I think something like that is really not likely. One of the stipulations of the original merger was that Pixar gets to stay Pixar and Disney Disney. Peter Doctor is in the Brain Trust of Pixar and very much part of their identity as a studio. Like Andrew Stanton, John Lassetter and Brad Bird he basically embodies Pixar "culture." If Pixar directors go over to WDAS there will be a crossover.
It's totally understandable that they want to preserve their identity and keep Pixar prestige going, but they really have to do more to keep WDAS afloat, because as said on the TAG blog months back it's a possibility that if more original and moneymaking films aren't churned out soon Iger might shutter them altogether...because Disney already
has one great animated studio that makes stunning, wildly successful animated films, and another studio that makes cute, beautifully drawn but otherwise unremarkable (as a whole, NOT counting the individual moments of brilliance) films that are primarily marketed and targeted towards families and children. Not reviewers, teenagers, film fans and people who aren't even wild about animation in the first place.
I understand that this is kind of a radical viewpoint but...in many ways I feel Disney is more corporate now than it was under Eisner. It's certainly likely that buying Marvel was a good decision economically (especially in the long run) but as far as preserving Disney culture, heritage and identity...totally not. Wolverine and Spider-Man are totally awesome but have absolutely nothing to do with Disney culture and in many ways are the antithesis of it. They may "make money"--but as said so many times years ago is making money everything? What about remembering what Disney is supposed to stand for?
Eisner would never have bought Marvel, and not just because he probably never cared much for reading comics but because as sometimes flawed as his reign was, he did recognize (not always, but most of the time, and especially in the first 15 years) what Disney culture was and how to preserve it. Even with all the mistakes he made with 2d animation, closing Florida, etc...at least Disney Feature Animation was front and center and there was some kind of vision of "Disney" and what people expect of it. There's so much extra baggage that comes with Disney now that Disney's meaning is totally becoming diluted and empty. WDAS not only lacks job stability but the vision of what a real Disney film is supposed to feel like. The closest they've come so far is Princess, but as nice as that was it didn't come close enough. At least Keane and Deja and Sanders and Baxter were seen as valuable and worth keeping. There might have been executive meddling but there was, at the very least, the
pretense of respecting them.
Iger needs to finally take responsibility. Responsibility for WDAS and for the Disney name. For too many shows on the Disney channel, too many bad films, and a loss of focus.
Don Hahn would still be a great choice to guide FA. He just directed an award winning film that's all about how well he knows FA and how important he knows it is. Who better?
They have already brought Brenda Chapman over to Pixar
I think she left DreamWorks to go to Pixar, although years back she was at FA before the formation of DreamWorks.
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
