Nothing is going well between the studio Pixar and the group Disney. After censoring a narrative arc of the series Win or Losethe big-eared company has stuck its nose into the studio’s next desk lamp film…
The rag burns between Disney and Pixar
Should the Pixar studio free itself from the Disney group, which bought it in 2006 for the modest sum of 7.6 billion dollars? The question is likely to arise as incidents between the two structures have been increasing for several years now. Remember : because of the Covid-19 crisis, Disney forced Pixar to feed its platform, in particular by making films Soul, Luca et Red Alert – initially designed for cinemas – Disney+ exclusives. Following the failure of Buzz Lightyearthe Disney group has made the decision to lay off numerous Pixar employees.
It also seems that Disney has decided to impose its editorial line on the Pixar studio. Indeed, we learned a few days ago that the management of the group forced Pete Docter’s band to abandon a narrative arc built around a transgender character in its next series, Win or Lose. Has the Disney group taken into consideration the re-election of Donald Trump as president of the United States? Regardless, Disney intends to stick its nose into Pixar’s progressive political messages.
Internally, discontent is being heard, as demonstrated by a survey carried out by The Hollywood Reporterwhich interviewed several former Pixar employees. One of them also states that the episode of Win or Lose could have “save lives“. Sarah Ligatich, also a former Pixar employee, reports that former Disney CEO Bob Chapek declared in a meeting that “animation was a conservative medium“. According to a third former studio employee, the animated film Hoppers would also be a victim of pressure from Disney.
Announced on the occasion of D23 2024, Hoppers is an animated film telling the story of a young girl and a beaver who swap bodies. An opportunity for Pixar to address the issue of the environment and animal welfare. Scheduled for 2026, this is a very promising film, but Disney reportedly forced director Jon Hamm to “downplay its environmentalist message“. The right-wing of Disney’s editorial line would result in the Reporterto favor Netflix, which assumes a more progressive editorial policy, without consideration for the Wokism trials.
