The Rotoscopers’ financial friend Tim Beyers of The Motley Fool wrote an insightful article about Disney Animation and Pixar’s box office earnings: “Will Big Hero 6 Be The Next Frozen?” The article breaks down all the revenue film by film to compare the results.
The data points to some interesting patterns. As any animation fan will know, Pixar’s films have outperformed animated Disney films for years, but Disney has slowly been improving its storytelling methods as well as the animation department. The work has been slow and steady, but didn’t the turtle win the race in the end? Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph laid the groundwork for Frozen’s continuing success and now Big Hero 6 is poised to do just as well…dare we say even better?
Big Hero 6 is still young at the box office and its numbers point to Disney Animation reclaiming some of its Golden Age success.
What about Pixar?
Disney Animation’s November releases are gaining traction as Pixar leans on old franchises to win in a crowded summer market.
Kind of a truthful slap in the face for Pixar. Don’t forget, however, that Inside Out is not based on an pre-existing franchise and more are in the pipeline.
What the numbers tell us is Disney is performing better at the box office than it has in years and is gaining on Pixar’s track record.
Part of Disney reemergence in the animation ring is due to Ed Catmull and John Lasseter revamping the studio’s structure when they were given control in the Pixar buyout. You can learn more details in Catmull’s book Creativity Inc..
See how 2014’s animated films compared to Whitney and Tim’s predictions in Episode 10 of the Animation Interviews Podcast.
