Just another Disney Post

So I've been snooping around the net trying to scrounge up all the animation news possible, and there's some really great stuff going around. First up is this CNBC article on the buyout, complete with a video interview of Pixar CEO Steve Jobs and Disney CEO Bob Iger, talking about the Pixar buyout. It's a really good interview, I suggest you check it out.

Some of the hilights:
"Who brought it (the buyout of the entire company) up first?"
Iger: "I don't think it's necessary to focus on the details."

"Is it (the Pixar buyout) a reflection of your own concerns about the animation pipelines or weakness at Disney in that area?"
Iger: "It's a reflection of my confidence in the management at pixar the the people who work here."

When asked about the concerns of the two cultures mixing, Steve Jobs replied,
"We're convinced that Bob really understands Pixar."

"We've (Bob Iger and Steve Jobs) spent most of our time talking about the cultural issues. You know, the economic issues were a fairly small percent of the time."

When asked about if Pixar and Disney will remain a seperate entity, Steve replied,

"You know, that way our films have been marketed for the last many years, of course has been Disney-Pixar, and I think you're going to see that continue because I think both brands have a lot of equity. It'd be foolish to throw that all away."

One more thing is that Iger mentions that John Lasseter has a contract with Pixar until 2011, and is still in place after the buyout.

Steve Jobs is definetly right when he says "It's going to be a pretty exciting world looking ahead to the next five years."

I won't spoil the rest, and the video cuts out a few times (accompanied by funny yells) but check it out, it's worth a watch. Stupid ad before the video, though.

There's also a conference call posted on Pixar's site (audio only) about the buyout. Also worth checking out.

Also pretty cool is that the Annie awards happening today. Up for best feature are Chicken Little – Walt Disney Feature Animation

Corpse Bride, Howl’s Moving Castle, Madagascar, and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Of note Milch was nominated for an Annie for best short film, unlike the oscar category.

I think it's also really cool that Psychonauts is nominated for the best animated video game, and that 4 out of 5 of the character animator nominations are for Wallace and Gromit (the last being for Narnia).

Anyways, check out the full list here.

If you haven't already heard about the Oscar nominations, I'm pretty excited about the fact that no CG films were nominated, only two stop-motion and one traditionally animated in Wallace and Gromit, Corpse Bride, and Howl's Moving Castle.

The short film category is pretty awesome, mainly because I've actually seen so many of them! Badgered, The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation (by John Canemaker, that was screened at Ottawa this year), The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (also screened at Ottawa and was flippin' great! - Check out the trailer here), Shane Acker's awesome film, 9, and Pixar's One Man Band. I would not be able to pick a winner out of that list...

I believe Ed Catmull is receiving a Technical Oscar today. He definetly deserves it.

Another surprise is Keira Knightley for Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Not that I'm complaining, it's just a surprise.

The full oscar nominees list is here.

I wanted to take the time to thank those who have visited, commented, and even linked to my blog (Randeep, Kelly, Sam, Andrew, Robin, and Eric. You guys are champs.(Sorry if I forgot anyone!)) I'll try to update every day with something. I definetly love animation blogs.

I also wanted to point you towards all the links on the sidebar at the right. I really try to update them every time I post, and I'm sure you'll find something delightful in my mass of links. I know the list is getting long, but there's so much goodness going around.