Circle 7 Animation

Circle 7 Animation
Division
Industry Entertainment
Fate Dissolved
Predecessor Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida[1]
Founded 2004
Founder Michael Eisner[1]
Defunct May 26, 2006[2]
Headquarters Glendale, CA[1], US
Key people
 Andrew Millstein[1]
Products
Number of employees
 168 (2006)[2]
Parent Walt Disney Feature Animation
(Walt Disney Studios)

Circle 7 Animation, or Disney Circle 7 Animation, was a short-lived division of Walt Disney Feature Animation specializing in computer generated imagery (CGI) animation and was originally going to work on making sequels to the Disney-owned Pixar properties, leading rivals and animators to derisively nickname the division "Pixaren't".[1] The company never released any films during its existence.[3]

The division was named after the street where its studios were located. Circle Seven Drive in Glendale, California is also home to KABC-TV.[3][4]

Background

Pixar and Disney originally had a seven film distribution agreement that gave Disney full ownership of Pixar's feature films and characters, as well as sequel rights. With the success of Toy Story 2 in 1999, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner and then-Pixar owner Steve Jobs began to disagree on how Pixar should be run and the terms of a continued relationship.[3] Eisner claimed that Toy Story 2, as it was a sequel, did not count towards the "original" film count of the agreement, though Jobs disagreed.[5] Jobs announced in January 2004 — after 10 months of negotiations — that Pixar would not renew their agreement with Disney and would seek out other distributors for releases starting in 2006. Jobs wanted Pixar to receive most of the profits that their films made (giving Disney the standard 10% distribution fee) as well as full ownership of any future films and characters that the studio would create post-Cars. Eisner found these terms unacceptable.[6]

Pixar executive producer John Lasseter (who had personally directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Toy Story 2) endured terrible anguish about the breakdown of the Disney-Pixar relationship, as he was deeply worried about what Disney might do with the characters Pixar had created.[7] At a companywide meeting to announce what had happened, he reportedly said, "It's like you have these dear children and you have to give them up to be adopted by convicted child molesters."[7]

History

In 2004, Disney Circle 7 Animation was formed as a CG animation studio to create sequels to the Disney-owned Pixar properties, and the studio began to hire staff shortly after. It was seen as a bargaining chip by people within Pixar and Disney, but also as a backup plan by Eisner in the event that negotiations fell through.[1][3] The first (and only) projects that the studio worked on were early drafts of Toy Story 3, Monsters, Inc. 2: Lost in Scaradise, and Finding Nemo 2.[3][5]

In late January 2006, new Disney CEO Bob Iger and Jobs agreed to a deal in which Disney would purchase Pixar for $7.4 billion, with Pixar's leadership (Edwin Catmull and Lasseter) taking control of Disney's animation group,[8] and Pixar would be making Toy Story 3 – director Andrew Stanton stated that Pixar purposely avoided looking at Circle 7's script.[3] On May 26, 2006, Disney officially closed this division and transferred about 80% of the studio's employees to Walt Disney Feature Animation, which was soon renamed Walt Disney Animation Studios.[2]

Catmull later disclosed in his 2014 book Creativity, Inc. that although Pixar had been frustrated with Disney's decision to create Circle 7 Animation to create sequels to Pixar's own films, they did not hold that against Circle 7's employees, who had had no part in that decision.[9] This was why Catmull and Lasseter were willing to absorb most of the Circle 7 workforce directly into Walt Disney Animation Studios. Indeed, they eventually appointed Andrew Millstein, the former head of Circle 7, as the general manager of Walt Disney Animation Studios to handle day-to-day business affairs on their behalf.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Eller, Claudia; Richard Verrier (March 16, 2005). "Disney Plans Life After Pixar With Sequel Unit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Disney Closes Unit Devoted to Pixar Sequels". Los Angeles Times. March 21, 2006. Retrieved October 30, 2011. Thirty-two employees, or nearly 20% of the 168 artists, production managers and support staff, were told they would lose their jobs effective May 26.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Daly, Steve (Jun 16, 2006). "Woody: The Untold Story". Entertainment Weekly Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  4. ↑ Hill, Jim (August 7, 2005). "The Skinny on Circle Seven". Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Armstrong, Josh (March 5, 2012). "Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir on the Rise and Fall of Disney’s Circle 7 Animation". Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Pixar dumps Disney". CNN Money. January 30, 2004. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Issacson, Walter (2013). Steve Jobs (1st paperback ed.). New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 435–436. ISBN 9781451648546.
  8. ↑ Eller, Claudia (January 26, 2006). "Deal Ends Quarrel Over Pixar Sequels". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Catmull, Ed; Amy Wallace (2014). Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. New York: Random House. p. 256. ISBN 978-0812993011.