Disney, Pixar hope for 'Incredibles' success

Calling all pixels.

In the most competitive year for computer animation movies to date, Walt Disney is hoping to top its rivals with the opening of the much-anticipated "The Incredibles" on Friday.

The action comedy, the second-to-last joint project under a contract between Disney and Steve Jobs' Pixar Animation Studios, is projected to pass $600 million in worldwide box-office sales.

With the film, Pixar once again breaks technical ground, animating human characters--rather than fish or ogres--based on traditional 2D characters of the type featured in TV cartoons from the 1960s. The studio is hardly alone in its efforts. "The Incredibles" comes on the heels of "Shrek 2" and "Shark Tale" from DreamWorks.

Feature films with computer-generated animation such as these have been winning over critics and the general public alike with their startling visual effects, along with strong writing and clever plotlines. But the industry--and the technology behind it--is still in its infancy.

Among Disney and Pixar's earlier collaborations were "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo."

[Earl Benser]

It's Pixar, not Disney

Disney hasn't turned out a decent animated movie in twenty
years. Walt led the way, but the Disney Studios never grew past
Walt's techniques. Meanwhile, the competition left Disney in the
dust.

Now Disney is just a distribution system, and a grossly over-
priced one at that. That's why Pixar told Disney to stuff it and
started up their own distribution system. That leaves Disney
holding a very empty bag.

It's a shame that there's been no one to take Walt's place at
Disney - but Eisner focused on the revenue not the quality.

[iKenny]

Disney's foul tactics

As further incriminating evidence, Disney and Pixar have an
agreement in which Pixar makes six movies for Disney, however,
in case you've noticed, this will be Pixar's 6th movie and they
still have another to go. What happened? Disney refused to
count Toy Story 2 as a separate movie in the agreement because
it was "simply" a continuation of the original Toy Story. Pixar's
smart to pull out while it can.