Disney lays off 75 Pixar employees, including 2 legacy members

While Peter Sohn’s new Pixar movie Elementary is set to hit theaters on June 21, the animation studio recently lost a lot of staff.

The Walt Disney Company recently announced the elimination of 75 positions at Pixar as part of a restructuring desired by CEO Bob Iger. Among them are Angus McClain and Galin Sussman, two veterans of the animation studio.

After firing Victoria Alonso, Marvel’s executive vice president of visual effects and post-production, last March, the Walt Disney Company continues its historic layoffs.

In total, the firm plans to cut 7,000 jobs across its global workforce. This represents 3.2% of the company’s workforce worldwide (220,000 employees).

Agency Reuters It notes that animation studio cuts are rare, and the last time it happened was in 2013, when The Voyage of Arlo was pushed back. At the time, 5% of Pixar’s 1,200 employees were laid off, including director Bob Peterson.

Fired for failing Buzz Lightyear?

Director of short films BURN-E and Toy Story: anguish at the motel, Angus McClain Just made a Toy Story spin-off centered around Buzz Lightyear that only made $226 million at the international box office.

The latter worked at Pixar for 26 years, he was part of the creative teams of WALL-E, The Incredibles, Coco, Finding Nemo, Up There or Toy Story 3.

In turn, the producer Galin Susman Has been with the studio since 1999 and has worked on Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, Up, Cars 3 and Buzz Lightyear, among others.

It was also thanks to him that Toy Story 2 was able to see the light of day. Technical director Galin Susman then went on maternity leave with her computer, copies of all the films in progress so she could work on them.

When a studio employee accidentally deleted Toy Story 2, Galin Sussman was able to retrieve the working copy and save John Laster’s film.

While the studio’s firings haven’t caused much fanfare before, the announcement of the two departures has angered moviegoers and fans of the studio, as they are two iconic Pixar figures.

Twitter account In the eyes of Pixar Also notes that a featurette featuring an interview with Angus McClain was pulled from Disney+ a few weeks ago.

After Bob Chapek was fired in November 2022, former studio CEO Bob Iger took control of Walt Disney Studios. The latter is responsible for determining the strategic direction of renewed growth. The failure of Buzz Lightyear at the box office will therefore be fatal for the team responsible for the film.

Recall that the feature film was presented as a movie from Toy Story discovered by little Andy, before the latter asked for a Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday. According to Pete Docter, head of the studio and co-founder, Angus MacLaine’s film asked too much of the public. The latter told the site in February last year transfer :

“We asked ourselves a lot of questions because we all love the movie, we love the characters and the premise.

and (…) which we concluded (…)is that we have probably asked too much of the public. (…) When we say “Buzz” to them, they think, “Okay, where’s Mr. Potato Head, Woody, and Rex?” And then we parachute them into this sci-fi movie (…).

If they were to read the press, it was a bit far, both with the concept and, I think, with the drawing of the characters and their portrayal.”