Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar is Born
Ed Catmull
In 1979, George Lucas recruited Ed Catmull to lead Lucasfilm's Computer Division, a group in charge of developing state-of-the-art computer technology for the film industry. Pixar was founded as The Graphics Group, which was one third of the Computer Division. The team worked on creating REYES, which was short for "renders everything you ever saw". They also developed a number of critical technologies for Computer Graphics, including particle effects.
Steve Jobs Purchases Pixar
Steve Jobs
In 1982, the team worked with Industiral Light & Magic to create film sequences with special effects. They worked on several movies, including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Young Sherlock Holmes. The team soon became a corporation in 1986. Steve Jobs of Apple invested, after leaving Apple Computers. Jobs paid George Lucas $5 million for technology rights. Dr. Edwin Catmull became president of the now independent company, along with Dr. Alvy Ray Smith as Executive Vice President. Steve Jobs joined them as Chairman.
Luxo Jr.
Pixar was a company with high-end computer hardware- They used the Pixar Image Computer, a system that was mainly sold to medical services and government agencies. Walt Disney Studios bought a Pixar Image Computer intending to use the machine and software to make 2-D animations made faster. The computer never sold very well, and with hopes to improve sales, Pixar employee John Lasseter showed off his short demonstration animation he had been working on for a long time, Luxo Jr., to show off the system's features. It premiered at the computer graphics industry's largest convention, SIGGRAPH. It received great fanfare
Tin Toy
In 1987 Pixar produced another CGI short film, Red's Dream. Later they created Renderman, a revolutionary graphics software that made computer artists able to add color and create texture to 3D objects. It was even able to produce realistic photo images. Pixar received a Patent for Renderman soon after it's creation. Pixar's first example of what Renderman was capable of was the short film Tin Toy in 1988. Produced and written by Lasseter, Tin Toy was the first computer animated animation. It won the Academy Award for Best Short Film in 1988.
Disney and Pixar Join Forces
Steve Jobs expanded the company's graphics and animations by joining forces with Colossal Pictures, which was know for many forms of film, including animation. Together they worked on commercials and promotional films. The partnership was a tremendous success. There were over a dozen Renderman projects introduced by 1990, and Renderman's licensing fees began to pay off. Many industries endorsed it, such as the Intel Corporation. In 1991, Pixar was still struggling to make ends meet. 30 employees were laid off in February, but then came the first full-length animated film in history- Toy Story. It was a collaboration between John Lasseter and his former workplace at Walt Disney Studios. Pixar signed a contract to produce quality 'digital entertainment' and they were responsible for the animation and content of three full-length feature films. The funding for production and promotional costs were covered by Disney, and they also owned the licensing and marketing fees of the characters and films. At the time, nobody knew the potential of Disney and Pixar's alliance. It was one that was successful beyond their wildest expectations.
Toy Story
Pixar wrapped up work on Toy Story in 1995, and was set to hit theaters in November. Tim Allen and Tom Hanks were cast as the voice of the main characters, Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody. The film's musical score was composed by Randy Newman. Toy Story was released on November 22, 1995. It was #1 at the box office on it's opening weekend, making over $40 million. The film received rave reviews, and is considered one of the best animated films of all time. It went on to make a total gross of over $350 million, and became the highest-grossing domestic film of 1995. Toy Story received several Academy Award nominations, and won Golden Globe Awards for "Best Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical" and "Best Original Song" for Randy Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me".
A Bug's Life
After the release of Toy Story, Pixar went straight to work on their next film, A Bug's Life, which was scheduled for release in two years. After the huge success of Toy Story, a lot of major motion picture studios began using computerized animation, including Disney itself, Dreamworks, and Warner Bros. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs began to juggle managing both Pixar and Apple, and many people doubted he would be able to do it. They were wrong- Jobs brought Apple back to the front of the computer industry with their iMac, but Pixar's A Bug's Life released on November 25, 1998 and was huge at the box office, grossing over $33 million in it's opening weekend, and went on to make a worldwide gross of $363.3 million, topping Toy Story.
Toy Story 2
After A Bug's Life released on video, Pixar went straight to work on Toy Story 2. Originally it was going to be a direct-to-video release, but after seeing a portion of the movie, Disney decided it was good enough for a theateical-run. This was a pretty big risk- only one animated film had gotten a theater-released sequel, The Rescuers Down Under. After a very painful and stressful process of making the film, Disney and Pixar released Toy Story 2 on November 24, 1999 and was huge. It made $57 million on it's opening weekend, and it went on to be 1999's highest grossing film, even beating Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, making $485 million worldwide. It became the second highest grossing animated film of all time, after The Lion King. Toy Story 2 was universally acclaimed, claiming it to be a sequel that out shined the original. Rotten Tomatoes, a popular and trusted movie review website that collects all reviews for a movie from critics and puts them into a percentage, lists Toy Story 2 as the best reviewed movie of all time.
Pixar's Legacy
In 2000, Pixar prepared to move into it's new headquarters in Emeryville, California. They were also working on their next movie, Monsters Inc., which released in November 2001. Like most Pixar films, It was a huge success, and went on to make over $560 million worldwide. Finding Nemo released in May 2003, and went on to be the best-selling DVD of all time. In 2006, Disney purchased Pixar for $7.4 billion, and ever since, they have produced some of the best animated films, such as Wall-E in 2008, Up in 2009, and Toy Story 3 in 2010.