Hollywood Movies Mania: A tribute about PIXAR Animation Studios!

Pixar Animation Studios

Pixar Animation Studios,commonly referred to as simply Pixar,is an American computer animation film studio.The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards,seven Golden Globes and three Grammy Awards.Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide.It is best known for its CGI-animated feature films created with PhotoRealisticRenederMan.
Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group.The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion;the transaction made Jobs the largest shareholder in Disney.
Pixar has produced twelve features films,beginning with Toy Story 2 in 1999,Monsters,Inc. in 2001,Finding Nemo in 2003,The Incredibles in 2004,Cars in 2006,Ratatouille in 2007,WALL-E in 2008,Up in 2009,Toy Story 3 in 2010 and Cars 2 in 2011.Eleven of the films have received critical and financial success,with the notable exception being Cars 2,which received substantially less praise than Pixar's previous eleven films.
All the films produced by Pixar are among the fifty highest grossing animated films of all time.Finding Nemo,Up and Toy Story 3 make it to the top 50 list of highest-grossing films of all time.
Αll eight Pixar films released since the inauguration of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2001 have been nominated for that award,commencing with Monsters,Inc..Six of the eight have won the award:Finding Nemo,The Incredibles,Ratatouille,WALL-E,Up and Toy Story 3.Up and Toy Story 3 are among the only three animated films to be nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture.

Disney
Pixar and Disney had disagreements after the production of Toy Story 2.Originally intended as a straight-to-video release,the film was eventually upgraded to a theatrical release during production.Pixar demanded that the film then be counted toward the three-picture agreement,but Disney refused.Pixar's first five feature films have collectively grossed more than $2.5 billion,equivalent to the highest per-film average gross in the industry.Pixar was responsible for creation and production,while Disney handled marketing and distribution.Profits and production costs were split 50-50,but Disney exclusively owned all story and sequel rights and also collected a distribution fee.The lack of story and sequel rights was perhaps the most onerous aspect to Pixar and set the stage for a contentious relationship.
The two companies attempted to reach a new agreement in early 2004.The new deal would be only for distribution,as Pixar intended to control production and own the resulting film properties themselves.
Pending the Disney acquisition of Pixar,the two companies created a distribution deal for the intended 2007 release of Ratatouille,in case the acquisition fell through,to ensure that this one film would still be released through Disney's distribution channels.The completion of Disney's Pixar acquisition,however nullified this distribution arrangement!

Expansion
On April 20,2010,Pixar Animation Studios opened a new studio in the area of Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada.The roughly 2,000 square meters studio is primarily producing shorts and TV-specials based on characters from Pixar's feature films.

Sequels and Prequels
Toy Story 2 was commissioned by Disney as a direct-to-video,60-minute film.Knowing the material wasn't very good,John Lasseter convinced the Pixar team to start from scratch and make it their third full-length feature film.Toy Story 3 was the second big-screen sequel.Cars 2,the studio's third theatrical sequel.On June 27,2011, Tom Hanks implied that a fourth Toy Story movie was in the works,but this has not been confirmed by the studio.
Pixar states that they believe that sequels should only be made if they can come up with a story as a good as the original.Following the release of Toy Story 2,Pixar and Disney had a gentleman's agreement that Disney would not make any sequels without Pixar's involvement,despite their right to do so.In 2004,Pixar announced that they were unable to agree on a new deal.Disney also announced that they would go ahead with sequels to Pixar's film with or without Disney.
After Disney stated that Toy Story 3 had been canceled.However,in May 2006,it was announced that Toy Story 3 was back in pre-production,under Pixar's control when a new plot had been conceived.
Lasseter further fueled speculation on future sequels when he stated,''If we have a great story,we will do a sequel''.Cars 2,Pixar's first sequel not based on Toy Story,was officially announced on April 8,2008.Monsters University,the prequel to Monsters Inc.and Pixar's first was announced on April 22,2010,for release on November 2,2010.

Expansion to television
Toy Story was the first Pixar film to be extended into television,with the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command film and TV series.

Animation and live-action
All Pixar film to date have been computer-animated .WALL-E has so far been the only Pixar film to not be completely animated,featuring a small live-action element.

Photos from Pixar's creations: