Lightyear director among dozens of employees laid off from Pixar
By Dan Selcke
Disney is currently trying to shave some $5.5 billion from its budget. To that end, the company has removed dozens of titles from its Disney+ streaming service so they won’t count as assets on which the studio has to pay taxes. They’re also laying off employees, even at dependable fixtures like Pixar, which has put out a crazy number of modern classics over the past few decades, including Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up and Inside Out.
But they can’t all be winners. 2015’s The Good Dinosaur underperformed at the box office, resulting in a round of layoffs back then. Last year, the high-concept film Lightyear came up short, earning just $218 million on a $200 million budget, which makes it a certified bomb. According to Reuters, Lightyear director Angus MacLane and producer Galyn Susman are among the 75 employees laid off.
MacLane and Susman have both been with the studio since the 1990s, when Pixar was putting out hits like Toy Story and A Bug’s Life. Pixar has a reputation for being a supportive, creatively fulfilling place to work, but they’re not immune to corporate cutbacks as major studios try and find ways to save money as the Streaming Wars enter a new phase.
Disney lays off veteran Pixar employees
Lightyear was about…oh man, okay, so it’s the “real-life” story behind Buzz Lightyear, the spaceman action figure featured in Toy Story. Only this is the “real” astronaut who inspired the toy, only he’s not real, because this is a Pixar movie. But the Lightyear Buzz is more real than the Toy Story Buzz, who is voiced by Tim Allen. Real fake Buzz is voiced by Chris Evans.
It’s a pretty lofty concept for an animated movie aimed at young people. Maybe its underperformance was inevitable.
Pixar’s next movie is Elemental, about a city where people made out of the four elements — air, fire, water and earth — coexist. For Pixar, the movie has gotten fairly mediocre reviews so far. You can judge for yourself when it comes out in theaters on June 16.
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h/t The A.V. Club