'Toy Story' Director Also Leaves... Disney Pixar Cuts 6% of Staff in 'Cold Wind' Layoffs

Disney CEO Announces "7,000 Job Cuts"
Post-COVID 'Buzz Lightyear' Box Office Failure

Walt Disney's animation studio Pixar Animation Studios has laid off a large number of directors, producers, and other staff. This is reportedly due to the box office failure of last year's release, "Buzz Lightyear."

Local media such as CNBC reported, "At the end of last month, about 75 employees, approximately 6% of Pixar's total 1,200 employees, were laid off." This accounts for about 6% of the total 1,200 employees.

The layoffs included Angus MacLane, the director of "Buzz Lightyear," and producer Galyn Susman. Michael Aguilar, vice president who had been in charge of Pixar's global publicity since 2015, was also laid off.

MacLane was a member of the senior creative team praised for producing "Toy Story 4" and "Coco." Susman had worked at Pixar since the original "Toy Story" in 1995.

The layoffs are reportedly part of Disney CEO Bob Iger's plan to cut costs by $5.5 billion (7.205 trillion KRW). Earlier, CEO Iger announced plans to reduce 7,000 employees, equivalent to 3.6% of the global workforce.

The unexpected box office failure of "Buzz Lightyear" fueled this move. "Buzz Lightyear" is a spin-off focusing on the human astronaut of the same name, who is the toy character Buzz from "Toy Story." It was highly anticipated as Pixar's first full-length animation released in theaters after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disney Pixar's feature-length animation 'Buzz Lightyear'
[Image source=Naver Movie]

"Buzz Lightyear" earned $226.7 million (approximately 296.9 billion KRW) worldwide but fell significantly short of the break-even point. It is evaluated that the family audience, the main consumer group of animation, has not fully returned to theaters after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the release of competing films such as "Jurassic World: Dominion" and "Top Gun: Maverick" during the same period added pressure.

Additionally, the film was not screened in 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, due to the depiction of a same-sex kiss scene, which negatively impacted its box office performance.

Pixar is regarded as one of the most influential computer graphics (CG) animation studios in the world. It originally started as a digital effects department of Lucasfilm, a film company founded by George Lucas of "Star Wars." Later, in 1986, Steve Jobs purchased it for $10 million, renaming it Pixar.

Pixar began its success with the blockbuster first full-length animation "Toy Story" in 1995 and produced numerous popular animations such as "Finding Nemo" and "Monsters, Inc."

Subsequently, Walt Disney, which had struggled in the animation sector, acquired Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006. Following the acquisition, Pixar released successful films such as "The Incredibles," "Inside Out," "Ratatouille," and "Coco."