“People say ‘It’s all about the story,'” Hendrickson said. “When you’re making tentpole films, bullshit.” Hendrickson showed a chart of the top 12 all-time domestic grossers, and noted every one is a spectacle film. Of his own studio’s “Alice in Wonderland,” which is on the list, he said: “The story isn’t very good, but visual spectacle brought people in droves. And Johnny Depp didn’t hurt.”
— Variety, reporting on a talk given by Andy Hendrickson, chief technical officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Hey Disney, remember when you all but begged Pixar to come back, make movies with you, and tell you what you were doing wrong? And the first thing they did was scrap every money grabbing sequel you’d started for the story based movies they’d made for you, until such time as they could come up with a good enough story to make a tentpole film like Toy Story 3?
All I’m saying is, spectacle might get you a tentpole movie, but story gets you a film that people are still going to be watching, buying, and cosplaying seventy years later. There was a time that Walt Disney Studios was about the art of film and was the place to be for animators. Anyway.
Play us out, Master Yoda!
(via Cartoon Brew.)
