What’s the hottest piece of gossip that’s currently making the rounds in Tinsel Town? The news that Pixar Animation Studio recently held a test screening of “Finding Nemo” AND that the audience had a somewhat tepid response to the film.
Okay, so that’s not exactly earth-shaking news. After all, work-in-progress versions of animated films often have a tough time winning over test audiences. While some folks (myself, for example) really get off on seeing animation in the raw, there are an equal number of folks who just have trouble giving themselves over to a picture that keeps jumping back and forth from finished animation to story sketches to wire frame, etc.
So it’s not all that surprising (at least to me) to hear that a test audience wasn’t exactly won over by the work-in-progress version of “Finding Nemo.” What DID surprise me was the news about the supposed source of all these stories about how poorly that Pixar screening supposedly went. My sources keep telling me that this stories are reportedly coming straight out of the Disney lot in Burbank. To be specific, allegedly from someone who’s deep inside the Team Disney – Burbank building.
Strange but allegedly true, folks. I’ve talked with a number of folks in entertainment and financial circles over the past 10 days. And they keep telling me disturbingly similar stories. About how they were contacted by someone who’s supposedly “in the loop” at Team Disney – Burbank. How this Mouse House insider would then reportedly tell them about how “Finding Nemo” had just had a test screening and that the survey results from that screening had been “very disappointing.”
Now contrast that piece of alleged inside information with this report by Mr. Beaks (a longtime source for Harry Knowles’ funky but fun film info site, Aint-It-Cool News) who supposedly attended the very same test screening of “Finding Nemo.” (Editor’s note: Jim does, on occasion, write for Ain’t it Cool News.)
To hear that Team Disney – Burbank insider talk about that screening, “Finding Nemo” is supposedly a seriously flawed film. One that test audiences really had a problem warming up to. To hear Mr. Beaks report on the very same picture, “Nemo” reportedly still has a few rough spots but – all in all – is still a fun night at the flicks.
So who’s right here? Having not seen the picture myelf, I’m really not in a position to say. But I am genuinely troubled by the reported source of all this negative gossip about “Finding Nemo.”
You see, if this story had come out of Walt Disney Feature Animation … well, THAT I could understand. After all, the folks in WDFA-Burbank have obviously grown tired of having their collective asses kicked by the “Cal Arts Mafia.” Of having Pixar’s pictures repeatedly pull in more coin than Disney Feature Animation’s recent releases.
So if the guys at WDFA were gleefully putting out the word that Pixar’s next picture wasn’t exactly up to snuff … again, THAT is something that I could understand. Professional jealousy ain’t exactly pretty. But – at least in this one case – it’s perfectly understandable.
But my sources keep telling me that NO ONE from WDFA has contacted them about that supposedly less-than-stellar “Finding Nemo” screening. That all of their info about the disappointing audience scores that this Pixar film supposedly received at that screening had come straight from someone deep inside the Team Disney – Burbank building.
If this is really what’s happening, folks – that someone fairly high up in Disney Company management is deliberately leaking info on the QT to members of the entertainment and financial press about problems that Pixar may (or may not) be having with “Finding Nemo” – then there’s clearly a lot more going on here than meets the eye, kids.
How so? Well, let’s start with the fact that Pixar is a publicly traded company whose stock price typically rises and falls depending on the buzz that surrounds the studio’s next release. Take – for example – what happened back in the Winter of 2000 / Spring of 2001, when advance trailers for “Monsters, Inc.” first began appearing in theaters. Based on the positive perception that the public had of this forthcoming film, Pixar’s stock price began inching upwards.
Which is probably what should be happening right now, now that the advance trailer for “Finding Nemo” is out there for the whole world to see (If you’d like to take a look at the thing, you’ll find a copy tacked on to your “Monsters, Inc.” home video or DVD). But – were you to check out this morning’s Wall Street Journal – you would have seen that Pixar’s stock is currently trading at $48.14-per-share. More than $3 off of the company’s former 52 week high of $51.60-per-share.
Why – in spite of the fact that the company has a brand new film ready to roll into theaters in May 2003 (As well as the huge sales numbers that the video and DVD version of “Monsters, Inc.” has reportedly already racked up) – are sales of Pixar’s stock supposedly in a wee bit of a slump? Some Wall Street insiders point to the obvious stuff (I.E., the continuing problems with the economy, the overall dampening effect that the looming possibility of war with Iraq is having with the entire market, etc.). But still others I spoke with today told me that they were troubled by rumors that they’d heard recently about Pixar’s next picture not being as strong as “Monsters, Inc.” and “Toy Story II.” So – as you can see – bad news travels fast.
Now where this gets interesting is that – under the terms of the co-production deal that Pixar Animation Studio currently has with the Walt Disney Company – Steve Jobs (CEO of Pixar) can’t formally begin exploring the possibility of having his company making movies for anyone other than the Mouse until Pixar formally hands a finished version of the third film of their five picture deal (namely “Finding Nemo”) over to Disney.
This means that the Walt Disney Company has only six months left before it has to start battling with its competition (mainly Lucasfilm and Dreamworks SKG, who are reportedly quite eager to get in bed with Jobs) for the right to release any Pixar projects that are produced after December 2005 (That’s when John Lasetter’s next film, “Cars” – the fifth picture in Pixar’s current five picture deal with Disney – is due to hit theaters).
Could it be that – during this rapidly narrowing window of opportunity – that the folks at Team Disney – Burbank are attempting to “Gaslight” the people at Pixar? As in: Make the folks in Emeryville think that – thanks to all the bad buzz that’s currently swirling around out there about “Finding Nemo” – that Pixar might actually be saddled with its first ever box office disappointment? Or – worse than that – an outright flop?
With that mindset (and acknowledging that – what with Fox’s arrangement with Blue Sky Studios, Paramount’s agreement with DNA Productions, Inc., Dreamworks / PDI’s distribution deal with Universal, Big Idea’s association with Artisan Entertainment as well as Disney’s new production deal with Vanguard Animation – Pixar’s facing increased competition in the CG feature field), Jobs might suddenly be reluctant to make a break from the Mouse House. Which might then result in Steve opting to renew Pixar’s production pact with the Walt Disney Company.
So what’s going to happen next? Well, I’d imagine that it all depends on whether the folks at Pixar actually buy into the idea that “Finding Nemo” is a fatally flawed film. That there’s just not enough time between now and May 2003 to “plus” the picture to the point that it becomes another “Monsters, Inc.” sized success. That the bad buzz that’s currently out there about the movie really is true.
Of course, once they learn about how the stories about how bad “Finding Nemo” are reportedly being orchestrated by execs inside the Team Disney building in Burbank, I would imagine that the folks in Emeryville are going to redouble their efforts to fix that film. Just to show to the suits at Disney that you can’t “Gaslight” the gang at Pixar.
And I would also imagine that – once word gets back to Steve Jobs about where all these awful stories about “Finding Nemo” are allegedly coming from – that the on-going negotiations between the Walt Disney Company and Pixar Animation Studio are going to take another interesting turn.
But – hey – you didn’t hear this from me …