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You know those lists of bad predictions from the 1800s and early 1900s<\/a>, where people who should have known better say stuff like, \u201cI think there is a world market for maybe five computers\u201d (Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943), or \u201cWho the hell wants to hear actors talk?\u201d (H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927)?<\/p>\n Well, add Richard Greenfield of Pali Research, Chris Marangi at Gabelli & Company, and Doug Creutz of Cowen and Company to that esteemed company. Don’t know their names? You better learn ’em while these guys still have jobs: They’re the analysts from that now notorious NY Times<\/em> article, back in April, “Pixar\u2019s Art Leaves Profit Watchers Edgy,”<\/a> who predicted doom for Pixar Animation Studio’s 10th feature, Up<\/em>:<\/p>\n Richard Greenfield of Pali Research downgraded Disney shares to sell last month, citing a poor outlook for \u201cUp\u201d as a reason. \u201cWe doubt younger boys will be that excited by the main character,\u201d he wrote, adding a complaint about the lack of a female lead.<\/p>\n Mr. Greenfield is alone in his vociferousness, but not in his opinion.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople seem to be concerned about this one,\u201d said Chris Marangi, who follows Disney at Gabelli & Company. Doug Creutz of Cowen and Company said qualms ran deeper than whether \u201cUp\u201d will be a hit \u2014 he thinks it will \u2014 but rather whether Pixar can deliver the kind of megahit it once did.<\/p>\n \u201cThe worries keep coming despite Pixar\u2019s track record, because each film it delivers seems to be less commercial than the last,\u201d Mr. Creutz said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Big freaking yawn<\/em>. Of course, now, Disney-Pixar can pun, “Up<\/em> yours!” since, to the surprise of none who’ve seen it, Variety<\/em> reported yesterday that<\/p>\n After less than a month at the multiplexes, Disney-Pixar’s 3-D toon “Up” <\/a>has enough lift to likely become the second-highest-grossing Pixar title at the domestic B.O. after “Finding Nemo.”<\/a><\/p>\n Through Sunday, “Up’s” domestic total was $187.4 million — the second best of any summer film to date. Par’s “Star Trek”<\/a> has cumed $231.9 million. …<\/p>\n At the rate it’s going, “Up” will soon surpass the $206.4 million grossed by Pixar’s “Ratatouille”<\/a> in summer 2007, and the $223.8 million grossed domestically by Pixar’s “Wall-E”<\/a> last summer.<\/p>\n
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That quote in our hed, \u201cQuality is the best business plan,\u201d is attributed in the Times<\/em> piece to John Lasseter, right, one of Pixar’s co-founders, and chief creative officer at Disney, post the Mouse’s $7.4B purchase of the famed computer animation company in 2006. It speaks to the focus on making compelling films via captivating stories that has always marked the Pixar way.<\/p>\n![\"screen13\"](\"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/screen13.jpg\" "\\"screen13\\"")
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