Did Pixar KILL 2D Animation?

[Music] traditional animation has only been around for about a century but within that timeframe many radical changes were achieved it was an explosive new arena that was full of potential and possibilities some of the most beloved characters of all time were the products of traditional animation Disney Warner Fleischer hanna-barbera MGM and the list goes on and on there was no questioning that 2d animation has made its mark on human cultures across the world but when it comes to 2d animated films nothing quite compares to the 1990s a decade that would represent both the rise and fall of traditional animation for mainstream audiences in 1995 Pixar released Toy Story the first computer animated film in history that very same year Pocahontas was released by Disney and that lost a Toy Story in the box office even though it only lost by 50 million dollars that moment would be the tipping point for Disney as their 2d animated films would decline in popularity while Pixar's would vastly increase and it wasn't just Disney who would suffer the entire market for 2d animated films were on their way out this begs the question was Pixar success the reason why mainstream 2d animated movies declined in popularity or are there other reasons of why this happened did Pixar killed 2d animated films well let's find out in order to get a better idea of what happened during the 90s we need to take a closer look at Disney's animated movies leading up to that decade they play a big part in the story now it's no surprise to anyone that Disney had and has a massive presence in the world of animated movies it can truly be argued that Disney was the leading studio from the beginning and no one can quite compare to their legacy but even then theatrical animated films were never the most lucrative market and they were very expensive and time-consuming to produce Disney itself had a few close calls in the past and was on the edge of bankruptcy a couple of times fortunately it was able to continue on and persevere through the bad times but it wouldn't be until the late 80s and early 90s that real change would be achieved change that would put 2d and emitted films on a golden pedestal thanks to some new blood at Disney the studio was able to create a successful line of animated movies films that would go on to redefined the company while also bringing them back to their roots The Little Mermaid Beauty and the Beast Aladdin they finally found their momentum and they ran with it majesty stop it get some help but in the shadows of Disney success was another company making a name for itself in the world of animation Pixar by the way I've already made a very detailed video about the history of Pixar so go check that out if you want to know the whole story I'm just gonna stick with the main points here so there were a handful of people who were involved in the founding of Pixar first there's ed catmull and Alvey Smith they were responsible for the creation of the technology for Pixar next there's John Lasseter the guy who was in charge of the art portion of the company he handled the ideas the animation and the stories and finally there was Steve Jobs he was the guy who took care of the financial side of Pixar and invested money into the company even when it wasn't profitable again I'm only hitting the bullet points here and there's a lot more to each one of their stories but the final product was all the same On February 3rd 1986 Pixar was officially founded and it would go on to change the world of animation the first handful of projects were CGI commercials and animated shorts Reds dream 10 toy knick-knack and luxo jr. to name a few it is truly amazing to see their progress with computer animation and what they were able to accomplish but in 1991 Pixar would put its talent to the test and begin production on the first computer animated movie in history and beyond now Pixar wasn't alone during the production of Toy Story in the late 1980s they teamed up with Disney and collaborated on a project called caps aka computer animation production system following that the two companies struck a deal and Disney provided money or Pixar to create the world's first computer animated film it was a challenging production as Toy Story went through multiple rewrites and overhauls seriously check out some of the early stuff that was made compared to the final product it is night and day but in 1995 Toy Story was released and it was a massive success it made over three hundred and seventy million dollars and put Pixar on the map and not only was it a financial success but a critical success - people were quick to realize that Pixar was truly unique and they were about to change the game for Disney this was an interesting situation as I said before is the in Pixar into the contract together but it really wasn't working out for Pixar they realized that Disney was getting everything while Pixar ran all of the risk if one of their movies ever flopped that would be the end for them so Steve Jobs fought with Michael Eisner to negotiate the contract and get a better deal now imagine this from Disney's perspective they were the undisputed champions of animation they had a movie that was nominated for an Oscar and then another that almost broke a billion dollars at the box office so who are these Pixar Punk's the challenge their authority right Disney Animation was at the top of their game it's not like one of these Pixar movies could actually beat them [Music] alright okay alright Pixar how much do you want you want to be 50/50 partners okay deal now go make a bug's life 1995 proved to be one of the most interesting years in animation history look I said Pocahontas was defeated critically and financially by Toy Story a sobering thought for Disney Animation this was a studio that was riding high and who success was unmatched in their industry I mean how could a fledging studio that experiments with computer animation have any chance against the company that released The Lion King right wrong Disney was the king of theatrical animated movies and had been for decades but this was the turning point not only that but this would also mark the decline of the Disney Renaissance over the next few years Disney would release films that didn't have the same critical or financial success compared to their movies from the early 90s now this doesn't mean that they were terrible but while Disney was slowing down Pixar was speeding up Monsters Inc Finding Nemo The Incredibles ratatouille Pixar seemed invincible as they released films that were financial and critical hits this trend would only continue throughout the early 2000s but for Disney it was a different story The Emperor's New Groove Atlantis home on the range and especially Treasure Planet that was a massive flop and it was very clear that Disney was no longer the leader of animation another issue dizzy read into during the early 2000s was the rise of more competition outside of Pixar there was dreamworks a studio that was co-founded by jeffrey katzenberg funny enough Katzenberg used to work at disney and played a big part in launching their animation renaissance but some serious drama went down in 1994 and led to a huge divide between Katzenberg and Michael Eisner the CEO for Disney around that time it concluded with Katzenberg leaving the company in bad blood and launching DreamWorks the very same year if that is not a screw you I don't know what is his studio would go on to produce their own animated films that were primarily computer animated ants shrek Shark Tale you know what let's not talk about Shark Tale there was no denying that the animation industry was going through one of its most turbulent transformations ever Pixar had become the leader of the industry new competition was popping up left and right and Disney continued to falter with her 2d animated films it had become clear at the times they were a-changin and if Disney wanted to get back into the game they needed a change - and with that came the end of their 2d animated films so now that we know how pixar rose to the top and how Disney stumbled it brings us back to the main question of this video did Pixar kill 2d animated films were they the ones responsible for the shift that took place in the industry during the early 2000s well I think I have it narrowed down to three main reasons of why things played out the way they did and mind you it wasn't the fault of Pixar number one a shift in profits look I said before the early 90s was a fantastic time for Disney the 2d animated films were forced to be reckoned with and no other studio could come close to their levels of success the amount of money they were making from their movies was off the chart for example The Lion King broke nearly a billion dollars at the box office that was unheard of for an animated film but then you have Toy Story something that was completely different but was able to win the hearts of millions and more importantly Pixar was able to run with that momentum releasing hit after hit after hit they made hundreds of millions of dollars and that doesn't even include merchandise and like with most trends people follow them especially when it has to do with money Pixar loved the charge with computer animated films in the late 90s and early 2000s and many other companies followed heck even Disney took note and tried to roll out their own CG films though too little success stop it number two a shift in popularity similar to profits there was a massive shift in popularity people were hungry to see this new style of animation in action and Pixar was best suited for the job they were breaking ground and pushing boundaries like nobody else in the industry at that time also Disney couldn't keep up with the competition Pocahontas was truly the beginning of their decline and most of the films they released afterwards couldn't keep up with the pace of Pixar I also have this dumb theory that people began to prefer computer animation because it was technologically new and advanced computer animation itself was becoming popular throughout the entire movie industry this trend solidified the public's opinion on what they preferred and that was CGI and finally number three a shift in quality this is in my opinion the most important reason of all as I've said over and over and over Disney had fallen from grace the success they found in the early and mid 90s had run dry and the films they were releasing in the early 2000s just didn't have the same Flair by the way I'm not saying that these movies were bad but many of them fell short of what Disney was originally putting out and Disney itself was in complete disarray following the death of Frank Wells at 94 he was the president of the company and Katzenberg was gunning for his job after Frank's death Katzenberg demanded his spot but Roy Disney Michael Eisner turned him down there was a massive schism in the company one that would lead Katzenberg's departure along with many others who work at the studio this divide would put them in a bad spot and the 2d and admitted films they would release afterwards would suffer because of it the production for the Emperor's New Groove was a complete mess and was a testament of how damaged the studio had become Treasure Planet would also be another nail and the coffin and so at home on the range for some reason Disney decided to get experimental during this time which was a very bizarre choice if you do count Mulan as a Disney Princess then there was an 11 year gap between Disney releasing a princess film being princess in the frog that's quite the long time to wait with using a formula that is proven to work meanwhile Pixar was enjoying their own Renaissance they had an amazing team of artists writers directors and many others who knew how to work together they especially proved their worth the production of Toy Story 2 that was an intense time for the studio as they were dead set on making the best movie they could and I don't mean just visually Pixar takes pride in their stories and they make it a point to keep a high standard of quality from 95 to 2010 they released films have had strong animation and plots these films weren't just visual spectacles they had fantastic characters with story arcs that resonated with audiences and grabbed their imaginations Pixar knew that a strong story was above all else the most important element to a movie if anything the visuals were icing on the cake like really good cake but Disney stories were not as strong visually their 2d animated films were beautiful and some of the stories were actually very good but a majority of them lacked a certain special something they were stumbling and their change in momentum only made CG more appealing to mainstream audiences now that's not to say that Disney Animation did not attempt to recapture their old magic in 2009 The Princess and the Frog was released and it did okay again it was beautiful and it was great to see a 2d animated Disney film on the big screen again but it truly felt that the damage had been done mainstream audiences just didn't care about 2d animated films anymore their focus had shifted over to CG and it was staying there it also didn't help that big blockbuster movies were going on around the same time as some of these Disney releases Oh Winnie the Pooh you did not stand a chance I do feel that a big part of the blame also lies with Disney and how they treated their artists so many of their post Renaissance productions were a complete mess it also didn't seem like they had much faith let alone respect for the people trying to make their films the only people they really supported were Ron Clements and John Musker the guys behind the Little Mermaid Aladdin Hercules and a few other Disney films but the other people directing the film's at Disney never really got the same level of attention or support but then you have Pixar who put a lot of faith and the people in charge of their projects such as Brad Bird Andrew Stanton and Pete docter outside of Disney other companies weren't really helping the cause Warner and Fox animation were polling support for their 2d animated films and we're leaning towards computer animation instead and that Rugrats movie really didn't help either and only reinforce the notion that theatrical 2d animated films were on the way out for Disney it became very apparent that they desperately needed a change of command in 2005 Michael Eisner had resigned from Disney and Bob Iger stepped in as a new CEO a year later Disney offered to buy Pixar for seven point four billion dollars this proved to be a very smart move as part of the deal was bringing in Pixar to help Disney Animation get back on their feet but unfortunately for 2d animated films this did not mean their revival instead Disney copied Pixar's model and focused on making their own line of computer animated films movies that had better stories and characters and resonate more with audiences while utilizing the Disney brand but despite Disney and Pixar coming to an accord 2d animated films were still left out in the cold the animation landscape shifted in a way that no longer welcomed them and after a long history of being the primary style for classical animation the reign of 2d animated films had finally come to an end in conclusion it wasn't Pixar that ended the trend of 2d theatrical films if anything it was the companies that ran the studio's Disney Warner Brothers Fox animation the corporate culture was strangling the creative process and it had become more of a hostile environment for artists now that's not to say that all of the 2d movies released around this time were terrible on the contrary some amazing films came out around that time but they didn't have the same public or corporate support that they once had in the 90s instead we saw transition companies in studios were quick to realize that they had to follow the trend that Pixar had established and today we see multiple computer animated movies every year actually we're kind of in a renaissance period for 3d animation there was a time where it was mainly Pixar and dreamworks going head to head but now there's a lot more competition and that's a good thing it provides more diversity and allows other studios to prove their worth again I wouldn't blame Pixar for the decline of mainstream 2d animated films all they're guilty of is providing beautiful movies with strong stories to match if we're going to blame anyone blame the companies that lost faith in their products when they had good movies on their hands and refused to properly market them I'm looking at you Warner but I would say that Disney itself carries most of the blame they were at the top of their game during the 90s and they grew very cocky the company had developed a rock star mentality and egos began to flare the Katzenberg drama that went down with Eisner most definitely had an impact on Disney and the quality of their animated movies they declined while Pixar rose to the top and that's just the way that things played out as of right now 2d animation finds itself in a very interesting place I don't see any signs of it returning in forest any time soon but it still remains important to the industry there are times when it's a vital step in the 3d animation process if you watch behind the scenes documentaries for 3d movies you'll see plenty of 2d content that led to the final product and there are also films and shorts that use both 2d and 3d animation sometimes even as a hybrid Paperman is a fantastic example of this and proves that there's still unexplored territory for animation and even though CG is the primary medium for mainstream animation that does not mean it's reached its potential spider-verse is an incredible example of this and proves that there's plenty of room for growth to try new techniques and concepts I was blown away when I first saw the film and I hope to see more studios and artists run with this style but I do wonder what could have been if Disney had continued to release strong 2d animated films to provide proper support for their directors and feature films with potent stories and the same vein as Pixar again I'm not knocking on the 2d movies released from Disney during the late 90s and early 2000s but those films don't quite stack up to what Pixar was releasing at the time maybe there's some other timeline where Disney bought Pixar back in 95 and Pixar's creative team was able to intervene with Disney studio to provide quality support and stories and strike a balance where both 2d and 3d animation could succeed at the same time but hey maybe things might change and people will be hungry for 2d animated films once more we'll just have to wait and see what the future holds [Music]

Channel: Saberspark

Views: 774,352

Keywords: saberspark, saber, pixar, disney, animation, did pixar kill 2d animation, 2d animation, video essay, review, the disney renaissance, the little mermaid, the incredibles, the lion king

Id: HZRHkYBaRMk

Length: 23min 51sec (1431 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 02 2019