BOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

So will it be in CGI or traditional 2D animation from Disney's television/home video department?

While not one of the Santa Clause movies, he is starring in Christmas With The Kranks, which looks to be pretty big in November. It looks like he wants to "own" Christmas like Will Smith used to "own" July 4th.

Homer: Hey, what about a prequel? Everybody loves prequels.

I'm but only because I just realized that the first Toy Story movie came out almost 10 years ago(!) and so I feel really old now. Poop.



-Gunshy

I wish I could say that, but with two kids who worship Toy Story, Ill be picking them up.

Toy Story will never go direct to video as long as it is Pixar or close. But cartoon will most definitley go direct.

Plus those Santa Clause movies have all done well in BO#'s.

Galaxy Quest II

My company is renovating an office for Disney in the LA/Anaheim area and the guy there told our tech that it was being redone for part of the Toy Story 3 crew...

Maybe we can get another special edition with Jack Black

Paul... W.S... Anderson

thank you.

I heard that Hanks would not be apart of it if Pixar was not apart of it.

I will not see it if Pixar is not apart of it.

Well unfortunately I can say that but I will probably eventually at least see it as well. It definately won't be with the same enthusiasm or money spending if it was Pixar who was producing this feature.

That is one reason why I dislike Disney so much. I love their movies, theme parks, characters, and products but I really hate their business practices and movies as of late. They really have lost their (for lack of a better term) heart and soul in recent years.

I hope its doesn't go straight to video, that means it will bee a shit movie.

Remember, TS2 was supposed to be direct to video, until they realized how good it was, so D2V doesn't always mean BAD.

Well, I'd say in general it does. More like excfeption to the rule if something is good. There are a few, I thought a couple of the Batman Animated movies were quite good. But with Toy Story, yes, it was supposed to be a D2V movie, but they changed that VERY early in the development, only after previewing a few test scenes. The movie we see was never really a D2V title. It's not like they made the movie then just changed the distribution channel, they revamped the entire production and of course made a much better movie than 99.99% of all D2V stuff. Toy Story 2 was a 90 million dollar movie also, hardly a budget for a D2V movie.

If TS3 and 4 were made D2V, I can imagine that the production values will be weaker and overall the talent behind it not the same. Even if Disney pumps the right budget into them, not having the creative talent behind them who made the first 2 great would be my biggest concern.

Well to be honest, it isn't Disney you hate then. It is Michael Eisner and his boardroom of monkeys... er.. yes men.

Because Pixar actually had an idea for a third and final Toy Story that would complete a grand story arc. But because of their strained relationship with Disney which all began (ironically) with the success of Toy Story 2 and Disney refusing to count it towards Pixar's contract - we will never get to see the conclusion of what would have been the greatest animated trilogy ever.

Really, haven't heard of this, is there any info on their planned story?

I do not know of any specifics. Just that Pixar had a really good idea for a third that expanded on ideas presented in Toy Story 2. They tried to use Toy Story 3 as a negotiating tool with Disney according to this link:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...06/BU14654.DTL

According to earlier published reports, the tension mounted shortly after the release of "Toy Story 2" in 1999. Disney, pushing for a possible third installment in the "Toy Story" series, said that film would not count as part of the five-movie agreement.

Pixar, hoping to get out of its current contract, reportedly insisted "Toy Story 3" be considered one of the five. "Toy Story 3" has not been made.


There have been other hints about it on other websites. (Although this quote comes from the somewhat questionable Aint It Cool News, I have also heard these rumors elsewhere):

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=9841

Eisner makes it sound as though putting off Toy Story 3 was his idea. He says that after Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life, Pixar had a good idea for Toy Story 3, but he insisted that they pursue Lasseter's next original film. "Either choice would have been right," Eisner says, "but I didn't want to wait until 2008 for John's original idea. We have the right to do a sequel irrespective of the two deals. I don't need a new deal to make Toy Story 3. I can get five movies plus Toy Story 3."

The speculation with Eisner's decision above was that there would be more merchandising possibilities with an original idea rather than Toy Story 3, so they didn't want it to count as a part of Pixar's five-film contract.

Err . . . I thought that that was Star Wars . . . come on! You can't call what Hayden Christianson does "acting!" And that dialogue, it has to be animated! (Sorry, I hadn't seen a Lucas-bashing thread on here today.)

Sad. So sad.

^

Correct.


Disney Building a Unit to Make Pixar Sequel Movies

Tue Feb 1, 4:54 PM ET

Add to My Yahoo! Movies - Reuters

By Peter Henderson

ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co. is building a new animation unit to create feature film sequels to the hits it made with Pixar Animation Studios, starting with a "Toy Story 3" feature film due by 2008, studio Chairman Dick Cook told Reuters on Tuesday.



Fans have wondered for years whether Disney would make the next "Toy Story" as a straight-to-DVD project, like follow-ups to Disney hits such as "Lion King."

But Cook said it would be a theatrical release.

Disney has the right to make sequels to films from the Pixar relationship, with which Pixar could cooperate or not.

Pixar has not shown interest thus far, but Disney is moving ahead with plans of its own.

Disney's "Toy Story" sequel will be built at a new division in Glendale, California, near the feature animation division's headquarters in Burbank, Cook said.

"It would be another unit," he said, adding that Disney was still deciding how many animators it would hire.

"They'll have individual projects in there, using the same technology and the same infrastructure that we have at the main location in feature animation, and it will primarily be doing sequels to Disney/Pixar films," he said.

Speaking to Wall Street analysts who were meeting with company executives at Walt Disney World, Cook said that feature animation planned to produce one major film each year, for release around summer or winter holidays.

Cook said the Pixar sequel planned for 2008 would not be the main Disney animated feature for that year.

Disney, best known for its hand-drawn style films, also showed analysts previews of "Chicken Little," it's first computer-animated feature.

Disney's feature animation division has been under fire in recent years as Disney cut jobs and restructured, turning to computer animation in the shadow of Pixar. The two studios will part ways after one more jointly produced film, "Cars."

"We're not falling on our swords anymore," Cook told analysts. "This is a new beginning for feature animation."

One investor gave Disney credit for putting feature animation back on its feet with "Chicken Little" and other original work that was previewed at the meeting.

*I love this next part.*

"Not everything is going to be wonderful, but my guess is this will be a credible departure from dependence on the Pixar situation," media investor Hal Vogel told Reuters at the conference.

*nothing like settling for mediocrity *




Apparently they had reason to provide further information on TS3.

Disney posts strong earnings
Gains in cable operations and theme parks lead first-quarter growth.

Walt Disney Co. executives chose a resort called the Yacht and Beach Club on Monday to paint a sunny profit picture for Wall Street.

With analysts and investors gathered inside the Walt Disney World resort hotel, Disney executives announced that the company not only beat forecasts with a surprisingly strong 5 percent increase in fiscal first-quarter profit but remained on track to deliver double-digit growth the rest of the year.

All told, Disney earned $723 million, or 35 cents a share, in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, thanks largely to gains in its cable networks and theme parks. The results compared with $688 million, or 33 cents, earned a year earlier. Revenues increased 1.4 percent, to $8.67 billion.

"It is very gratifying to see the company's strong performance continue into the new fiscal year," Chief Executive Michael Eisner said.

Disney's quarterly numbers had been expected to fall short, in part because of difficult comparisons since the 2003 quarter included DVD sales from the blockbusters Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Instead, Disney easily beat the 29 cents-a-share consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

"The numbers are great," said Jessica Reif Cohen, a media and entertainment analyst with Merrill Lynch after listening to a nearly hourlong presentation in the Grand Harbor Ballroom by Disney's chief financial officer, Tom Staggs. "Clearly, things are going in their favor right now."

The earnings news helped kick-start the two-day conference on a high note, in stark contrast to a year earlier.

At that meeting, Disney's thunder was stolen when cable giant Comcast Corp. launched an unsolicited bid that dominated talk at the meeting. Disney at the time also faced a rebellion from shareholders who complained about lackluster long-term performance and weak stock price.

This year, Disney is enjoying a much improved outlook. The company's theme-parks chief, Jay Rasulo, told analysts that there should be a big lift this year from an 18-month-long companywide celebration of Disneyland's 50th anniversary.

"We believe this celebration will issue a powerful call to action to the millions of families who have made memories with us before, and to those families thinking of visiting us for the very first time," Rasulo said.

In Disney's first quarter, the biggest winner was its media division, where operating income rose 36 percent to $467 million. Gains at ESPN and improved ratings at the ABC Family Channel were largely responsible.

The shows that have led a turnaround at the ABC TV network, Lost and Desperate Housewives, did not yet boost the bottom line. Disney sold the bulk of its advertising for the shows in May, well before they emerged as breakout hits. The new shows are expected to boost advertising revenue this year, returning the network to profitability.

Parks and resorts, which includes Walt Disney World and California's Disneyland, also had a good quarter, with operating income rising 11 percent to $258 million. The parks benefited from higher Disney World attendance and higher ticket prices at Disneyland.

Disney's film studio unit saw its income fall 27 percent, to $333 million, despite strong box-office sales from Pixar's The Incredibles and National Treasure, because it lacked the DVD hits of a year earlier. Meanwhile, operating income at Disney's consumer-products unit, which includes products licensed to retailers, fell 3 percent to $231 million.

Disney shares rose 40 cents to $28.63 in New York Stock Exchange trading.

Separately, Disney's board of directors received a mixed report card from proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis, which is advising institutional investors on how to vote at the company's annual meeting this month.

Glass Lewis lauded the board for such actions as revamping executive pay, increasing disclosure and "taking some important steps to improve relations with shareholders." Yet it advised withholding votes for the board's chairman, former Sen. George Mitchell, questioning his autonomy by calling him Eisner's former "hired hand" and adviser.

Disney declined to comment.