Word: pixar
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...impress," insists Edna Mode, the diminutive fashionista of the Pixar smash The Incredibles, "you must express!" As Pixar melds with Disney, the big challenge will be to keep expressing originality in an increasingly cluttered field. There's a toon army on the march: this year a record number of animated features will be released, and coming up are the Shrek and Ice Age crews. Here's a sneak peek at what's on the horizon from animation's new power couple...
...Pixar may follow its summer vehicle Cars with Ratatouille, a tale about a rat who lives in a fancy French restaurant. Little is known of future projects, but Incredibles auteur Brad Bird has long wanted to direct a noir-style film, possibly based on Will Eisner's comic The Spirit. Meanwhile, creative kingpin John Lasseter, who has a deep affinity for traditional 2-D cel animation, is expected to revive that form in some way. He may even jump-start the long-dormant world-music spin-off of Fantasia, titled Musicana...
...Lasseter, reviving Disney animation while maintaining Pixar's excellence will be quite a feat. The Burbank shop is a husk of the studio that made The Lion King in 1994. Hundreds of animators lost their jobs in the wake of duds like Atlantis. Rival studios like DreamWorks, meanwhile, created hot characters such as Shrek, worth millions in licensing revenue. And Disney all but ignored digital animation until recently...
...make the deal work, the combined outfits need to step up production. The goal is to release two movies a year; Pixar has done one every 18 months. A steering committee is supposed to protect Pixar's culture, and Cook says Jobs agreed to sell only after getting a guarantee that Pixar wouldn't be Disneyfied. But the price is steep. SG Cowen analyst Lowell Singer estimates that if Pixar doesn't produce four films every three years, Disney's profits will take a hit. Says Singer: "Disney is paying a price for Pixar that requires flawless execution...
...Disney's reanimator. He will earn at least $2.5 million in salary, and he owns stock worth $25.4 million. Trouble is, he is one of those annoying people who don't seem to care much about more money. In 1998 he told TIME he was staying at Pixar because that was where his friends and toys were. Investors should hope he will find new friends and toys at Disneyland...