Originally Posted By idleBrain From www.tmz.com: BREAKING NEWS: In a move with broad implications for the future of the animation business, TMZ has learned that The Walt Disney Company has poached Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis from DreamWorks Pictures, and is a cat's breath away from signing his ImageMovers production company to a multi-year deal at The Walt Disney Company's Disney Pixar Animation. Seeking entry into 3D animation, Disney paid $7.4 billion to acquire Pixar Animation last January, but that company's chief creative officer, John Lasseter, has been reluctant to tamper with Pixar's venerated tradition of - like Ernest & Julio Gallo - serving 'no wine before its time' - which at Pixar usually means a new film every 18 months or so. As one insider with knowledge of the ImageMovers negotiations explained, that's not enough for Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook. Said the insider: "Pixar's output is their output, and they feel that the only way they can keep the quality control where they need it is to keep going at the pace they've been going. But [Disney CEO] Bob Iger feels that while Pixar was a good first step into making sure Disney is the preeminent force in animation, it's only the first step." Holy MoCap!
Originally Posted By mawnck Interesting. Full story at <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2006/08/07/motion-captured-pixar-poaches-robert-zemeckis/" target="_blank">http://www.tmz.com/2006/08/07/ motion-captured-pixar-poaches-robert-zemeckis/</a> Anybody got confirmation of this from somewhere else?
Originally Posted By mawnck As I suspected . . other animation news sources seem to be taking this story with considerable skepticism. Me . . . I dunno. Stand by.
Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror Trying to remember the last really great animated movie he directed. Oh yeah. It was with Disney. Okay. Maybe there's luck there. I just think of POLAR EXPRESS, which was creepier than than HOSTEL.
Originally Posted By jaycub <<Trying to remember the last really great animated movie he directed. Oh yeah. It was with Disney. Okay. Maybe there's luck there.>> Excellent call. technically speaking though, if Disney was going to poach the real genious behind the animation of Roger Rabbit, they should've nabbed Richard Williams from Europe rather than Zemekis!
Originally Posted By mawnck I don't even see much hope for this alleged news story being true. That "cat's breath away" deal doesn't seem to have materialized. Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Two comments concerning a Roger Rabbit sequel . . . (1) It's well documented that Spielberg was the holdup. Not Zemekis. Not Williams. (2) Uh . . . . why? The technology's old hat, Roger didn't exactly set the world on fire as a standalone character, and the original flick was 18 years ago. Besides, I thought we didn't like sequels around here.
Originally Posted By TheRedhead ^^^But we DO love cartoon shorts. And John Lasseter loves them too. And Roger Rabbit is at his best in short cartoons. Mmmmmmmm.
