Pixar’s creative director has admitted the studio was wrong to assume audiences would understand what Light year was approx.
Talk to The envelope (opens in a new tab)Pete Docter explained why Light year – one of the two Pixar films released in 2022; the other being turn red – did not perform well at the box office. The reason? Viewers didn’t understand why toy story the quasi-spin-off film was not a real toy story movie.
“We did a lot of soul-searching about it because we all love the movie,” Docter said. “We love the characters and the premise. I think we probably ended up on what was wrong was we asked too much of the audience. When they hear Buzz, they’re like, ‘Great, where’s Mr. Potato Head and Woody and Rex? And then we drop them in this sci-fi movie where they’re like, ‘What?'”
Why didn’t Lightyear’s thrusters ignite?
Most of the confusion stemmed from how Light year has been marketed. Light year is a film derived from toy story series, but does not take place in the fictional universe of this franchise. Instead, the film starring Chris Evans is the sci-fi film from the Pixar universe that directly inspires the Buzz Lightyear product line in toy story. It is also the film that Andy, the human protagonist of toy story 1 to 3 – sees at the movies, which leads him to ask his mother to buy him a Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday at toy story 1.
Unsurprisingly, Lightyear’s meta-nature didn’t help the film’s box office performance. It only grossed $226.4 million worldwide, and with a reported budget of $200 million, the Pixar the film ended up losing money (when marketing and promotion costs are factored into the equation).
Given her poor theatrical performance, Lightyear landed on Disney+ earlier than expected. The film only launched in cinemas on June 17, but hit Disney’s streaming platform on August 3 – just six weeks after its theatrical debut. The film became the most streamed Disney Plus film in August 2022.
Even with its new lease of life on Disney Plus, Docter admitted Pixar could have promoted Light year much more clearly than he did. However, he said Pixar Braintrust has no regrets developing a film that left viewers confused as to what it was supposed to be.
“If they [viewers] I read the material in the press, it was just a bit too far off, both in concept, and I think in the way the characters were drawn, that they were portrayed,” Docter added. “It was a lot more science fiction. And Angus [MacFarlane, Lightyear‘s director], to his credit, took it very seriously and sincerely and wanted to portray these characters as real characters. But the Toy Story characters are much larger, and so I think there was a disconnect between what people wanted/expected and what we were giving them.”
For fans of toy storyThere’s some good news — well, maybe not so good news if you think the franchise should be left alone — about the sequel to Pixar’s most popular series. A fifth toy story the film is already in the works, recently returned Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed during the company’s first quarter 2023 earnings call.
These are the first days when toy story The development of 5 is concerned, but Docter teased what people can expect from the next installment. “I think it will be surprising,” he said. “There’s some really cool stuff that you haven’t seen before.” I hope he is right.
For more Pixar and Disney coverage, find out what toy story the movies have arrived on our best family movies list. Otherwise, read our best Disney Plus shows And best Disney Plus movies guides.