Disney and Pixar have announced the launch of a new animation studio in Vancouver, set for this Fall, focusing on Pixar characters 'Buzz' and 'Woody' from the 1990's "Toy Story" films and 'Lightning McQueen' from the 2006 feature "Cars."
"The operation will be small in size and dedicated to producing short-form quality computer animation for theme parks, DVDs, television and theatrical exhibition", said Oscar-winning Disney/Pixar president Ed Catmull.
Acccording to Pixar GM Jim Morris, the BC staff is expected to reach 75 to 100, although most feature/stereoscopic 3-D work will be done at Pixar's Emeryville, California studios.
The venture is the latest example of a company opening a visual effects (VFX) or animation facility in Vancouver, joining CIS Vancouver and the Moving Picture Co.
"The operation will be small in size and dedicated to producing short-form quality computer animation for theme parks, DVDs, television and theatrical exhibition", said Oscar-winning Disney/Pixar president Ed Catmull.
Acccording to Pixar GM Jim Morris, the BC staff is expected to reach 75 to 100, although most feature/stereoscopic 3-D work will be done at Pixar's Emeryville, California studios.
The venture is the latest example of a company opening a visual effects (VFX) or animation facility in Vancouver, joining CIS Vancouver and the Moving Picture Co.
"Canada, and Vancouver specifically, has had terrific tax incentives for this type of work," Morris said."I think they have a desire to grow this sort of business activity and get a critical mass. This will allow us to do more with the budgets that we have...We wanted to do various things with 'Toy Story' to keep the characters alive..."
Pixar's upcoming titles include "Up," the studio's 10th computer-animated feature and first to be released in digital 3-D, opening May 29.
Current film projects at Pixar are 3-D features "Toy Story 3," "Cars 2," "The Bear and the Bow", "Newt", a series of shorts based on the 'Mater' character from "Cars" and theme park projects.
A 3-D re-release of "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" will open theatrically October 2...
