Pixar will undergo a series of layoffs, most likely later this year. While a number has been floated by TechCrunch putting the layoffs at 20% of the staff, leaving the studio with less than 1,000 employees, TheWrap has learned that these numbers are larger than expected.
These redundancies mostly have to do with a lessening of the studio’s commitments to Disney+. TheWrap had previously reported that a full-length series, a follow-up to the as-yet-released “Win or Lose,” had been quietly canceled. And demands for Disney+ specific content from the studio has lessened in the past few months.
Staffers were informed of the upcoming layoffs sometime last year. At the time employees were notified that after Pixar finishes production on this summer’s hugely anticipated “Inside Out 2,” “Elio” (which was originally due this spring but will now arrive next summer) and an as-yet-unannounced Disney+ project, that staff would be cut. There were also several high profile layoffs last year, including longtime Pixar producer Galyn Susman, who had been with the studio since before the release of their first movie “Toy Story” in 1995, and Angus MacLane, who had started with the studio in the late 1990’s as an animator and risen to co-direct “Finding Dory” and direct “Lightyear” (which Susman also worked on).
Animation is typically a medium that staffs up for larger projects (or several projects in a row), becoming leaner when there isn’t as much on the docket. The fact that Pixar has had to deliver so much, both theatrically and for Disney’s direct-to-consumer streaming platform (including a truly staggering amount of short-form material), is something of an anomaly. Reality is just returning to the Bay Area town of Emeryville, California.
This news arrives as “Soul,” Pete Docter’s Oscar-winning animated feature starring Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey, which was released directly to Disney+ during the pandemic, opens nationwide. It will be followed by the wide theatrical releases for “Turning Red” and “Luca,” both of which were also released directly to Disney+. “Inside Out 2” opens on June 14, 2024.
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