How many of you know the story of the Spartans at the mountain pass in Thermopylae?
This is supposedly a true story, folks. One that happened back in 481 BC, when Spartan King Leonidas and his 300-member bodyguard were allegedly able to hold off (at least for a few days) the massive army of Emperor Xerxes of Persia.
“How massive was Xerxes’ army?,” you ask. Well, some versions of this story suggest that the Persian army was just 7,000 strong. While still other histories state that Xerxes had over 200,000 men with him when he arrived at Thermopylae. Only to have that huge force repeatedly repelled by those 300 Spartans.
Which — you have to admit — sounds like a pretty inspiring tale. Frank Miller certainly thought so. Which is why — back in 1999 — he and Lynn Varley took this piece of Greek history and turned it into a graphic novel that vividly retells this story, “300.”
Of course, what’s great about Miller is that he doesn’t shy away from this story’s rather downbeat ending. Where Xerxes and his troops are eventually able to overwhelm King Leonidas and his bodyguards. And every single one of the Spartans who fought so bravely at that mountain pass in Thermopylae … was killed.
So why do I bring up Greek history so early on a Monday morning. Well, allow me to introduce you to John Lasseter and his staff at Pixar Animation Studios. Which currently stand at 850 strong.
And over here we have Bob Iger and the cast members of the Walt Disney Company. Which — at last count — had some 133,000 employees working at various operations worldwide.
Now — were you to listen to some Disney dweebs talk — you’d think that all Lasseter has to do is turn on his magic Luxo Jr. lamp and … POOF! The Walt Disney Company immediately becomes Pixar Jr.
Well, far be it from me to pee in your cornflakes this morning, folks … But that ain’t gonna happen. If anything, it’s Pixar that’s going to have to fight like those Spartans in order to avoid being absorbed by the Mouse House corporate machinery.
I mean, look at the rude awakenings that the folks at Pixar have already received over the past few weeks. Like how quickly their company’s secrets have been dispersed once that info has been handed off to Disney Company employees.
Now the crew up in Emeryville? Those guys are notoriously tight-lipped. I don’t know whether it’s the Roach Motel aspect of that particular animation studio (As in: When’s the last time you heard of an ex-Pixar employee? Never, right? It’s just like that slogan that Black Flag has for its roach traps: Artists, animators and technicians check in. But they don’t check out) or maybe it’s just that they make all of the new members of the Cal Arts Mafia swear a blood oath as soon as they enter the building … But those folks at Pixar can really keep a secret.
Case in point: No one outside of Emeryville knew that Brad Bird was now “supervising” Jan Pinkava‘s “Ratatouille” before John Lasseter himself revealed that info from the stage of Anaheim’s Arrowhead Pond Friday before last.
Or — better yet — how about Pete Docter‘s next movie? Pete has reportedly been working on this project since he finished “Monsters, Inc.” back in the Fall of 2001. The way I hear it, there’s already a team of artists & designers hard at work on Docter’s next film. Which could be released to theaters as early as 2008.
But does anyone outside of Pixar know what the name of Pete’s next project is? Has there been Whisper One about what the plot of that motion picture might be on the Web?
See what I mean?
Now contrast that with Walt Disney Feature Animation. Where — even if you do some half-hearted poking around the Internet — you’d find plenty of information about WDFA’s next few projects. The films that are already in production (I.E. “Meet the Robinsons,” “American Dog” and “Rapunzel“) as well as those literary properties & scripts that the studio has optioned for future development (“The Three Little Pigs” and “Antonius”).
So here you have a corporation that really has trouble keeping secrets that’s acquiring a company that prides itself on being able to keep its cards close to its vest. Can you say “corporate culture clash”? Sure you can.
I’ve heard that WDFA’s new president Ed Catmull was none too pleased to learn that — within an hour of telling WDFA staffers that Ron Clements and John Musker would soon be coming back to Disney to direct a new animated feature — that this particular piece of news was already being blasted around the Net. Meaning that someone in that meeting deliberately leaked that info.
Or — better yet — how about John Lasseter’s discomfiture that virtually every move he made during his initial walk-thru of Disney Feature Animation and Walt Disney Imagineering back on January 25th (I.E. Who he shook hands with. More importantly, who he didn’t talk to) wound up being reported on the Web?
Lasseter? He’s just not used to this kind of attention, folks. Having the financial press as well as all of Disney dweebdom hang on his every word, follow his every move. Which is why John’s now gone into submarine mode (I.E. Silent Running).
This explains how Lasseter was able to let his first two WDFA creative executives go back on Friday, March 10th without that particular piece of news winding up on the Web and/or in the Los Angeles Times. Or how Pixar had hoped to be able to perform a stealth rescue mission on “Meet the Robinsons” second act … Until, of course, JHM broke that story last Thursday.
Of course, you have to understand that much of Pixar’s love of secrets comes from that company’s chairman, Steve Jobs. Jobs was the guy who — upon his return to Apple in 1997 — quickly changed that corporation from being ” … a ship that leaked from the top down” (Translation: Apple execs were notorious for leaking information about that company’s upcoming products as well as airing that corporation’s dirty laundry) to an extremely tight ship. One that rarely if ever leaks a secret anymore.
“How did Jobs do that?,” you query. Well, in an effort to find out who within the company was leaking info to the outside world, Steve deliberately started feeding bogus information to various members of Apple’s management team. But he’d tell a slightly different version of the story to each executive. With the hope that these slight changes in the tale would then make it that much easier to determine which exec was actually doing the leaking.
This technique (devious as it might have been) clearly must have worked. Given that Apple — like Pixar — is now a company that can keep a secret.
Sooo … Given that Steve Jobs will be joining Disney’s Board of Directors sometime later this summer, one wonders if Jobs is going to insist that Walt Disney Feature Animation eventually adopt Pixar’s policy about not talking about future releases. So that WDFA’s upcoming films will then seem that much more surprising when they finally make it out into the multiplexes.
Of course, given that old 850-versus-133,000 problem, one wonders if it’s Pixar that actually going to be the first one to blink here. As in: Be the first of the two companies to make significant changes so that they can then fit together that much better.
I mean, you have to wonder what those poor folks in Pixar’s consumer products division must be thinking right about now. Given that these people were originally hired because — at one time — Jobs envisioned Pixar as going it alone. Which meant that this animation studio was going to need its very own CP people in order to cut deals with toy makers, clothing manufacturers, etc.
Only now … Well, given Disney already has this huge consumer products division … You have to assume that some of those CP people up in Emeryville will soon be looking for work elsewhere. And while we at this, one wonders what other divisions of Pixar will soon be reducing their head count because … Well, Disney already has a guy or gal that does that job.
Mind you, I’m not saying that Disney acquiring Pixar is going to have an impact on the quality of the films that animation studio produces. At least not initially.
Why do I have such a gloomy outlook on Pixar’s future? Well, I can’t help but think — what with John having to spend three days a week down in Burbank & Glendale in order to get Disney’s house in order — that Pixar’s future pics are going to wind up being somewhat neglected. Sort of like what happened in the late 1950s & early 1960s, when Walt was distracted by Disneyland. Which is how WDFA wound up producing beautiful-but-dull motion pictures like “Sleeping Beauty” and/or half-baked animated features like “The Sword in the Stone.”
Of course, I could be wrong. But given how huge the Walt Disney Company is (More importantly, given how tiny Pixar Animation Studios actually is) … I can’t help but think of those 300 Spartans back in Thermopylae. Who initially mounted such a brilliant defense and fought so bravely … Only to eventually be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the Persian army.
Sooo … Does the above story all seem like Greek to you? What are your thoughts about the Disney / Pixar acquisition? How do you see the merging of these two entertainment giants playing out?
Your thoughts?
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