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Pixar Animation Studios
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Pixar Animation Studios, or simply Pixar (/ˈpɪksɑr/), is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio is best known for its CGI-animated feature films created with PhotoRealistic RenderMan, its own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan image-rendering application programming interface used to generate high-quality images. Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm before its spin-out as a corporation in 1986 with funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder. The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion, a transaction that resulted in Jobs becoming Disney's largest single shareholder at the time. Luxo Jr., a character from a 1986 Pixar short film of the same name, is the mascot of the studio.
Pixar has produced 15 feature films, its first being Toy Story (1995) and the most recent being Inside Out (2015). Most of the films have received both critical and financial success with an exception being Cars 2 (2011), which, while commercially successful, received substantially less praise than Pixar's other productions. All 15 films have debuted with CinemaScore ratings of at least "A−," indicating a positive reception with audiences. The studio has also produced several short films. As of October 2015, its feature films have made over $9.5 billion worldwide, with an average worldwide gross of $627 million per film. Three of Pixar's films—Finding Nemo (2003), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Inside Out (2015)—are among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and 13 of Pixar's films are among the 50 highest-grossing animated films. Toy Story 3 is the third all-time highest, behind Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen, which grossed $1.274 billion in its initial release, and Illumination Entertainment's Minions, which has grossed $1.151 billion as of 2015, in comparison to Toy Story 3 's $1.063 billion.
The studio has earned 15 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and 11 Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Since the award's inauguration in 2001, most of Pixar's films have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Seven have won, including Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3, as well as Monsters, Inc. (2001), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009), and Brave (2012). Monsters, Inc and Cars (2006) are the only films that were nominated for the award, but did not win it. Up and Toy Story 3 were also the second and third animated films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture (the first being Disney's Beauty and the Beast). On September 6, 2009, executives John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich were presented with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement by the biennial Venice Film Festival. The award was presented by Lucasfilm founder George Lucas.
Best films
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(2019)
(2010)
(2016)
(2003)
(2015)Filmography of Pixar Animation Studios (79 films)
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Knick Knack (1989)
, 4minutesDirected by John Lasseter
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Animation
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Children's films
On a bookshelf filled with summer vacation-themed souvenirs, a snowman named Knick (who is the cousin of Frosty the Snowman, according to the audio commentary), who resides in a snow globe, wants to reach a "Sunny Miami" knick knack that shows a girl lounging in a bikini. Knick tries several but unsuccessful methods to exit the globe: ramming it with the igloo backdrop, using a hammer and his carrot nose to chisel through, attacking it with a jackhammer, using a cutting torch and detonating explosives. The globe eventually falls over the shelf's edge and Knick notices an emergency exit in the base and frees himself just before he and the globe fall into a fishbowl. Here Knick sees a pretty mermaid souvenir from "Sunny Atlantis" and runs toward her, but before he can reach her, the globe settles to the bottom and traps him for the second time, leaving Knick frustrated.
Tin Toy (1988)
, 5minutesDirected by John Lasseter
Origin USA
Genres Animation
Themes Jeu, Films about toys, Children's films
The film takes place in one room and stars the toy of the title, a mechanical one-man band named Tinny, and a baby named Billy. At first Tinny is delighted at the prospect of being played with by Billy until he sees how destructive he can be. Fleeing beneath the couch, Tinny discovers dozens of other toys who are too terrified to come out as they went through the same experience. But then Billy falls flat on the hardwood floor and starts crying. Tinny feels ashamed of himself, and decides he has to help no matter what. His antics succeed in cheering Billy up, to the point where Billy picks him up and shakes him violently before throwing him away. Once the toy has recovered from this ordeal, he is annoyed to see that Billy has forgotten about him and is now playing with the cardboard box and bag that he came out of. Billy walks off with the bag on his head, wandering around the room with Tinny following while the credits roll. At the end of the credits, Billy and Tinny walk out the door of the room and a few other toys come out of hiding to run across the floor.
Red's Dream (1987)
, 4minutesDirected by John Lasseter
Origin USA
Genres Animation
Themes Children's films
Set in a lonely city on a rainy night, the film takes place in a bicycle shop (named "Eben's Bikes" for Pixar animator Eben Ostby) that is closed for the night. In the corner of the shop sleeps Red, a red unicycle who languishes in the "clearance corner", waiting to be purchased. As the camera zooms on him, the sound of rain falling turns into a drumroll, and we go into the dream-sequence. In his dream, Red is being ridden by a circus clown (which was nicknamed 'Lumpy' due to his appearance) as part of a juggling act.
Luxo Jr. (1986)
, 2minutesDirected by John Lasseter, William Reeves
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Animation
Themes Children's films
Two balanced-arm desk lamps, named Luxo Jr. (small) and Luxo Sr. (large), are playing with a small inflatable rubber ball. When Luxo Jr. tries balancing on it, the ball eventually deflates due to excessive jumping. As a result, he is later seen playing with a beach ball.