The March of the Mouse

Continuing to signal its preparation for a future without Pixar, Disney announced last November the greenlight for Toy Story 3 (see The Hollywood Reporter). To be produced out of its new digital animation facility, by proceeding without Pixar, Disney, who owns the rights to the Toy Story franchise, is showing less deference to Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. While Robert Iger, soon to be new president of Disney, has announced his intention to retain Pixar, as The Seattle Times points out (see article), this smacks of ransom -- if you leave, we will exploit your children in our straight-to-dvd sequels (see Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin).