Toy Story 3 Trashed

Part of the many reasons Pixar chose to run from Disney in the first
place was a highly publicized difference in opinion about sequels. More
often than not, sequels have a tendancy to doom a franchise. There have
been exceptions of course: Empire Strikes Back, Godfather 2 and in the
case of Pixar, Toy Story 2. Disney, after Pixar’s departure, fought for
and retained a right to make whatever sequels they wanted to the films
Pixar had already created. In fact Disney opened a studio whose sole
purpose was to create Pixar sequels; Circle 7.

Sounds similar to a certain region of hell, doesn’t it? Referred to as
Pixaren’t in animation circles, this spin-off of sorts immediately
began work on Toy Story 3. Some may remember that Creative Head and
Director for Pixar John Lasseter was wholly against Toy Story 2 for a
great deal of time. He believed that a sequel shouldn’t be made just to
extend a franchise as far as it will go, it needed to hold its own. “Those are two examples (Empire, Godfather 2) of movies that were not just good films unto themselves,” Lasseter explains, “but sequels that actually made the first films seem better and stronger when you looked back on them.“

So with Disney’s recent purchase of Pixar and restructuring of the
chain of command, it looks strong according to an article in the LA
Times, that Circle 7 and consequently Toy Story 3, will be shelved.
Steve Jobs noted during a conference call with analysts that “if sequels are going to be made, we want the people who were involved in the original films involved in the sequels“. Disney CEO Bob Iger added that he wanted to make sure “the people who made the films originally…get a shot at making films that were a derivative.“

So it looks like Buzz Lightyear’s recall to a Tawain toy factory has itself been recalled.