Why is Wall Street so down on Up? Several financial analysts – those wonderful folks who did more than their fair share to create the current economic crisis – recently downgraded Disney’s stock to sell because of Up this despite the fact that the movie has already been widely acclaimed by critics and early audiences. What is wrong with this picture? Consider that the Cannes Film Festival has already slated the movie for the prestige of opening night at the festival a first for either an animated film or one in 3D. Consider also that to date Pixar movies have generated a combined $2.65 billion in North American theatres alone. And consider the fact that as the New York Times reported recently Pixar Animation Studios has never released a movie that was not a commercial and creative triumph and that all the early signs suggest that Up will do the same. Several Wall Street analysts have considered all of that and are nevertheless down on Up. They say they don’t like the fact that the hero of the movie is a 78-year old man and that there don’t seem to be any obvious toy or amusement park tie-ins. In that same Times article Richard Greenfield of Pali Research downgraded Disney shares to sell and cited what he sees as a poor outlook for Up telling the Times “We doubt younger boys will be that excited by the main character ” adding that the lack of a female lead was another potential problem. Other financial types agreed. “People seem to be concerned about this one ” Chris Marangi who follows Disney at Gabelli & Company told the Times. The newspaper also quoted Doug Creutz of Cowen and Company who said “The worries keep coming despite Pixar’s track record because each film it delivers seems to be less commercial than the last.” Disney founder Walt Disney must be rolling in his grave or if some legends are accurate in his cryogenics unit. The original Disney was famous among many other things for valuing innovation and creativity above all other considerations. He believed that if he gave the public the kind of movies it couldn’t get anywhere else the profits would follow. He once angered his more fiscally responsible brother Roy by tossing aside a virtually completed black and white animated short and ordered it redone using a brand new technology he’d just discovered. The movie was Flowers and Trees. It was the first movie ever made in three-strip Technicolor and it won the Academy Award that year for Best Animated Short Film. And it is still well worth watching. The fact that John Lassiter and the rest of the creative team at Pixar work more like Walt Disney than like Roy Disney irritates the financial people on Wall Street. But it’s clear that they’ll continue to make movies like Up as long as they can. Fortunately at least for now Pixar has the support of the one person who’s vote counts the most. To his credit Disney chief executive Robert Iger defended the film saying “We seek to make great films first. If a great film gives birth to a franchise we are the first company to leverage such success. A check-the-boxes approach to creativity is more likely to result in blandness and failure.” Amen.
