January 19, 2006

Will Pixar Buy Disney?

There are lots of stories out and about mooting a Disney purchase of Pixar Steve Jobs' other hugely successful company. What's not there is any sort of analysis of Steve Jobs' other company, NeXT and how that guppy swallowed the beached whale that was Apple at the time. If you look at the top executives of NeXT and Apple at the time of the merger and then took a snapshot of Apple's executives a short two years later, all the Apple people were gone, either replaced by outsiders or by their NeXT counterparts. In a very real sense, the corporation known as Apple is Apple in name and brand only. What is sitting at 1 Infinite Loop is NeXT in terms of corporate culture and philosophy which is all that really matters.

If Steve Jobs allows himself to be acquired again, is it really reasonable to think that he'll go through such a merger with anything less than the intention of proving that he can do the same fantastic trick all over again? Why would he tie himself down with a boss when he doesn't have to? Pixar can get a distribution deal anywhere, with anyone. It's got one of the best batting records of any studio in the world. So why sell? For a man with an ego the size of Steve Jobs there has to be more than money at stake. Taking Disney and turning it into a Pixar writ large would fit. Is there any other challenge that would justify the deal? I don't think so.

Posted by TMLutas at 09:39 PM

September 26, 2005

Serenity Now!

Serenity is a feature film that's been reworked from a very promising TV series, Firefly, that died a premature death from boneheaded executive groupthink.

The movie blurb is below:


Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

What's really neat about the project (beyond that it's likely going to be a good time had by all) is that it's shaping up to be a major event in the development of media transmittal. It's a rarity for TV series to go to the big screen after so few shows aired (the closest I can think of is the original Star Trek and that took decades after its much longer run). As far as I know, this is the first time that bloggers have been invited as members of the press to review the movie. It's a very gutsy move and they're not going to be able to spin this one if the movie turns out to be badly executed. The show in Chicago runs on the 27th and blogs have enough collective media heft to make or break this thing.

I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

Posted by TMLutas at 04:23 PM

February 15, 2005

Building a Business

Starting up a medical practice has certainly widened my horizons. Currently I'm waiting for a call back from a real estate agent. I'm climbing the learning curve to build out a PBX for the first time in my life, and I was hunting for a truck with a gate lift so I can move some 500 lb exam tables later this week.

I love it.

Posted by TMLutas at 10:50 PM