John Lasseter’s inclusion in the Toy Story franchise was one of the best things that could’ve occurred to the newly blooming animation entity Pixar. From his love for the craft since childhood, inspired by Walt Disney’s classic Sleeping Beauty, he devoted his life to the profession and marked a cornerstone in many children’s hearts with his assiduousness towards the art form.
He later inclined with Pixar to make the first fully ever computer-animated movie and unclasped the iconic franchise of Toy Story and several other classics like The Bugs Life, Toy Story sequels, Cars, and many more. Before disentangling from Disney Pixar to Skydance Media’s animation division. After some revelations, it seems the director isn’t too much thrilled about the quality of the studio’s new adjunction to the beloved franchise.
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John Lasseter is not thrilled with Lightyear’s quality
John Lasseter’s increment with Toy Story and other Pixar classics marked the childhood of many and to date holds a special corner in their hearts. Besides that, it seems the new attachment to his legacy hasn’t been able to subdue the expectations of the audience as it bombed at the box office even though opening with moderate public and critic reviews but grew to critical foul over time.
With Pixar’s latest installment after the covid era, people hoped they would put the ball with Lightyear considering their neoteric quality releases during the pandemic, ranging from prodigious to substantial such as Soul, Luca, and Turning red but Lightyear wasn’t able to clasp public acclaim, and even not its fellow forefather’s validation. The director found the portrayal of the over-the-top space ranger Buzz Lightyear substandard and out of its ethos, consequently losing its essence and originality which John Lasseter created and nurtured for over 25 years among his fellow Pixar vets Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Joe Ranft.
Lightyear bombs heavily at the box office
Advancing in its predecessor’s roots Toy Story 4 which garnered a billion at the box office, stated the studio’s talent for storytelling despite some hate clinging towards its initial release, subsequently the same couldn’t be said for the successor as it fell under the massive weight of it’s the historic and revolutionary franchise, which the moderate product wasn’t gonna subdue peoples love with the Toy Story IP.
Many reasons do add up to the movie’s box office failure from the moderate plot, diverging from its essence of the immense over-the-trope space ranger trope which made the character iconic in the first place. In addition, one of the biggest reasons would be the recasting of Tim Allen, whose iconic portrayal of Buzz holds many people’s childhood, although Chris Evans does an adequate job with the material provided howbeit couldn’t replenish the authenticity and the aura of its predecessor.
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Contemplating the box office gain of Minions: the Rise of Gru, which stockpiled $939 million at the box office this year, can’t excuse the Toy Story spinoff’s $226 million against its $200 million production budget, officially making it the biggest stain in the beloved Toy Story closet.
Lightyear is streaming on Disney+.
Source: Puck
