How Well Do You Know Pixar?
Everyone knows Pixar as one of the premiere animation studios on the planet. But did you know Pixar was originally part of Lucasfilm? It’s true; before Pixar became a separate organization it was a division of George Lucas’ company, where it worked on creating computer technology that could be used in special effects. Its early work included some of the first computer-generated special effects in movies, including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Young Sherlock Holmes. That’s one of the facts featured in this all-Pixar edition of You Think You Know Movies!
Computer animation was not Pixar’s primary business at first. The company was originally focused more on hardware, and even sold a “Pixar Image Computer” for several years. Meanwhile, John Lasseter’s animation department became successful making computer-animated commercials for other companies, and slowly but surely Pixar phased out its sales business to focus on animation. Eventually the company struck a deal with Disney for three computer animation features; the first became Toy Story, and the course of film history was changed forever.
You Think You Know Movies? is a ScreenCrush original series that dives deep into the cinematic worlds of your favorite movies and freeze frames a few tidbits you might not have known. We’ve already tackled Star Wars, The Avengers and Spider-Man, but this time we’re shining a light on the inner-workings of Pixar. Watch more installments of ‘You Think You Know Movies?’ below and let us know in the comments what movies we should cover next!