Jobs and Iger on Disney and Pixar

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Appleinsider posts (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1489) some excerpts from a CNBC interview with both Steve Jobs and Disney CEO Bob Iger.

Jobs of course promises "a pretty exciting next five years", but also makes an interesting comment on animation films:

"You may watch your favorite live action film three, four, or five times in your life," said Jobs. "But for a great animation film, your kids may watch it a dozen or a hundred times."

Jobs opinion may be evolving. In the past (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/01/20040108191333.shtml) he did not distinguish animation films from other films, and used a similar argument against the utility of portable video players:

But how many times in your life do you watch a movie? Most people probably wouldn’t watch even their favorite movies ten times in their lives, and therefore are don’t buy nearly as many movies as they do songs or CD’s.


This time, he states that he expects movies on these portable devices may play an important role in the future. Recent rumors/speculation has claimed (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1489) that Apple may release an "actual" Video iPod this year.

Incidentally, of note, Bob Iger states that he has seen "Cars" and said it was one of the best films he'd ever seen.

[topgunn]

And one more thing...Cars will break all the records already held by Pixar.

[SiliconAddict]

And one more thing...Cars will break all the records already held by Pixar.

Ehh. I don't know. This is the first Pixar film that I haven't been all that interested in.

[TheMasin9]

i totally agree with all jobs says, people dont watch movies all to many times in thier lives. Granted we all have a favorite that we may watch over and over again, but generally, we only watch them a handful of times.

[hayesk]

Ehh. I don't know. This is the first Pixar film that I haven't been all that interested in.

NASCAR is the #1 "sport" in the US, is it not? Other forms of car racing are popular all over the world.

I'm sure it'll do well. However, I think this movie may be more for kids than for adults, whereas the previous movies seemed to made for both.

However, we've only seen a trailer - too early to tell.

[qevlhma]

I also agree.. this is the first pixar movie I am not interested in.

Talking cars sounds a lot lame to me.

[snkTab]

The little boys might want to see cars, but will the girls?

[pacohaas]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)
This time, he states that he expects movies on these portable devices may plan an important role in the future.just a typo, although, maybe he is planning an important role in one of disney's movies, and not playing it.

[jaredbbauer]

Ehh. I don't know. This is the first Pixar film that I haven't been all that interested in.

Well if your not interested than it must be a flop! :)

[MacFan782040]

I also agree.. this is the first pixar movie I am not interested in.

Talking cars sounds a lot lame to me.


It reminds me of Thomas the Tank engine. HAHAH...but... I thought Incredibles was gonna suck when I saw the trailer too.

It'll be good.

Edit-- With the Aquire of Pixar by Disney, what does this mean for Toy Story 3? (2008)

[coumerelli]

I want to see the entire transcript of this interview. I can't find it on CNBC or anywhere. Does anyone have a link?:confused:

[jacobj]

And one more thing...Cars will break all the records already held by Pixar.

Not sure.. the trailer didn't/doesn't do anything for me... I know I am one person, but this is just a hunch.

[Aeolius]

It'll be good.

Just so long as they don't release a feature-length version of "Boundin'"! ;)

[nagromme]

Apple's/Jobs' stance on movies, and portable video, is bound to evolve as the market evolves.

Look at the concept of a video-centric iPod (less portable, bigger screen). It would have been a flop last year and the media would have had a field day pointing at Apple's mega-blunder or whatever they'd call it.

Instead, Apple smartly just threw video in as a free "extra" on MUSIC iPods. And gradually introduced video content in iTunes.

It wasn't a dramatic one-day revolution, but it was exactly the right strategy. They tested the market and in large part CREATED the market (as a viable mainstream high-volume concept). And so in a year (or sooner), with even more content out there and the idea of portable video catching on more, Apple COULD release a video-centric iPod, and this time it would not flop.

P.S. I've never cared for any of the 3D animated movies, from Pixar or anyone else. I haven't seen them all, maybe half a dozen, but they don't do much for me. That's OK, they're just not my thing. I'm sure they'll keep selling well. (I do have Toy Story in my NetFlix queue since it was written by the creator of Serenity.)

[longofest]

Not sure.. the trailer didn't/doesn't do anything for me... I know I am one person, but this is just a hunch.

I am going to be the third person to weigh in and say that the trailer didn't do anything for me either. That being said, you can't even call it a trailer. Its much more of a teaser than a trailer. Lets wait for the real thing...

[pgwalsh]

Well if your not interested than it must be a flop! :)
Exactly... I'm more interested in Cars than I was in Finding Nemo and I was pleasantly suprised by Finding Nemo. Cars should be great.

[Doctor Q]

I can't imagine Cars catching on like Nemo did.

Jobs opinion may be evolving...It looks like his statement was carefully worded to stay in sync with what he had said previously. However, I know plenty of adults (with more free time than me) who watch their favorite DVD movie ten times over a year or two, much more than "ten times in their lives", so I don't agree with Steve's assessment. More importantly, people will buy movies if they think they will watch them many times, whether or not they actually do.

[SiliconAddict]

Well if your not interested than it must be a flop! :)

I never said that but I'm found that my taste in Disney movies is pretty much inline with the rest of America. Things that I liked pretty much did well in the theatres. Thinks that I sort of liked, Chicken Little as an example, did OK in the theatres. Thinks I avoided like the plague, Home On The Range as an example, bombed. *shrugs* No arrogance here. I'm just noting a trend.


I am going to be the third person to weigh in and say that the trailer didn't do anything for me either. That being said, you can't even call it a trailer. Its much more of a teaser than a trailer. Lets wait for the real thing...

The real thing came out with Narnia. It filled in some holes to the point that, for me, it went from "avoid it like the plague" to "OK that doesn't look TOO bad". I'm still in the meh stage so we'll see. No doubt I'm going to see it anyways but its not like the Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Monster's Inc, etc that I saw on opening day.

[aricher]

My company was talking about doing a promotional tie-in with Cars for one of our clients. My creative team was privy to see an extended trailer of Cars. It was about two minutes longer than what's currently online. Judging by what I've seen so far I'm just not into it at all. The old Warner Brothers cartoons with the emoting/talking cars were funnier. I'll reserve final judgement for once it's completed and in theaters but right now it seems really dumbed down for the bargain basement Nascar crowd.

[neutrix]

Could someone please record the frikkin' thing from MSNBC? Somebodies gotta have a PC out there that could do it. Gawd... how many people read about this stuff yet no one will host a quicktime video of it so all us mac heads locked out of MSNBC can actually veiw the interveiw?
C'mon!
The video's here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11003466/
someone please host this in quicktime...
:)

[SiliconAddict]

Could someone please record the frikkin' thing from MSNBC? Somebodies gotta have a PC out there that could do it. Gawd... how many people read about this stuff yet no one will host a quicktime video of it so all us mac heads locked out of MSNBC can actually veiw the interveiw?
C'mon!
The video's here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11003466/
someone please host this in quicktime...
:)


It requires IE6 which I refuse to use on principle so sorry. No go.

[kugino]

I can't imagine Cars catching on like Nemo did.

It looks like his statement was carefully worded to stay in sync with what he had said previously. However, I know plenty of adults (with more free time than me) who watch their favorite DVD movie ten times over a year or two, much more than "ten times in their lives", so I don't agree with Steve's assessment. More importantly, people will buy movies if they think they will watch them many times, whether or not they actually do.

sure, we adults watch some movies 10, 20 times over a few years...but jobs is right that children can watch "finding nemo" every day for two months. it's not the actual numbers that matter, but the idea that animated films probably have a lot more repeat viewing than live-action films do because of the viewing habits of children.

[topgunn]

Surprised no one has mentioned that Dreamworks (whom Microsoft partnered with) was bought for only $1.6 Billion.

Pixar was bought for over 7x more.

[pgwalsh]

My company was talking about doing a promotional tie-in with Cars for one of our clients. My creative team was privy to see an extended trailer of Cars. It was about two minutes longer than what's currently online. Judging by what I've seen so far I'm just not into it at all. The old Warner Brothers cartoons with the emoting/talking cars were funnier. I'll reserve final judgement for once it's completed and in theaters but right now it seems really dumbed down for the bargain basement Nascar crowd. I thought the trailer on Apple's website was pretty good. Made me laugh, especially the comment about the 60's not being good to the guy.. that was funny.

[ColoJohnBoy]

Did anybody actually see this interview? Steve and Iger were taped in front of a black backdrop, and as Steve was wearing his typical black shirt, it looked like Iger and a floating head. Creepy...

[pgwalsh]

Did anybody actually see this interview? Steve and Iger were taped in front of a black backdrop, and as Steve was wearing his typical black shirt, it looked like Iger and a floating head. Creepy...
Well in order Apple to survive after SJ passes on, they've decided to take his head and put it in a jar and keep it alive, so he can continue to make decisions. They're just trying to get people used to the idea.

[Porchland]

My bets are still on an iPod video looking something like the Archos AV 700 but more iPod-ish/sexier and with a cleaner UI.

http://www.k55.ch/out/oxbaseshop/html/0/dyn_images/1/archos_av700_angle_p1.jpg

[kugino]

if the "real" video ipod has a screen anywhere as big as that archos, i will probably buy it...but if it's anywhere as ugly as the archos, no way.

[Super Dave]

I don't think Jobs is evolving. He's just spinning different.

Why would he talk up video before the video iPod when his company didn't have video? He talks down what Apple doesn't make, and promotes what they do make. It's no more complex than that.

David:cool:

[xli_ne]

NASCAR is the #1 "sport" in the US, is it not? Other forms of car racing are popular all over the world.

I'm sure it'll do well. However, I think this movie may be more for kids than for adults, whereas the previous movies seemed to made for both.

However, we've only seen a trailer - too early to tell.

Football (NFL) is the most popular sport in the US. NASCAR is the fastest growing sport here. At least that is what I have always been told.

[miketcool]

Jobs is correct again, Cars will be amazing and the stratedgy continues. Macs for education, the idea that we ween our children on them, is still going. Now we see an Apple-Disney collaboration that will bolster Disney stocks and cause the relase of a childrens video unit. All those Disney movies at the fingertips of your child. You start on Apple, you grow up on Apple. It will have parents and children hooked. Everybody weens in this situation.

[PlaceofDis]

be interesting to see where all of this leads too. things are going to get interesting it seems.

[SiliconAddict]

My bets are still on an iPod video looking something like the Archos AV 700 but more iPod-ish/sexier and with a cleaner UI.

http://www.k55.ch/out/oxbaseshop/html/0/dyn_images/1/archos_av700_angle_p1.jpg


IMHO what's old is new again. Look at the Apple Messagepad 2100

http://www.roguelazer.com/images/mp2100.jpg

Look at the design already there.

-Protective flipcover that can double as a stand for viewing.
-5.9" widescreen
-Expansion slots for CF storage. (Drop one of the PCMCIA slots though
-More then enough space for a substantial lithium-polymer battery.
-Dock port / TV out where the serial interface currently is.

I mean honestly it's the best form factor for video watching. As for the claim that people don't watch movies over and over again. This is true however when you have a large collection of videos its nice to revisit old movies. I have 480 DVD's (500+ movies if you count the handful of VHS tapes as well.) When I can't find anything interesting on TV I walk over to the wall 'o entertainment and pick out something I have watched in a while. Last night it was Evil Dead and Army of Darkness (Just finished reading bruce campbell's autobiography that evening.)
The same thing could be said of music collections. Why do you need all that music when only a few hundred would do? It’s about having all your content with you so you enjoy it anywhere, anytime.

[illegalprelude]

hhhmmm. I just saw the interview on MSN's site, interesting indeed. Lots of TD problems though lol.

[msascha]

More importantly, people will buy movies if they think they will watch them many times, whether or not they actually do.

I mean I saw M.A.S.H. (the movie) at least 25-30 times already and I think I will watch it many times more :-).

[Marvy]

I have 480 DVD's (500+ movies if you count the handful of VHS tapes as well.) When I can't find anything interesting on TV I walk over to the wall 'o entertainment and pick out something I have watched in a while. Last night it was Evil Dead and Army of Darkness (Just finished reading bruce campbell's autobiography that evening.)
The same thing could be said of music collections. Why do you need all that music when only a few hundred would do? It’s about having all your content with you so you enjoy it anywhere, anytime.

I don't have quite that many DVDs, but I have alot of TV series. These are always great when friends are over, and you have no idea what to do. Pop in a Futurama episode, grab beer and chips, and everything is just grand. (Especially popular is the mute-star-trek-and-redub-while-drunk game). Sure I've watched some episodes a billion times ("Hey, could we watch the one where Picard turns into that robot??"), but I enjoy finding new elements, and with the right people, it's always fun.

[emulator]

I mean I saw M.A.S.H. (the movie) at least 25-30 times already and I think I will watch it many times more :).
Exactly. I do own a fair amount of DVDs and will continue purchasing and collecting them. And even if I'd buy a portable player, I'd never download a badly compressed film rather re-encode my own to watch it on the device. Just what I do on my PSP. I wonder though who buy UMDs for the same price like DVDs. :eek:

[al3000]

This is going to be an interesting year for both companies!

[strange days]

Carl Howe (Blackfriars Communications) submits: It’s all over but the paper signing. BusinessWeek says that Disney’s board has approved its takeover of Pixar, which means, as a side effect, Steve Jobs becomes the largest stockholder of Disney. This sounds like a simple merger and acquisition story, but it actually reshapes the tech and TV businesses. How? Here’s our view of what this deal really means:

* Disney regains its crown as an animation powerhouse. No studio has ever achieved six blockbuster movie hits in a row before Pixar. With Pixar on board, Disney can now add Monsters Inc. and Toy Story to its existing stable of classic movies such as Snow White and Beauty and the Beast.

* Apple gains a gold-plated Fortune 100 customer. Expect Disney to start becoming the biggest buyer of Apple MacBooks and PowerMacs in the country. Why? Imagine being in a board meeting with Steve Jobs, watching the largest shareholder pull out his MacBook to take notes while you pull out your Dell. At least some board members will decide they need a new laptop. And once executives in the boardroom start using Macs, it won’t be long before Apples are on the approved computer list.

* iTunes garners access to serious video content. The trickle of iTunes TV shows that started with Desperate Housewives and Lost will grow to a flood this year as new iTunes revenue turns skeptics to converts. As Apple begins creating its own on-demand TV network, Disney will rapidly become the preferred distribution studio because of its deep connection to iTunes.

* Apple gets serious influence in Hollywood. Unlike when Steve Jobs negotiated for rights to distribute music as an outsider, Jobs will now be a peer in Hollywood. When Jobs weighs in on anything from next-generation DVD formats to digital rights management technology, he’ll now be able to drive deals and standards that an outsider never would be able to pull off.

With Jobs and Disney CEO Robert Iger joined at the hip, the days when Hollywood could just stonewall a new technology like iPods or dictate distribution terms for movies are over. Steve Jobs’ relationship with Disney is now a trump card in his hand. For players in both Silicon Valley and Hollywood, that means it’s now a whole different game. :D

[shazammy]

Whoa...imagine that...the CEO of Disney says that "Cars" is one of the best movies he's ever seen. He is REALLY going out on a limb there...seeing as how his company is distributing it and all. KUDOS to you, Bob Iger!

[ipodml]

this deal makes me sick - and steve jobs should have known better- he used his pixar company to get a content deal for the ipod - if he was aware of anything apart from his big ego he would have seen what iger is like - a rude nasty businessmen who cares soley about money- they don't want pixar to be creative they want to buy out the alternative animation studios to strangle them and use their name.

You can critise Eisner's leadership but at least he had some decency to staff. On the day that iger took over disney, he single handedly fired the enter muppets division at disney a few weeks after they were bought - cancelled the shows planned and only plans to use them to sell the back catalogue of muppet movies. Steve jobs once had think different campaigns for its computers one featuring jim henson and kermit. Nothing that disney can make can ever match to pixar's quality nor the muppets. They both need to be hit by miss piggy. Now steve jobs belongs to disney i will write to him about disney's digusting practices to the muppets.

here are a few quotes about disney

Let’s face it — on most analyses of the company’s business practices or its artistic oeuvre, modern Disney sucks. And while there are many things that it sucks at — theme parks, fending off hostile takeover bids from Comcast, keeping any parent in its children’s films alive past the first reel — what it surely sucks at the most is being funny. The entire Disney corporation couldn’t tell a joke if Mickey Mouse’s life depended on it. Or, rather, it could — but it would first have to pass it through three focus groups, all its senior management, Disney’s representatives in China, the National Rifle Association, the League of Decency and, probably, Condoleezza Rice, just to check that it wouldn’t offend anyone, and subsequently lose the company a single $5 ticket at the box office.

[pimentoLoaf]

One reason I bought a 17" powerBook was to watch tons of DVD's, including a goodly number of films over and over again.

A sizeable number of people I know rent their DVD's, and have a large stash of their faves on a shelf -- and they complain of running out of shelf space.

I think Jobs just doesn't have the time to watch flicks.

[spidermanfreak]

I too think Cars will not be good. So much in fact I sent a report to Pixar entitled Why Cars Will suck and have even made a podcast on it. Check out all that good stuff over at

http://silencecanneverstaysilent.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_silencecanneverstaysilent_archive.html

Read the report by clicking November 2005 to the left.


And if your also interested in what Jobs and Iger didn't tell us in the CNBC interview check out some speculation at "The Best Idea Steve Jobs Doesnt Know About" check out the forum here at Mac rumors
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=176130