Ed Catmull: Pixar 's Superhero, Shakes Up Disney - OrlandoSentinel.com

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From the Los Angeles Times
Ed Catmull: Pixar 's Superhero, Shakes Up Disney
"It's like the Berlin Wall being torn down."


By Claudia Eller | Times Staff Writer
Posted June 12, 2006

Full story at: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busin...ness-headlines

It's tempting to see "Cars," the seventh movie from Pixar Animation Studios, as a parable about the future of Walt Disney Co.

Early in the film, which opened Friday, a cocky race car named Lightning McQueen declares, "I'm a one-man show." But by the time the credits roll, McQueen realizes he's nothing without a great pit crew behind him.

It's a lesson that Ed Catmull, Pixar's co-founder and the new president of Disney Feature Animation, has built his career on.

When Disney acquired Pixar in January, Chief Executive Bob Iger put Catmull and his better-known creative partner, John Lasseter, in charge of reinvigorating the Burbank entertainment giant's once-legendary animation operation. Lasseter, the charismatic idea man who directed "Cars," will be essential in this effort.