had all the money in the world, I’d go more. But the fact is I’m far, far from that point, so a lot of my movie watching happens in my apartment.
But with Pixar, it’s different. I know, just like many others know, that I’ll be paying good money for what will likely be a great movie. And I don’t know that the same can be said of any other production company.