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Disney's Pixar slashes 14% of its workforce after series of flops including Lightyear and Onward that some critics deemed too woke
Once known as the the gold standard of family films, Pixar has let go of 14 percent of its workforce after multiple box office fails, after its parent company has seemingly gone woke.
Pixar President Jim Morris sent out a note today informing 175 employees that they were being fired.
'Calendar invites to speak with a leader have already gone out to those individuals, and we anticipate we will have connected with everyone impacted by the end of the day,' the staff wide note read.
But this wasn't a shock to employees as many had known about these layoffs since January, although they expected that about 20 percent would be let go instead of the current numbers.
The studio that gave hits such as Toy Story, The Incredibles, Up and Inside Out has suffered serious blows since the pandemic.
President of Pixar Jim Morris (left) sent out a note today informing 175 employees that they were being fired
Released in March 2020, the movie Onward, which referenced a lesbian relationship, earned only $142 million at the box office due to the pandemic
Its decision to release Soul, Luca and Turning Red directly on its parent company's streaming service, Disney+ when theaters began to reopen caused the studio to suffer major setback.
Furthermore, the studio's 2020 theatrical release Onward and 2022's Lightyear also failed to make an impact on the box office.
At the time, Lightyear angered Toy Story fans after it was revealed that Tim Allen had been replaced with Chris Evans as the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the grown-up tale. Further anger ensued over the inclusion of a lesbian kiss. In Pixar's Onward, there's also a reference to a lesbian relationship.
Lightyear's gay kiss saw it pulled from movie theaters and Disney+ services worldwide, particularly in the Muslim world. Actress Uzo Aduba briefly kisses her female partner in one scene.
Disney and others defended the scene as giving viewers an insight into the different types of families which exist.
Thirteen nations from the Muslim world and the Palestinian territory barred it.
As for Onward, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia all refused to show the film.
Lightyear was also released amid a battle between Disney and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis when the company's then-CEO Bob Chapek spoke about against the Sunshine State's Don't Say Gay bill.
Chapek was ousted in late 2022 and replaced by former CEO Bob Iger. The returning chief sought to repair Disney's relationship with the state's lawmakers.
DeSantis in late March 2022 signed the bill, which forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.
The moment had been earlier cut from the film but was restored after Pixar employees protested Disney’s response to Florida’s bill.
Pixar was able to revive itself a bit after its movie Elemental earned nearly $500 million globally to become the biggest original animated movie since Pixar's Coco in 2017.
But the studio is still suffering from the loss despite Elemental's success.
Lightyear, released one year ago with a reported budget of $200 million, brought in a modest $226.7 million in worldwide ticket sales and received a decidedly mixed reception
Elemental earned nearly $500 million globally to become the biggest original animated movie since Pixar's Coco in 2017
Last year, Pixar had eliminated 75 positions including those of two executives behind box office flop Lightyear in what are the the first significant job cuts at the studio in a decade.
The cuts included Lightyear director Angus MacLane, a 26-year animator who was part of the senior creative team on such acclaimed films as Toy Story 4 and Coco.
Michael Agulnek, Pixar's vice-president of worldwide publicity since 2015, was also laid off. Also departing the studio is Galyn Susman, a producer on Lightyear.
Susman had been at Pixar since the release of the original Toy Story movie in 1995 and was hailed as a hero at the company after she was found to have a backup of the film Toy Story 2 on her home computer when the company mistakenly wiped its own version off its servers while the film was in the early stages of production.
Among those targeted in a round of layoffs were Angus MacLane, a 26-year veteran animator who was part of the senior creative team
The story was revealed in a tweet: 'Someone at Pixar deleted all of Toy Story 2 and the backup hadn't worked for a month, and the only reason we saw that movie was b/c someone on maternity leave had a copy of it on her home computer. Her name is Galyn Susman and she is now the producer for the new Lightyear movie!'
Oren Jacob, Pixar's former chief technical officer explained how someone likely ran the command 'at the root level of the project and the system was recursively tracking down through the file structure and deleting its way out like a worm eating its way out from the core of an apple.'
'He [producer Larry Cutler] looked at the directory and it had like 40 files, and he looked again and it had four files. Then we saw sequences start to vanish,' he told The Next Web.
Susman was out on maternity leave but had been provided with a home computer to keep working on the film. The computer contained an incomplete backup of the film but it was still better than an empty file directory.
Susman had been at Pixar since the release of the original Toy Story movie in 1995 and was hailed as a hero at the company after she was found to have a backup of the film Toy Story 2 on her home computer when the company mistakenly wiped its own version off its servers
The cuts, which took place May 23, 2023, are part of Walt Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger's previously announced plan to eliminate 7,000 jobs and slash $5.5 billion in costs.
The restructuring combines the film and television groups into a single Disney Entertainment unit and eliminates a division charged with distribution.
While small compared to Pixar's employee base of about 1,200, the layoffs are significant because the studio is a creative force generating franchises and characters that drive revenue across Disney.
But with the scheduled release of the Inside Out 2 on June 14, Elio in 2025 and Toy Story 5 in 2026, Pixar hopes to return to its former glory soon.