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Up For Best Picture and a Look Back at Steve Jobs’ 1997 Goal to Establish Pixar as the Third Brand in Movies

Posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

Disney purchased the front cover of the Hollywood trade newspaper Variety to push Pixar’s computer animated film Up for Award season (thanks to Awards Daily for the scan). The advertisement FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION section pushes the feature for not only the Best Animated Feature category, but also Best Picture (an no, this isn’t a surprise). With ten best picture nominees, Up is sure to at least get a nod, but does the film really have a chance for Best Picture? It’s interesting that they are selling the Best Picture campaign purely on the opening of Up, and the montage of Carl and his wife.

Check out the full cover after the jump followed by an interesting excerpt from a 1997 letter from Steve Jobs talking about how he wants to establish Pixar as the third brand in entertainment, alongside Steven Spielberg and Disney,

Up on Variety

Another thing I came across recently was Steve Jobs’ vision for Pixar, as laid out in his letter to shareholders in mid-1997, as reprinted by
The Pixar Touch:

We believe there are only two significant brands in the film industry–”Disney” and “Steven Spielberg”. We would like to establish “Pixar” as the third. Successful brands are a reflection of consumer trust, which is earned over time by consumers’ positive experiences with the brand’s products. For example, parents trust Disney-branded animated films to provide satisfying and appropriate family entertainment, based on Disney’s undisputed track record of making wonderful animated films. This trust benefits both parents and Disney: it makes the selection of family entertainment that much easier for parents, and it allows Disney to more easily and assuredly draw audiences to see their new films. Over time we want Pixar to grow into a brand that embodies the same level of trust as the Disney brand.

Apparently the full letter, which was publicly available on the Pixar web site, was removed after Disney acquired the company in 2006.

Comments

Jon

Deserves the nom, deserves the win.
Best reviewed.
Top grossing.
A story that transcends pandering to a particular audience.

Hmm

Great film, but the second they came across the talking dogs it became "bolt part 2". Story went nowhere after that. Carl and russel's characters should have gone on a more personal journey

jonsachs1

I agree the dogs were a bit overused and became silly (flying planes....really?), but Carl and russell maintained a personal story right through to the end.

Andrew Morinn

I do think the dogs were used a little to much, but I don't agree on the story going no where. Carl finally let go of his past and decided to move on, Russle got his badge and found a father figure in Carl.

dagreenman18

I can't think of a single film that deserves it more.

surgemonkay

I think Up will deffinately get a nod for Best Picture. I really, really doubt it will win though. I know a lot of people and critics really liked it, but I think there will be better films coming up.

Personally, I absolutely loved the first half hour or so, but the rest seemed pretty poor. Russel was extreamely irritating, and then when you add in the dogs, it was just a bit much. It was like a 180 turnaround from where the film had started.

tobor68

from opening to end credits, UP is a great film, no matter how you slice it up. not only does pixar deserve the nomination, they deserve the win. if even out of respect for their consistency of quality.

animated films deserve to compete with live action films, no if, ands or buts.

CyT

"if even out of respect for their consistency of quality."

Thinking of Marty Scorsese and The Departed there?? :)

Ted

yeah not really a chance for an animated film to win best picture. too much politics in the academy. producers of live action film usually only support other live action films.

super_aj

In my opinion it's my vote for not only a nom, but for the win. It's my favorite movie of the year.

super_aj

I think Wall-e got screwed over last year as being the best reviewed movie of the year, just like UP is this year, and didn't even get a nom in B.P. Pixar and UP deserve the win.

Nate Lechner

Up and The Hurt Locker (and maybe A Serious Man) are my favorite films this year. It absolutely deserves at least a nomination. I hope they get it.

starscream9289

I hid under your porch because I love you :3

evilmonkeyg1

I know it won't but why can't UP win best picture? It touched me more than any adult film of the past decade and yet entertained children while doing it. Don't get me wrong each and almost every year (wtf happened with cars not being so good) they win best animated film of the year and deserve it. But damn this time they made a movie that ranks on my all time favorites.

Sarah

I enjoyed "Up", but frankly, the movie that moved me the most was "Astro Boy". Yeah, that's right. I can't believe I'd like any animated film better than "Up", but there you are. "Astro Boy" had better visuals, better voice acting, a sharper script, and the kind of heart-tugging emotion that Disney films USED to have. I loved it. My husband loved it. My kids loved it. Everyone I know who's seen it loves it. It may not get appreciated by the academy, but this moviegoers gives it her vote for Best Animated Film of the year.

Matt_Bacon

"The film currently holds a 47% 'Rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 81 reviews"

Sarah

Matt, I couldn't care less. I have been led astray by film critics far too often. If they're YOUR guides to what to watch and what to avoid, I feel sorry for you. No doubt you've missed out on a lot of fine films.

Andrew Morinn

I would love if Up won Best Picture because it was probably the best movie of the year. If it did win though a lot of people would be mad because it is animated and it shouldn't qualify. I think it does (and I'm sure a lot of people agree), and if it did it would show a real turning point for The Oscars and Hollywood as a whole.

Tercotta

Up will be nominated but won't win. Though it will be better than whatever does win there as something undeserving will take the crown as always. I have a feeling Inglourious Basterds might steal alot of the thunder.

lotta221211

I watched Wall-E. The first half was excellent, the second half was terrible.

I watched Up. The first half was excellent, the second half was mediocre at best.

lotta221211

I watched Wall-E. The first half was excellent, the second half was terrible.

I watched Up. The first half was excellent, the second half was mediocre at best.

ajg1993

Now that deserving animated films stand a much better chance of netting Best Picture nods (Cars 2 notwithstanding), I think it's time to get rid of the Best Animated Feature category as a whole. It serves no real purpose now; not that it ever served one to begin with.

krackajap

Up winning would go a long way in legitimizing animation as a medium for serious storytelling.

MickJ

Anyone else think that with 10 nominees something random is going to sneak in and win because the votes are so spread out?

Brobocop

They should be selling the opening of that movie. Those 15 minutes conveyed more emotion than most movies can do with 90 or more minutes. The non-verbal stuff is powerful and the interaction between Ellie and Carl is priceless. But in the end it doesn't matter. It's just a let's be different award ceremony now. I'm going to get flamed on but little more than a year latter and what movie is more remembered in 2008? The Dark Knight or Slumdog Millionaire?

People think movies like Up and The Dark Knight come along every year, so why is it then that movies like those are remembered and cherished longer than the academy award winning movies that beat them that year?

alfie

They are focusing their campaign on the first part of the film because like wall-e (and ratatouille to a certain extent) the film really loses steam and becomes an incredibly average film by the half way point.

I always said about wall-e that everyone was so hypnotized by the amazing opening act that they ignored the fact that the last half of the film is boring and pretty lame. Up is exactly the same. It starts of amazing but once its all about talking dogs and a story filled to the brim with deus ex machina it to becomes pretty predictable and boring.

I love pixars stuff and they are obviosuly good at what they do. I would a hundred wall es over shrek of course don't get me wrong but I find they are incredibly overrated.

MattEss

Why shouldn't "Up" win Best Picture? For one because it's got talking dogs that fly airplanes.

Be honest, if "Up" was live action and still had talking dog fighter pilots I honestly believe nobody would ever say that it deserved to win best picture (whether it truly deserved it or not, nobody would say it). A scene like that wouldn't fly in a live action movie, everyone would be saying how "Up" "nukes the fridge" in that scene if it was live action. But we let it slide because it's a "cartoon". Was it the best animated picture of the year? Yes. Was it the best picture? No, I don't think so (because of the aforementioned scene and others, like the played out "are we there yet" scene, yeah it's cute but, I mean one of the worst films of a few years back was named after and based entirely on that joke). I dunno it seems like we let PIXAR inflict some mediocre jokes and themes on us, but don't say anything because, it's so far above most other animated films.

If an animated film is truly the best picture of the year, then yes, I hope it wins. I honestly don't think "Up" deserves it. It is a very good film though, the first half is amazing (it's no secret why the ad focuses solely on the intro). If the rest of the film followed suit it would deserve to win "Best Picture", but it didn't and it shouldn't.

Tercotta

Are you saying that animation should be held to the same rules of realism as live action? One of the primary benefits of animation is that it lets you bend the rules of the story world for the purposes of your story. That's a cornerstone of the art of animation.

Kashif

exactly. If you lifted a house by balloons in live action it would be ridiculous. You accept it in Up because you accept that none of it's real up front

MattEss

No, absolutely not. I personally don't even believe that there are specific "rules of realism" that live action films need to follow. Part of the magic of cinema is that it can make the impossible possible. I do think that animated films should take themselves just as seriously as live action ones, which "Up" does better than most animated films have ever even attempted. It creates characters more believable than most live action films this year, but in the second half it falls into the trap of using some cheap "kid's movie" gags to get a rise out of the audience (I know, I know, "but it IS a kids movie", well, if it is then it deserved a "Kid's Choice Award" instead of an Oscar) That's how I feel at least. Animated films need to take themselves more seriously, as does it's audience. When "Up" takes itself seriously it is fantastic, when it doesn't take itself seriously it suffers considerably. "Up" made me believe that in this world an old man can fly his house to South America, mainly because it was integral to it's story, but when they employ a cheap gag (a Dreamworks Animation caliber joke) simply because its an easy way to make kids laugh, it isn't believable or necessary and it hurts the overall film. Toy Story, although not as emotionally impacting as "Up" is a better film in my opinion, because it creates it's own rules and then the jokes follow the rules, instead of breaking them for cheap easy laughs.

mbellerbrock

Wow, I can't believe out of 26 comments no one mentioned Job's vision for Pixar. I'd say he not only nailed it but surpassed it. Spielberg has been iffy these past few years and I'd much rather trust a Pixar branded film than a Disney branded.

Tercotta

What is more bankable at this point than Pixar? I wonder if Jobs thought Pixar would ever surpass the rest of Disney and stomp its carcass into the mud.

tim

nothing has even come close to being as good as up this year. there have been good movies ie inglourious basterds...but none as flawless as up.

disneycars

With a nominee to Best Film - Up would defenitly get the Oscar for best animated movie. Steve Jobs is an inspiring persona in any scale - i love his work in Pixar and Apple.

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Up For Best Picture and a Look Back at Steve Jobs’ 1997 Goal to Establish Pixar as the Third Brand in Movies

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