25 Years of Pixar

Two and a half decades of imaginative story-telling have passed since Pixar opened our eyes to computer animation. Ever since the release of Toy Story in 1995, people have been entertained by the timeless classics that churn out of Disney's sister studio. We've seen robots fall in love, a family of superheroes battle villains, a man floating his house to South America and a world of monsters working for a power company to scare children. Pixar has become a household name across the world and is considered the benchmark to great story-telling.

It's been an eventful 25 years for Pixar and the studio is celebrating by putting on an exhibition of their work which will tour the globe. However, the first few years after Pixar's birth was not as smooth sailing as it is today. In 1986, Ed Catmull, Alvy Ray Smith, Lucasfilm vice president Doug Johnson and Steve Jobs were mulling over paper work in a law firm that would give Jobs the keys to Lucasfilm's computer graphics group. Jobs had recently been ousted from Apple and saw an opportunity with Lucasfilm.

Pixar started its early years trying to sell computer hardware, in particular, the Pixar Image Computer. It was a complete failure and Jobs was trying to offload the company as the losses piled up to the millions. It would take a small group of ex-Disney animators to promote the company and test its software.

This is the introduction of John Lasseter to Pixar, who harnessed the power and potential of computer animation, beginning his new career with Tin Toy in the late 1980's. This had created enough of a stir to prompt the release of Toy Story, which is undoubtedly the turning point of animation as we see it today.

Rather than becoming a software company that could rival Apple or Microsoft, Pixar stumbled upon a different niche altogether as an animation studio. John Lasseter has become a huge contributor to the world of animation and essentially created the Pixar logo himself with 'Luxo Jr', the iconic lamp we see at the start of all Pixar movies.

Is it any coincidence that Pixar should see huge success as Disney's Renaissance comes to an end? This is no wonder why Disney took an interest in the Studio and saw a great opportunity.

The next Pixar movie, Brave, will be released in 2012 and is the studios thirteenth feature film to hit the big screen. Will this latest creation uphold the unique storytelling and visuals that we have all grown to love?

Richard Skidmore FloridaTix - Online Marketing Manager

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