Jim Hill Media's blog

Post by **Wonderlicious** » August 15th, 2006, 3:34 pm

Ben wrote:Hill just seems to swing hot and cold, left to right.

Problems make good articles, and when there are no problems, create them!

You know, you have got a really good point there.

By the way, I love your new avatar!

Post by **Ben** » August 15th, 2006, 3:55 pm

Thanks - I felt like a change from grumpy Mickey!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » August 16th, 2006, 8:37 am

Oh, I don't know.

I agree that Disney paid WAY TOO MUCH for Pixar. Should have let Pixar swing in the wind for a while longer for another distributor. 20/20 hindsight says that OF COURSE Disney should have bought out Pixar long before, but the company still isn't worth what Disney paid for it. There's only so many films you can make with the same basic plot and buddy-buddy structure Pixar has followed since Toy Story...

Disney corporate hierarchy is an entrenched culture. Iger's going to have to fire way more people than he already has to really make a difference. Eisner had twenty years to set everybody at the Disney Company against each other and hire plenty of deadweight and political backstabbers. The recent sackings of executives at the House of Mouse don't get nearly far enough if anybody really wants to make a change in the corporate culture there...

Post by **Ben** » August 16th, 2006, 5:01 pm

On Pixar, I can't quite see how it was valued. $7b is a ton of dough for five films and some expertise when you consider the lower figure paid for the entire sucking up of DreamWorks and their 20/30/40 (?) film library into Viacom/Paramount.

What have the Pixar pictures made to date? $3b? Take out Disney's share of half. That's $1.5b. Add 50% for the staff and infrastructure and that's $2.25b. Even if one wants to be generous and include potential license fees for the characters (which Disney owned already) and/or RenderMan, I'd still peg that at £3-to-3.5b, or $4b MAX.

I guess Iger didn't really want to miss the boat. ChickLit proved they could just about make a decent stab without The Lamp, but what if Cars had been much more successful? The Mouse would then have been in an even weaker state. He overpaid, but that was probably the cost he had to swallow to make sure they didn't miss out.

Post by **Josh** » August 18th, 2006, 4:54 am

Today, Jim Hill posted an interesting response to all of the negative feedback he's received regarding the Cars and Pirates articles.

Here is some of the response:

Jim Hill wrote:Since I've begun writing stories like last week's 'What's the real final price tag for Dead Man's Chest' story, we've seen a significant spike in traffic for JHM. So much so ... Well, that's the real reason that this site was 'off the air' this past Wednesday morning. So many people have been coming by JHM lately that we were actually forced to move from a shared server to a semi-dedicated server in order to better handle our traffic load...

Given that I'd really like this site to hang onto all of these new eyeballs..., I'm afraid that JHM is going to continue to post business-related pieces about the Walt Disney Company. Though -- from here on in -- I'll make an effort to confine these sort of stories to just a single day. Most likely on Monday as part of my 'MouseWatch' column.

Post by **Ben** » August 18th, 2006, 6:15 am

Ooohhh, get Jim "complaining" about all the added traffic!

I guess now everyone will start spreading that muck around too.

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 18th, 2006, 2:40 pm

I guess Iger didn't really want to miss the boat. ChickLit proved they could just about make a decent stab without The Lamp, but what if Cars had been much more successful? The Mouse would then have been in an even weaker state. He overpaid, but that was probably the cost he had to swallow to make sure they didn't miss out.

Yeah, Iger pretty much had to bring back Pixar--one of the biggest criticisms of Eisner was that he "lost" Pixar and if Iger didn't make it work, people would have been like: "Oh, he's just another Eisner...."

Post by **bawpcwpn** » August 19th, 2006, 5:45 pm

Here is one of the funniest and favourite pieces of media from when Disney and Pixar broke up. You've probably all heard it but its, Robin Williams Singing Pixar's Freedom.

Post by **Ben** » August 19th, 2006, 7:55 pm

Hmmmm....

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 19th, 2006, 9:19 pm

I really don't see anything wrong with Jim's business pieces. Actually I find them more interesting than his usual Disney trivia stuff (except for animation trivia, the parks stuff bores me.)

It may be hard to accept, but it's the business issues that propel the Disney empire from one era to the next. (after all they played a big part in the changing of regimes which took place.) To not want to know about what the movers and shakers are really doing and what they might be thinking, well, IMO that's like blinding yourself in one eye.

I think those stories are just as important as reading about Captain EO, Star Tours or Spaceship Earth.

However, he does seem to have a somewhat one-sided view of the current creative regime....and his point of view on other issues does seem to change according to what day of the week it is.

I don't really take his site all that seriously anymore; he barely deals with Disney anyway and his site is full of puff pieces. And forget any kind of civility or mutual respect when it comes to the forums....the gloves are off and apparently no one can be bothered to moderate.

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 21st, 2006, 9:19 am

Yeah, he's not bitter.....

As I read Ms. Holson's story ... I gotta tell you, folks, I felt this weird mixture of vindication and deja vu. I mean, here was a reporter from one of America's leading newspapers basically saying what I'd been saying for the past three months. Hell, this particular NY Times article even went so far as to bolster the claims that Roger Colton had made in last Thursday's column, "The Cold Streak That Just Wouldn't End,") when Laura went on to talk about how ...

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/ ... /5166.aspx

I do agree with some of what he says, however.

Post by **bawpcwpn** » August 21st, 2006, 4:48 pm

What annoys me about Jim Hill is he talks down to his readers. His posts are no longer articles, they are like glorified posts in a forum

Post by **Ben** » August 21st, 2006, 10:21 pm

The posts about the Cars DVD at the bottom are missing one thing...

It's a single disc issue of the latest Pixar movie, the biggest animation hit of the year.

Never mind that it's just a single disc, but it's a sorely underpacked single disc.

It's simple...put out the usual packed 2-disc edition of Cars along side this one (as Disney used to do) and they'll have sales through the roof.

I know that, since Over The Hedge and Ice Age will be packed single discers, that I'll be purchasing those over Cars, and will probably hold off on Cars all tohether right now until the inevitable bonus edition comes through.

Post by **Josh** » August 21st, 2006, 10:41 pm

I think what many of the film's fans are afraid of, though, is that Cars will follow the same path as Lilo & Stitch. We here in the US have been waiting nearly four years that latter 2-disc DVD set.

Post by **Ben** » August 22nd, 2006, 9:00 am

It won't be that long, I don't think, although the plan could simply be to wait until Blu-Ray and release it with a shed of extras then.

It's still poor relations though, and I wonder if Pixar was still "single" if we'd have gotten a 2-discer? With The Lamp now part of The Mouse's empire, I guess they have more say over "marketing".

In a funny way, while they are looking to maximise their takings on this, the lack of decent features on this single disc is putting off those that would buy a 2-disc, while by the time that comes out many might have bought it used or at reduced rate and then not bother to get an upgrade.

I think they should issue a single and a two disc, day and date, plain and simple.