'Nemo' Nets Animated Film Record

[CWIPPERMAN]

'Nemo' Nets Animated Film Record
Film Tops Initial Box Office Run Of 'The Lion King'

POSTED: 3:49 p.m. EDT July 29, 2003

In one respect, the computer-animated comedy-adventure "Finding Nemo" has become the biggest animated hit of all time.

According to numbers from Exhibitor Relations and Nielsen EDI, the film - released by Disney and Pixar Animation Studios - has pulled in $313.1 million to date.

That's $200,000 more than Disney's "The Lion King" earned in its initial run in 1994. The film added an additional $16 million to its $312.9 million take with a re-release of the film later that year.

"Finding Nemo" earned $70.2 million in its first weekend in May-June, and has been a mainstay in the top 10 ever since. Last week it dropped to No. 8 with a take of $4.3 million.

The film tells the story of an overprotective father Clownfish (voiced by Albert Brooks) who joins up with a forgetful fish (Ellen DeGeneres) to find his son, Nemo (Alexander Gould) after he is netted by a diver in the Great Barrier Reef.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/entertainment/2366624/detail.html

 

[Bstanley]

Bravo Nemo!



(Let the inflation discussions begin

-bruce

 

[EUROPA]

Way to go Pixar.

 

[HB2K]

Bravo to all involved!

I LOVE PIXAR!

 

[Peter Pirate]

Bravo to Eisner for making the deal with Pixar that allowed them to make this kind of movie and make Disney ooodles of cash at the same time.

 

[Planogirl]

I'm very happy for Pixar and Disney. Of course, now Pixar can really call the shots.

 

[raidermatt]

Well, if we are going there...

Shame on Eisner for not developing this type of talent and capability in-house, which in the long-run has meant Disney could have made ooodles and ooodles of cash, instead of just ooodles of cash.... AND puts future flows in doubt.


But regarding the original topic, congrats to Pixar and Disney.

 

[EUROPA]

Originally posted by Peter Pirate
Bravo to Eisner for making the deal with Pixar that allowed them to make this kind of movie and make Disney ooodles of cash at the same time.

Yes it is a great accomplishment to go from being known as the company that creates magic to the company that every once in a while stumbles across a few of its former employees that can still create magic and and signs a distribution deal with them. Now if only they could increase the frequency of these winning deals.

 

[Peter Pirate]

Matt! How could you lead us astray? I was merely thanking those not yet metioned that were also responsible for making 'Nemo' a hit!

Yes it is a great accomplishment...

Europa, I'm so happy you agree!
instead of

 

[Golter]

I do believe this movie's success will lead to a new agreement. I think now Disney pays the bills, they split profits 50/50 and Disney retains ownership/rights. I see a deal in which Disney still pays the bill and retains ownership, but I could see deal favoring Pixar with a 60/40 split.

I do not think any other entity could get the results that Disney does with a Pixar movie. They are branded together and most do not know the difference. Pixar would suffer if it were to team up with another Studio. Pixar has more leverage now, and Eisner will make the necessary concessions. 40% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

 

[wdwguide]

Disney will be extremely lucky if they get 40%. The current proposal, if I recall correctly, would give them a 10% distribution fee while Pixar retains ownership of the films and merchandise rights.

 

[EUROPA]

Originally posted by wdwguide
Disney will be extremely lucky if they get 40%. The current proposal, if I recall correctly, would give them a 10% distribution fee while Pixar retains ownership of the films and merchandise rights.

WOW! That is not going to look to good on the Disney Stuidos books considering that Pixar makes up about 50% of the Disney Stuido's income. Eisner better start finding out where the rest of the people he fired went to work and fast!

 

[Bob O]

Bravo for Pixar!!!! They made a great movie and deserve ALL credit.
As for disney they used to be able to make movies like these, alas those years have come and gone as of late!!!!
Pixar did this inspite of disney and the disney name attached to the film may now be a negative and not a postive!!!

 

[raidermatt]

I *think* the 10% speculation came from the Lucas/Fox deal, not officially from Disney/Pixar negotiations. (I could be wrong though...)

My understanding is that currently, Disney pays the marketing and some other costs, essentially accepting the risk for a failure.

Then, Disney and Pixar split the box office and video(?) revenue 50/50.

Disney is the "owner" of the films, having the right to make whatever sequel/merchandise/etc deals it wants to.

(again, just my understanding...)


There is no way the only change is going to be to a 60/40 split in box office and video revenue. Pixar will likely assume more of the up-front risk, but will get significantly higher revenue percentages and greater ownership rights.

Even if Disney can do more for the Pixar films than another studio, Pixar will still make money from its films with another studio. If another studio is willing to make a better deal than Disney, Pixar could still come out ahead without Disney.

Disney, on the other hand, gets zilch if they don't make the deal.

There's been a significant leverage shift to Pixar's side, which means there will be a significant shift in any deal that maybe done.

The bottom line for Disney is that even if a deal gets done, they will make much less from future Pixar releases than they have been making from releases under the current deal.

 

[MelissathePooh]

Originally posted by Bob O
Bravo for Pixar!!!! They made a great movie and deserve ALL credit.
As for disney they used to be able to make movies like these, alas those years have come and gone as of late!!!!
Pixar did this inspite of disney and the disney name attached to the film may now be a negative and not a postive!!!

I wouldn't say Pixar did this inspite of Disney. Disney did afterall pick up 50% of the production costs and all the distribution costs. Without Disney there would be no Nemo. Pixar has no way or experience to distribute anything on their own really. And I'm not sure Pixar would really be able to survive for long on one production a year.

Pixar is most certainly full of creative, innovative incredible talent. And while at this point they could probably support their own production costs they will need someone to distrbute/market their films. Whether that ends up/continues to be Disney remains to be seen.

My inclination/hope is that both Pixar and Disney will make some concessions. Although many studios would want Pixar, I'm not sure who is in the financial shape to take them on. Pixar is a relatively young player - one that has had nothing but tremendous success so far, hopefully it will continue, but no one can say that for certain.

With all that said - I think Pixar is great and am thrilled for the success of Nemo (even though it isn't my favorite). I am very interested to see if it will pass the alltime boxoffice record of LK now that its started to slow down and no predictions anywhere about a re-release later in the year.

One more comment - I'm not sure how it could be said that having the Disney name attached to Nemo could be a negative. For most people outside these forums Pixar IS Disney. And for many people - again not on these forums, Disney isn't a negative nametag.

 

[OnWithTheShow]

I remember prior to the films release certain posters claiming that Disney was trying to intentional sink Nemo in order to put themselves in a better position to bargain with Pixar. Sure looked like that happened....

 

[Bob O]

So where is their any proof that outside this web site people that Pixar is disney?????
Pixar has built up their own name and reputation on the films they have created and this wasnt done because of the disney brand, it was because of their creativity. Disney has NOTHING to do with the creation of pixar other than attaching its name to a rising star oin the movie business. If pixar had another company distribute the movie, you still would have had Nemo. The creativity to produce the movie was their with or without disney!!! Alot of companies can distribute movies. As for taking them on, pixar can bankroll their own films and only would need a compoany to distribute their films in the way that Fox distributes the Star Wars films.

 

[DancingBear]

Disney didn't just attach their name to Pixar, they recognized the potential enough to sign a multi-picture deal with them, bore the risk of fronting production costs, marketed and distributed the films, brought tons of merchandising expertise to the table, and provided synergistic promotion through the theme parks. This is largely the way Hollywood works now--the studio system is dead. Pixar gets the creative credit, but Disney has carried out its role well and certainly had a great part in the success of the pictures and enabling Pixar's growth. That doesn't mean Pixar owes Disney anything, and that it shouldn't negotiate the best deal it can get, but that I'm sure Pixar is evaluating whether the others bring to the table what Disney has provided.

Also Pixar may not WANT to bankroll its own films. They probably don't want to bear that part of the risk (at least not in total), and they don't have to.

 

[d-r]

Bob, people walk in to the Disney Store all the time and ask for that Disney-Pixar film "Ice Age." The general public is not as tuned it to who makes kiddie cartoons as disney fans are, imho.


Let me ask fro clarification to see if I am understanding this. Are you all saying that right now, the deal is Pixar and Disney split the production costs 50/50, Disney funds the distribution, and they split the profit 50/50; and that the scenario that would be like Lucas has with Fox that would be most advantageous to Pixar is that Pixar pay all the production costs, Disney takes care of the distrubtion, and Disney gets only 10% of the profit?

 

[wdwguide]

Disney actually gets 50% of profits PLUS a distribution fee right now (at least that's what I read somewhere).