Buzz Lightyear, Nemo, Lightning McQueen, Ratatouille, Mister Indestructible ... We loved the Pixar family so much. And for the 25th anniversary of her first feature film, she celebrates herself from this Sunday, August 9: until September 8, the American studio is celebrating the quarter of a century of the release of "Toy Story" through a “virtual festival”. Either collective viewing sessions, disguise contests or orchestrated quizzes for fans on Disney + and social networks.
In 22 feature films, Pixar has recorded some 850 million tickets in theaters around the world, sold tens of millions of DVDs and toys and garnered nineteen Oscars. How did Pixar, which was founded in 1979 as a software company, turn the animation world upside down? What is the future of the Californian studio, bought by Disney in 2006: Pixar is running out of steam or will it on the contrary go "towards infinity and beyond!" As Buzz says, the 'space ranger' from 'Toy Story'? Back on 25 years of revolution.
Pixar "has made traditional animation out of date"
Even Hollywood hadn't seen the wave coming. In 1995, the first film made entirely on a computer was released in theaters (in France, it hit theaters the following year). His heroes were called Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Rex, they were born in a Californian studio named Pixar. “Nobody believed that the public would let themselves be moved by computer-generated images,” recalls Laurent Valière. The co-author of "Animated Cinema: the French Touch" (Ed. La Martinière) even remembers that "Liberation", skeptical, spoke of a "synthetic film".
And yet, "Toy Story" was a huge success (48 million admissions worldwide), and, with the Pixar-stamped feature films that followed ("1001 Pattes", "Toy Story 2", " Monstres et Cie ”,“ Finding Nemo ”, etc.), he reshuffled the animation cards. “Pixar broke everything,” says Sébastien Roffat, animated film historian. It is a bulldozer that has made traditional animation obsolete, yet at the top in 1995 after the immense success of The Lion King ”.
Ten years after “Toy Story”, American studios hardly produced any more “cartoons”, replaced by animated films in synthetic images. "Toy Story revolutionized animation like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs revolutionized cinema in 1937, when no one imagined that spectators would stay 1 hour 30 minutes watching a cartoon", compares Laurent Valière.
"No princesses and no songs"
If Pixar has been successful in the cartoon world, it is also because its way of telling stories was unique. With his second degree and his nods to pop culture, his feature films have seduced teens and adults. “Pixar stages human, touching and universal feelings,” adds Laurent Valière. Coco , for example, speaks with incredible accuracy about death. The author recalls that the "editorial line" of the historic boss of Pixar, John Lasseter, was to "do anti-Disney: no princesses and no songs".
Very quickly, Pixar also conquered the press. "While the critics tapped on Disney and its so-called sentimentality, they praised Pixar cartoons," said Lucie Mérijeau. This doctor in cinematographic and audiovisual studies emphasizes that at the release of Toy Story 2 , the very cutting edge Cahiers du cinema had hailed "a real lesson in staging". "Pixar has reconciled the blockbuster and the independent film," adds the researcher, who notes that the studio has hired authors of Little Miss Sunshine , Saturday Night Live or the series The Office .
The success has (almost) never wavered. Pixar has known only one real failure: that of the “Voyage d'Arlo” in 2015. Only one other film was not profitable: “En Avant”, released in early March in the midst of the Covid-19 health crisis, just days before the closing of American and European cinemas and when the Chinese exhibitors had already lowered the curtain.
"Some signs of shortness of breath"
Over the years, all the big animation studios have started copying Pixar, from DreamWorks (“Shrek”, “Boss Baby”…) to Illumination Mac Guff (“Les Minions”, “Tous en scène”…), via Blue Sky (“Ice Age”, “Rio”…). “But none has equaled him,” said Sébastien Roffat. The historian however perceives "some signs of exhaustion" at Pixar. "The studios sign a lot of suites and his films always develop the same nostalgic themes ...", he regrets.
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“Before, Pixar released a movie every three years; since the studios were bought by Disney, they are releasing one per year… so obviously, it is more difficult to stay at the best level, ”Judge Laurent Valière. Who wonders: "I do not know if we can replace John Lasseter, who is a genius ..."
Because in 2018, the boss of Pixar, director among others of "Toy Story", accused of sexual harassment, had to leave office. "Lasseter did not work alone: Pixar is an army of screenwriters and storyboarders ", tempers Lucie Mérijeau. After an inventive, but surprising “En avant” and avant “Luca”, a story of friendship on the Italian Riviera, scheduled for June 2021, Pixar is due to release “Soul” in November, the story of a jazz teacher whose soul and body are separated after an accident. The opportunity for the studio to prove that it still knows how to renew itself, while keeping… its soul.
Pixar, a heavyweight in the toy market
While triumphing in dark rooms, the characters created by Pixar have also invaded playgrounds, children's rooms and even the collections of some adults. According to the NPD institute, which is interested in the toy market, Pixar toys represent the fifth best-selling license in France. The 25 years of “Toy Story” are also an opportunity for Pixar to soon market new gadgets, among which we will find a “Fork” of “Toy Story 4” capable of talking with Woody ...
The studio does not communicate any figures, but ensures that its bestsellers, "by far", are the cars of "Cars", the famous Lightning McQueen and its multiple variations. Toys from "Toy Story" come second, along with its Woody and Buzz Lightyear figures.
“The first cartoon with Mickey was screened in 1928. As early as 1929, toy stores sold derivative products,” notes Sébastien Roffat. Disney quickly understood that he could make profitable his films also with his toys. "The historian points out that toy makers participate in feature film production meetings very early on:" When the makers figured out that Ariel, the Little Mermaid, would be red-haired, they suggested she be blonde, arguing that 'they would never be able to sell a red-haired doll… The creatives had to fight to get their case! "
