Brad Lewis leaves Pixar.......Joins Digital Domain

In June I reported that Digital Domain were building a huge studio complex in Florida and branching out into film production. They were putting most of their money by employing two ex-Disney staff to make them stand out in the feature animation world and now they have taken that one step further by employing Brad Lewis from Pixar for their new 'Tradition Studios' company in Florida

Brad joined in Pixar in 2001 and became the Producer of "Ratatouille" and also wrote and Co-Directed "Cars 2". He had previously been at PDI Dreamworks for 11 years where he was producer for "Antz"

So why leave Pixar just as your Directorial debut hits theatres ? Well it's no secret that "Cars 2" has not been as well received as previous Pixar outings. For a start it was meant to be solely directed by Lewis but John Lasseter was brought on to help with 'developmental problems'. Although "Cars 2" is performing well at the box office and merchandise sales alone will be excellent it has at the time of writing a 34% rate @ Rotten Tomatoes which is the lowest score any Pixar film has ever had. I am guessing that it was an amicable decision for all parties given that Brad's relationship with John Lasseter was reported to be very strong.

I wish Brad all the best at 'Tradition' and I look forward to seeing what he can produce.

Digital Domain.......the new Pixar ???

Digital Domain, co founded in 1993 by creatures effects god Stan Winston and academy award winning director James Cameron are probably one of the biggest effects houses in the world today. Along with the other big two effects companies ILM and Weta Digital, they are responsible for stunning imagery in films such as "Titanic", "Speed Racer", "The Day After Tomorrow" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Not content with that they are now branching out into film making in their own right with plans to build a $40 million dollar studio in Florida with the aim of following in Sony Imageworks and ILM's recent foray into the world of animation. 

ILM had some recent success with "Rango", which marked their very first attempt at an animated movie. Sony Imageworks on the other hand have more than proved they can compete with the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks with successful films such as "Open Season" and "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs." 

Can Digital Domain capture what these other studios have done.....to be honest the jury is still out with me. Whilst I have admired Digital Domain's work for many years, for me they have always just lagged behind ILM and Weta when it comes to innovation. Also their recent attempt to create a realistic 'young' looking Jeff Bridges in "Tron Legacy" just didn't pay off and left me feeling a bit creeped out with it all, despite all the other effects blowing me away. 

Creepy Jeff

Creepy 'Dead Eyed' Jeff

As you can see from these two pictures there is something a little "Uncanny Valley" about them.

Ok, so a creepy looking Jeff Bridges isn't enough evidence to suggest Digital Domain are not up to the job of creating some stunning looking CGI animated films I will admit but there is more to making an animated film than just making it look good.

Take London based effects house Framestore for example. Aside from supplying some awesome effects work for films such as Avatar, they have also gone down the complete film production route with films including "Harry Brown", "Triangle" and "Me and Orson Welles". However their attempt at animation was the incredibly dire "Tale of Despereaux". A film that starred a very cute big eared mouse but lacked story, script, heart and characterisation. It was one of the worst films of 2008 despite having big names attached to it. It was no Pixar, that's for sure.

Digital Domain are laying all their hopes on their employment of two ex-Disney employees. Animator Aaron Blaise, whose credits include animating "Pocahontas", "The Lion King", "Beauty and the Beast" and directing "Brother Bear" has been hired along with "Brother Bear's" executive producer Chuck Williams. Chuck has been quoted as saying.

  “As Pixar is struggling with sequels and Disney’s struggling to find itself, I think it’s a good time for us to come in with a different point of view with great family films.” 
I reckon most companies wished they were 'struggling' as much as Pixar. Toy Story 3 grossed over $1 billion in 2010 which is no mean feat for any film, let alone an animated sequel. Pixar have not had a failure yet. Despite "Cars" being their least popular film to date, they are gambling on its sequel "Cars 2" and I think it will be a huge success worldwide, plus the marketing side including the toys alone will probably rake in ten times more that what the film will make, so I'm guessing Pixar are a long way from 'struggling' just yet !

Time will tell I suppose and I really do wish them well but please don't try and knock really, really successful companies when you haven't even dipped your toe in the water first.