Pixar’s origins can be traced back to childhood memories, trips to the movies with parents and the day that “Mine!” turned into a commonly used, socially acceptable phrase. The magic and power that Pixar exudes is incredible. However, even though Pixar films are labeled “children’s movies,” much of its audience doesn’t fit that bracket. Take a look through the “Pixar” tag on Tumblr, and that will be enough to prove Pixar’s fan base has a wide age range.
In fact, it may not be a stretch to call college students Pixar’s target audience. “Toy Story 3” is a perfect example. Andy is leaving for college and the toys are trying to figure out what their place in the world is. Both viewpoints are painfully relatable.
Take a look at Pixar’s box office record. According to Box Office Mojo, Pixar’s highest grossing movie in the U.S. was “Toy Story 3” with $415,004,880, followed by “Finding Nemo” with $380,843,261 and rounding out the top three with “Up” at $267,047,978. Those numbers cannot be purely because of children.
None of Pixar’s films have dipped below the $150 million mark and that is just in the U.S.
Even with all of this money that I’m sure Pixar executives take a bath in every morning, it still exemplifies the old saying that “slow and steady wins the race.”
For the past 18 years, Pixar has only released 14 movies. Seven of those have been Oscar winners. DreamWorks Animation SKG, which makes action films as well as animation, has released 62 films over the past 16 years, and only four of its animation films have grossed above the $150 million mark. Those films are “Shrek,” “Shrek 2,” “Madagascar” and “Shark Tale.”
In addition, Pixar is not releasing a movie in 2014. It pushed back the release date of the 2014 film “The Good Dinosaur” to Nov. 25, 2015. This means that by the next time Pixar releases a movie, many current juniors and seniors will have graduated.
Don’t fret, Pixar fanatics. There are plenty of Pixar-related resources that should quell your longing for a new movie. Like “The Pixar Theory,” by Jon Negroni.
The theory is that all of the Pixar movies take place in the same universe, accompanied with a timeline and the cause and effect of each movie, beginning with “Brave” and ending with “Monster’s University.”
Without spoiling all of the intricate connections Negroni found, let’s just say that Boo from “Monster’s Inc.” plays an integral part of the theory. Plus, there’s a very peculiar connection between “Up,” “A Bug’s Life” and “Wall-E.”
Pixar’s magic has spread among children and adults alike. There are even seminars on how to be as creative as the company. It creates a level of excellence that many want to achieve in their own creative work. Pixar has touched the hearts of so many and has made an emotional impact so great that even its lesser films are immense successes.
Chelsea Colatriano can be chealsea.colatriano@temple.edu.
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