Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar Animation Studios is a pioneering force in the world of computer-animated films, known for its innovative technology and compelling storytelling. Founded in 1979 as part of Lucasfilm, Pixar achieved a groundbreaking milestone with the release of "Toy Story" in 1995, the first-ever feature-length computer-animated film. The studio's partnership with Walt Disney Productions facilitated the creation of numerous iconic films, including "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles," and "Up," all of which received critical acclaim and numerous awards, including multiple Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature.
Despite its acquisition by Disney in 2006, Pixar has maintained its creative independence while continuing to produce successful films that resonate with audiences of all ages. The studio's commitment to exploring complex themes—such as friendship, responsibility, and the cycle of life—has garnered both commercial success and critical respect. Throughout the 2010s and into the 2020s, Pixar has released several sequels and original titles, such as "Coco," "Luca," and "Turning Red," further solidifying its reputation as a leader in animated storytelling. With its proprietary rendering software, RenderMan, Pixar has set industry standards for animation quality, influencing many other studios and advancing the medium of computer animation into a respected art form.
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Pixar Animation Studios
Through breakthrough technology and powerful storytelling, Pixar Animation Studios revolutionized computer-animated films in the 1990s when it released the first computer-animated feature film. The studio’s films have made billions of dollars worldwide, garnered several film industry awards, and created cultural icons of their characters. Despite being acquired by Walt Disney Pictures in 2006, Pixar remained an independent entity.
Founded in 1979 as part of the Computer Division of the Lucasfilm production company, Pixar subsequently grew into one of the most successful studios in the history of cinema. After years of producing commercials and short films, Pixar released its first feature film, Toy Story, in 1995, which was also the first feature-length computer-animated film. A distribution deal with Walt Disney Productions (also known as Walt Disney Pictures) allowed Pixar to continue producing films and shorts, including A Bug's Life (1998) and Toy Story 2 (1999), which broke box-office opening weekend records in the United States when it was released.
Pixar’s first film of the 2000s was Monsters Inc. (2001), a film about monsters who harvest the screams of children as their energy source. The commercial and critical success of this film helped Pixar expand to more than six hundred employees. It also won Pixar an Academy Award of Merit for significant advances in the field of motion picture rendering. This was followed in 2003 with Finding Nemo, about a tropical fish and his son, which broke box-office opening weekend records and won an Academy Award for best animated feature. Pixar broke its previous box-office records in 2004 with The Incredibles, about a family of superheroes. This also won the Academy Award for best animated feature. In 2006, Pixar released Cars, in which all of the characters were vehicles. That same year Walt Disney Productions purchased Pixar, and part of the agreement was that Pixar would be allowed a measure of independence in their film output and in their employee regulations. In 2007, the studio released Ratatouille, which revolved around a rat who dreamed of being a chef, and was followed by WALL-E in 2008 and Up in 2009, all three of which also won Academy Awards for best animated feature. Up was also the second animated film in history to be nominated for best picture and was the best-reviewed film of 2009.
The studio released Toy Story 3 in 2010 and Cars 2 in 2011, followed in 2012 by Brave, which won the Academy, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Awards for best animated feature film. A follow-up to Monsters Inc., called Monsters University, premiered in 2013. The 2015 Pixar animated film Inside Out grossed US$90.4 million on its opening weekend, making it the highest opening for an original title at the time. Inside Out won a number of awards, including a BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, Critics' Choice Award, Satellite Award, and Academy Award. The Good Dinosaur, released in November 2015, grossed US$332.2 million worldwide, making it Pixar's lowest-grossing film at the time of its release although it had received positive reviews from critics.
Alongside their breakthrough visual effects and animation, Pixar’s films earned critical acclaim for their mature handling of serious themes such as friendship, responsibility, and commitment. In particular, Up, which centers on an elderly widower learning to enjoy life again, was applauded for the ways in which it addressed death. In 2015, Pixar made its proprietary photorealistic 3D rendering software, RenderMan, available for free for noncommercial uses.
Pixar remained prolific through the remainder of the 2010s. In 2016 released a sequel to Finding Nemo, called Finding Dory, which set a record as the highest-grossing animated film opening in North America up to that point. Other sequels, including The Incredibles 2 (2018) andToy Story 4 (2019), also became some of the studio's biggest commercial successes to date. While some of Pixar's biggest hits in the second half of the decade were sequels to earlier films, it also found tremendous success with 2017's Coco. In addition to earning nearly $808 million at the box office, the film was praised for its sensitive treatment of Mexican culture and age-appropriate exploration of themes such as death. The film won best animated feature at that year's Academy Awards.
The 2020s saw the studio pursue a number of new projects. Luca (2021), which tells the story of a young sea monster, was also nominated for best animated feature, but ultimately did not win. In 2022 Pixar released Lightyear, a spin-off to the Toy Story series, as well as Turning Red, which was nominated for the Academy Award for best animated feature. In 2023, Pixar released Elemental, an animated romantic comedy drama, and in 2024 Inside Out 2 bringing back the characters Joy, Sadness, Fear, and Disgust.
Impact
Pixar set new standards for computer-animated films throughout the 2000s. The studio advanced animation technology and also proved computer animation was a respected medium that could be utilized to tell a sophisticated story capable of engaging both children and adults. Its RenderMan computer software has become a film industry standard for computer-animated visual effects. Following Pixar’s success, several film studios started their own computer animation branches. With the backing of its owner Disney, Pixar's films continued to find critical and commercial success into the 2020s, allowing the company to retain its status as one of the world's leading animated film studios.
Bibliography
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Galicza, Natalia. "Pixar Movies Used to Be the Best. Why Is Pixar Struggling? Deseret News, 7 Oct. 2023, www.deseret.com/entertainment/2023/10/7/23874660/pixar-animation-studio-crisis/. Accessed 22 May 2024.
Levy, Lawrence. To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.
"Our Story." Pixar, www.pixar.com/our-story-pixar. Accessed 22 May 2024.
Paik, Karen. To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios. Chronicle Books, 2007.
Price, David A. The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company. Vintage, 2009.