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John Lasseter

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John Lasseter
Lasseter in 2011
Born
John Alan Lasseter

(1957-01-12) January 12, 1957 (age 67)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Alma materCalifornia Institute of the Arts (BFA)
Occupations
  • Film director
  • producer
  • screenwriter
  • animator
  • voice actor
Years active1978–present
Employers
Spouse
Nancy Lasseter
​
(m. 1988)​
[2]
Children5[3]
AwardsAcademy Award (1989, 1996)
Golden Globe Award (2007)
Inkpot Award (2009)[4]
Emmy Award (2010-2011)
Signature

John Alan Lasseter (/ˈlæsətər/ LASS-ə-tər; born January 12, 1957)[5] is an American film director, producer, and animator. He has served as the head of animation at Skydance Animation since 2019.[6] Previously, he acted as the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, as well as the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.[7]

Lasseter began his career as an animator with The Walt Disney Company. After being fired from Disney for promoting computer animation, he joined Lucasfilm, where he worked on then-groundbreaking usage of CGI animation. The Graphics Group of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm was sold to Steve Jobs and became Pixar in 1986. Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar's films and associated projects. He personally directed Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Cars (2006), and Cars 2 (2011), and executive-produced all other Pixar films through 2018. From 2006 to 2018, Lasseter also oversaw all of Walt Disney Animation Studios' (and its division Disneytoon Studios') films and associated projects as executive producer.

His works have grossed more than US$19 billion, making him one of the most financially successful filmmakers of all time. Of the ten animated films that have grossed over US$1 billion, five of them were executive produced by Lasseter: Toy Story 3 (2010)—the first animated film to surpass $1 billion—and Frozen (2013)—the third-highest-grossing animated film of all time—as well as Zootopia (2016), Finding Dory (2016), and Incredibles 2 (2018). Frozen also held the title of the highest-grossing animated film of all time until 2019, and was the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time at the end of its theatrical run. He has won two Academy Awards, for Best Animated Short Film (for Tin Toy), as well as a Special Achievement Award (for Toy Story).[8]

In November 2017, Lasseter took a six-month sabbatical from Pixar and Disney Animation after acknowledging what he called "missteps" in his behavior with employees.[9] According to various news outlets, Lasseter had a history of alleged sexual misconduct toward employees.[10][11] In June 2018, Disney announced that he would be leaving the company at the end of the year when his contract expired; he took on a consulting role until then.[12][13] Following his departure from Disney and Pixar, Lasseter was later hired by Skydance founder and CEO David Ellison to run the animation division Skydance Animation.[1]

Early life

[edit]

John Alan Lasseter was born on January 12, 1957, in Hollywood, California.[5] His mother, Jewell Mae (née Risley; 1918–2005), was an art teacher at Bell Gardens High School, and his father, Paul Eual Lasseter (1924–2011), was a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership.[14][15][16]

Lasseter is a fraternal twin; his sister Johanna Lasseter-Curtis, who became a baker based in the Lake Tahoe area, is six minutes older.[17][18]

Lasseter grew up in Whittier, California. His mother's profession contributed to his growing preoccupation with animation. He often drew cartoons during services at the Church of Christ[clarification needed] church his family regularly attended. As a child, Lasseter would race home from school to watch Chuck Jones cartoons on television. While in high school, he read The Art of Animation by Bob Thomas. The book covered the history of Disney animation and explored the making of Disney's 1959 film Sleeping Beauty, which made Lasseter realize he wanted to do animation himself. When he saw a screening of Disney's 1963 film The Sword in the Stone at the Wardman Theater, he knew early in his youth that he wanted to become an animator.[19] He then read Preston Blair's book about animation, and made flipbooks based on Blair's walk cycles. One of his friends had a Super 8 camera that shot single frames, which was used to shoot some of his earlier animation efforts.[20]

Lasseter heard of a new character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts (often abbreviated as 'CalArts') and decided to follow his dream of becoming an animator. His mother further encouraged him to take up a career in animation, and, after graduating from Whittier High School in 1975, he enrolled as the second student (Jerry Rees was the first)[21] in the CalArts Character Animation program created by Disney animators Jack Hannah and T. Hee. Lasseter was taught by three members of Disney's Nine Old Men team of veteran animators—Eric Larson, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston—and his classmates included future animators and directors like Brad Bird, John Musker, Henry Selick, Tim Burton, and Chris Buck.[22][23][24] During his time there, he produced two animated shorts—Lady and the Lamp (1979) and Nitemare (1980)—which each won the student Academy Award for Animation.[25]

While at CalArts, Lasseter first started working for the Walt Disney Company at Disneyland in Anaheim during summer breaks and got a job as a Jungle Cruise skipper, where he learned the basics of comedy and comic timing to entertain captive audiences on the ride.[17][26]

Career

[edit]

First years at Disney

[edit]

Upon graduating in 1979, Lasseter immediately obtained a job as an animator at Walt Disney Productions mostly due to his success with his student project, Lady and the Lamp.[27] The studio had reviewed approximately 10,000 portfolios in the late 1970s in search of talent, then selected only about 150 candidates as apprentices, of which only about 45 were kept on permanently.[27] In the fall of 1979, Disney animator Mel Shaw told the Los Angeles Times that "John's got an instinctive feel for character and movement and shows every indication of blossoming here at our studios ... In time, he'll make a fine contribution."[27] At that same time, Lasseter worked on a sequence titled "The Emperor and the Nightingale" (based on The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen) for a Disney project called Musicana. Musicana was never released but eventually led to the development of Fantasia 2000 (1999).[28]

However, after 101 Dalmatians (1961), which in Lasseter's opinion was the film where Disney had reached its highest plateau, he felt that the studio had lost momentum and was often repeating itself.[29][30] Between 1980 and 1981, he coincidentally came across some video tapes from one of the then new computer-graphics conferences, who showed some of the very beginnings of computer animation, primarily floating spheres and such, which he experienced as a revelation.[17] But it was not until shortly after, when he was invited by his friends Jerry Rees and Bill Kroyer, while working on Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), to come and see the first light cycle sequences for an upcoming film entitled Tron (1982), featuring state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery (CGI), that he saw the huge potential of this new technology in animation. Up to that time, the studio had used a multiplane camera to add depth to its animation. Lasseter realized that computers could be used to make films with three-dimensional backgrounds where traditionally animated characters could interact to add a new level of visually stunning depth that had not been possible before. He knew adding dimension to animation had been a longtime dream of animators, going back to Walt Disney.[17]

Later, he and Glen Keane talked about how great it would be to make an animated feature where the background was computer-generated, and then showed Keane the book The Brave Little Toaster by Thomas Disch, which he thought would be a good candidate for the film. Keane agreed, but first, they decided to do a short test film to see how it worked out and chose Where the Wild Things Are, a decision based on the fact that Disney had considered producing a feature based on the works of Maurice Sendak. Satisfied with the result, Lasseter, Keane and executive Thomas L. Wilhite went on with the project, especially Lasseter who dedicated himself to it, while Keane eventually went on to work with The Great Mouse Detective (1986).[31]

Lasseter and his colleagues unknowingly stepped on some of their direct superiors' toes by circumventing them in their enthusiasm to get the Where the Wild Things Are project into motion. The project was canceled while being pitched to two of Lasseter's supervisors, animation administrator Ed Hansen, and head of Disney studios, Ron W. Miller, due to lack of perceived cost benefits for the mix of traditional and computer animation.[32] A few minutes after the meeting, Lasseter was summoned by Hansen to his office. As Lasseter recalled, Hansen told him, "Well, John, your project is now complete, so your employment with the Disney Studios is now terminated."[33]: 40  Wilhite, who was part of Disney's live-action group and therefore had no obligations to the animation studio, was able to arrange to keep Lasseter around temporarily until the Wild Things test project was complete in January 1984, but with the understanding there would be no further work for Lasseter at Disney Animation.[33]: 40 [34] The Brave Little Toaster would later become a 2D animated feature film directed by one of Lasseter's friends, Jerry Rees, and co-produced by Wilhite (who had, by then, left to start Hyperion Pictures), and some of the staff of Pixar would be involved in the film alongside Lasseter.

Lucasfilm and Pixar

[edit]
Lasseter in 2002

While putting together a crew for the planned feature, Lasseter had made some contacts in the computer industry, among them Alvy Ray Smith and Ed Catmull at Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Group. After being fired, and feeling glum knowing his employment with Disney was to end shortly,[33]: 40  Lasseter visited a computer graphics conference in November 1983 at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, where he met and talked to Catmull again.[35]: 45  Catmull inquired about The Brave Little Toaster, which Lasseter explained had been shelved.[17][33]: 40  From his experience at Lucasfilm, Catmull assumed Lasseter was simply between projects since Hollywood studios have traditionally laid off employees when they lack enough productions to keep them busy.[35]: 45  Still devastated at being forced out of the only company he had ever wanted to work for, Lasseter could not find the strength to tell Catmull that he had been fired.[17][35]: 45 

Catmull later telephoned Smith that day and mentioned that Lasseter was not working at Disney. Smith told Catmull to put down the phone and hire Lasseter right now.[35]: 45  Lasseter agreed instantly to work freelance with Catmull and his colleagues and joined them for a week of December 1983 on a project that resulted in their first computer-animated short: The Adventures of André & Wally B., meant to prove it was possible to do character animation on a computer. After his work on the Where the Wild Things Are-test, Lasseter assumed hand-drawn characters in a CGI environment was the only way, but Catmull insisted it could be done, it was just that nobody had given it an attempt before. Because Catmull was not allowed to hire animators, he was given the title "Interface Designer";[36][17][37] "Nobody knew what that was but they didn't question it in budget meetings".[23] Lasseter spent a lot of time at Lucasfilm in the San Francisco Bay Area in the spring of 1984, where he worked together closely with Catmull and his team of computer science researchers.[33]: 40–41  Lasseter learned how to use some of their software, and in turn, he taught the computer scientists about filmmaking, animation, and art.[33]: 40–41  The short turned out to be more revolutionary than Lasseter first had visualized before he came to Lucasfilm. His original idea had been to create only the backgrounds on computers, but in the final short everything was computer-animated, including the characters.[17]

Lasseter with Apple CDO Jony Ive at Macworld/iWorld in 2008

After the short CGI film was presented at SIGGRAPH in the summer of 1984, Lasseter returned to Los Angeles with the hope of directing The Brave Little Toaster at Hyperion Pictures.[33]: 45  He soon learned that funding had fallen through and called Catmull with the bad news.[33]: 45  Catmull called back with a job offer, and Lasseter joined Lucasfilm as a full-time employee in October 1984 and moved to the Bay Area.[33]: 45  After that, he worked with ILM on the special effects on Young Sherlock Holmes,[38] where he made the first fully computer-generated photorealistic animated character, a knight composed of elements from a stained glass window.[39] This effect was the first CGI character to be scanned and painted directly onto film using a laser.[39] Lasseter and Catmull's collaboration, which has since lasted over thirty years, would ultimately result in Toy Story (1995), which was the first-ever computer-animated feature film. Additionally, Lasseter created THX's robot mascot Tex. He made his first appearance in 1996 with the original theatrical release of Independence Day. Since then, Tex has appeared in some THX trailers.[40]

Due to George Lucas's financially crippling divorce, he was forced to sell off Lucasfilm Computer Graphics, by this time renamed the Pixar Graphics Group, founded by Smith and Catmull, with Lasseter as one of the founding employees.[41] It was spun off as a separate corporation with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as its majority shareholder in 1986. Over the next 10 years, Pixar evolved from a computer company that did animation work on the side into an animation studio. Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar's films and associated projects as executive producer. As well as Toy Story, he also personally directed A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Cars (2006), and Cars 2 (2011).

He has won two Academy Awards, for Animated Short Film (Tin Toy), as well as a Special Achievement Award (Toy Story).[8] Lasseter has been nominated on four other occasions—in the category of Animated Feature, for both Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Cars, in the Original Screenplay category for Toy Story and in the Animated Short category for Luxo, Jr. (1986)—while the short Knick Knack (1989) was selected by Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time.[42] In 2008, he was honored with the Winsor McCay Award, the lifetime achievement award for animators.

Return to Disney

[edit]
Lasseter with George Lucas at the Venice Film Festival in 2009

Disney announced that it would be purchasing Pixar in January 2006, and Lasseter was named the chief creative officer of both Pixar and Walt Disney Feature Animation, the latter of which he renamed Walt Disney Animation Studios.[23] Lasseter was also named principal creative adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he helped design attractions for Disney Parks. He oversaw all of Walt Disney Animation Studios' films and associated projects as executive producer. He reported directly to Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger, bypassing Disney's studio and theme park executives. He also received green-light power on films with Roy E. Disney's consent.

In December 2006, Lasseter announced that Disney Animation would start producing animated shorts – 2D, CGI, or a combination of both – that would be released theatrically. Lasseter said he sees this medium as an excellent way to train and discover new talent in the company as well as a testing ground for new techniques and ideas.[43]

In June 2007, Catmull and Lasseter were given control of Disneytoon Studios, a division of Walt Disney Animation Studios housed in a separate facility in Glendale. As president and chief creative officer, respectively, they have supervised three separate studios for Disney, each with its own production pipeline: Pixar, Disney Animation, and Disneytoon. While Disney Animation and Disneytoon are located in the Los Angeles area, Pixar is located over 350 miles (563 kilometers) northwest in the Bay Area, where Catmull and Lasseter both live. Accordingly, they appointed a general manager for each studio to manage day-to-day business affairs, then established a routine of spending at least two days per week (usually Tuesdays and Wednesdays) in Southern California.[44]

Lasseter is a close friend and admirer of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, whom he first met when TMS Entertainment sent a delegation of animators to the Disney studio in 1981 and showed a clip from Miyazaki's first feature film, The Castle of Cagliostro (1979).[45] Lasseter was so deeply moved that in 1985 he insisted on showing that clip and other examples of Miyazaki's work after dinner to a woman he had just met (who would become his wife).[45] He visited Miyazaki during his first trip to Japan in 1987 and saw drawings for My Neighbor Totoro (1988).[45] After Lasseter became a successful director and producer at Pixar, he went on to serve as executive producer on several of Miyazaki's films for their release in the United States and oversaw the translation and dubbing of their English language soundtracks.[45] In addition, the forest spirit Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro makes an appearance as a plush toy in Toy Story 3 (2010).

Lasseter is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and served nine consecutive years on its board of governors from 2005 to 2014 when he had to relinquish his seat due to term limits.[46] His last position on the board was as first vice president.[46]

Lasseter received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood in 2011, located at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard.[47]

Allegations of sexual misconduct and exit from Disney and Pixar

[edit]
See also: Weinstein effect

In November 2017, Lasseter took a six-month leave of absence after acknowledging allegations of workplace sexual misconduct that he described as "missteps" with employees in a memo to staff.[9] The alleged sexual misconduct toward multiple employees over a number of years included "grabbing, kissing, [and] making comments about physical attributes".[10][11] The alleged sexual misconduct became so well-known that, according to Variety, at various times, Pixar had "minders who were tasked with reining in his impulses".[48]

In June 2018, Disney announced that Lasseter was leaving the company at the end of the year, taking a consulting role until then.[13]

Skydance Animation

[edit]

On January 9, 2019, Lasseter was hired to head Skydance Animation, a new animation division of Skydance Media formed in 2017.[1][49] In a statement, Lasseter said "I have spent the last year away from the industry in deep reflection, learning how my actions unintentionally made colleagues uncomfortable, which I deeply regret and apologize for. It has been humbling, but I believe it will make me a better leader."[1] An investigation conducted prior to his hiring found that no previous claims of sexual assault, propositioning or harassment had been filed against Lasseter,[50] and "[...] there were no findings of secret settlements by Disney or Lasseter to any parties asking for a settlement."[50] In his role at Skydance, Lasseter serves as producer on all feature films and executive producer on all series, along with Skydance Media CEO David Ellison.[51]

Personal life

[edit]
John Lasseter with his wife Nancy Lasseter at the 2006 Annie Awards red carpet at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California

Lasseter lives in Glen Ellen, California, with his wife Nancy, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, whom he met at a computer graphics conference in San Francisco in 1985.[52] Nancy majored in computer graphics applications, and previously worked as a computer graphics engineer at Apple Computer.[53] They married in 1988,[2] and have four sons together in addition to Nancy's son from a previous relationship,[53][54] born between 1979 or 1980 and 1997.[3]

The Lasseters own Lasseter Family Winery in Glen Ellen, California.[55] The property includes a narrow gauge railroad named the Justi Creek Railway, which is approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) long, including a train station and water tower Lasseter purchased from former Disney animator Ward Kimball.[56] Their residence has a swimming pool with a lazy river that runs through a cave.[57] Lasseter owns a collection of more than 1,000 Hawaiian shirts and wears one every day.[57] Lasseter also collects classic cars, such as a black 1952 Jaguar XK120.[58]

On May 2, 2009, Lasseter received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University,[15] where he delivered the commencement address.

His influences include Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, Frank Capra, Hayao Miyazaki, and Preston Sturges.[59] Lasseter's favorite film is Walt Disney's Dumbo (1941).[60]

Filmography

[edit]

Films

[edit]
Year Film Credited as
Director (Original)
Story by 		Producer Other Voice Notes
1981 The Fox and the Hound No No No Yes Animator - uncredited [61][62]
1985 Young Sherlock Holmes No No No Yes Computer Animation: Industrial Light & Magic
1995 Toy Story Yes Yes No Yes Commercial Chorus 1 Modeling and Animation System Development
1998 A Bug's Life Yes Yes No Yes Harry
Singing Grasshopper 1 		[63]
1999 Toy Story 2 Yes Yes No Yes Blue Bomber [63]
2001 Monsters, Inc. No No Executive No
2002 Spirited Away No No Executive No US Version
2003 Finding Nemo No No Executive No
2004 The Incredibles No No Executive No
2005 Howl's Moving Castle No No Executive No US Version
Porco Rosso No No No Yes Executive Creative Consultant: 2005 US Version
2006 Cars Yes Yes No Yes Screenplay
Tales from Earthsea No No Executive No US Version[64]
2007 Meet the Robinsons No No Executive No
Ratatouille No No Executive Yes Executive Team
2008 WALL-E No No Executive Yes Pixar Senior Creative Team
Tinker Bell No No Executive No
Bolt No No Executive No
2009 Up No No Executive Yes Pixar Senior Creative Team
Ponyo No No Executive Yes Director: English Dub, US Version
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure No No Executive No
The Princess and the Frog No No Executive No
2010 Toy Story 3 No Yes Executive Yes Pixar Senior Creative Team
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue No No Executive No
Tangled No No Executive Yes Studio Leadership
2011 Winnie the Pooh No No Executive Yes
Cars 2 Yes Yes No Yes Galloping Geargrinder[65]
John Lassetire
Fuzzy Dice Casino Car 		Pixar Senior Creative Team
The Lion King No No Executive No 3D Version
Beauty and the Beast No No Executive No
2012 Brave No No Executive Yes Pixar Senior Creative Team
Secret of the Wings No No Executive No
Wreck-It Ralph No No Executive Yes Studio Leadership
2013 Monsters University No No Executive Yes Pixar Senior Creative Team
Planes No Yes Executive No
The Little Mermaid No No Executive No 3D Version
Frozen No No Executive Yes Studio Leadership
2014 The Pirate Fairy No Yes Executive No
Planes: Fire & Rescue No No Executive No
Big Hero 6 No No Executive Yes Studio Leadership
Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast No No Executive No
2015 Inside Out No No Executive Yes Pixar Senior Creative Team
The Good Dinosaur No No Executive Yes
2016 Zootopia No No Executive Yes Studio Leadership
Finding Dory No No Executive Yes Pixar Senior Creative Team
Moana No No Executive Yes Studio Leadership
2017 Cars 3 No No Executive Yes Pixar Senior Creative Team
Coco No No Executive Yes
2018 Incredibles 2 No No Executive Yes
Ralph Breaks the Internet No No Executive Yes Studio Leadership - uncredited[66]
2019 Toy Story 4 Removed Yes No No [67][68]
2022 Luck No No Yes No
2024 Spellbound No No Yes No
2025 Pookoo No No Yes No [69]
TBA Ray Gunn No No Yes No [70]
Untitled Jack and the Beanstalk project No No Yes No [71]
Untitled Skydance Animation/Don Hall project No No Yes No [72]

Shorts

[edit]
Year Film Credited as
Director (Original)
Story by 		Executive
Producer 		Animator Modeler Other Notes
1979 Lady and the Lamp[73] Yes Yes Producer Yes No No Student Films; Producer
1980 Nitemare[73] Yes Yes Producer Yes No No
1983 Mickey's Christmas Carol No No No No No Yes Creative Talent
1984 The Adventures of André & Wally B. No No No Yes Yes Yes Character Designer
1986 Luxo Jr. Yes Yes Producer Yes Yes Yes Designer
1987 Red's Dream Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
1988 Tin Toy Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
1989 Knick Knack Yes Yes No Yes Yes No A Film By
1991 Light & Heavy Yes No No Yes No No
1997 Geri's Game No No Yes No No No
1998 It's Tough to Be a Bug! No No Yes No No No Theme park film
2000 For the Birds No No Yes No No No
2002 Mike's New Car No No Yes No No No
2003 Exploring the Reef No No Yes No No No
Boundin' No No Yes No No No
2005 Jack-Jack Attack No No Yes No No No
One Man Band No No Yes No No No
2006 Mater and the Ghostlight Yes Yes No No No No
Lifted No No Yes No No No
2007 Your Friend the Rat No No Yes No No No
How to Hook Up Your Home Theater No No Yes No No No
2008 Presto No No Yes No No No
Glago's Guest No No Yes No No No
BURN-E No No Yes No No No
2008–14 Cars Toons Yes Yes Yes No No No
2009 Super Rhino No No Yes No No No
Partly Cloudy No No Yes No No No
Dug's Special Mission No No Yes No No No
2010 Day & Night No No Yes No No No
Tick Tock Tale No No Yes No No No
Prep & Landing: Operation: Secret Santa No No Yes No No No TV short film
2011 Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation No No Yes No No No
The Ballad of Nessie No No Yes No No No
La Luna No No Yes No No No
Toy Story Toons: Small Fry No Yes Yes No No No
2012 Tangled Ever After No No Yes No No No
Toy Story Toons: Partysaurus Rex No Yes Yes No No No
Paperman No No Yes No No No
The Legend of Mor'du No No Yes No No No
2013 The Blue Umbrella No No Yes No No No
Party Central No No Yes No No No
Pixie Hollow Bake Off No No Yes No No No TV short film
Get a Horse! No No Yes No No No
2014 Lava No No Yes No No No
Vitaminamulch: Air Spectacular No No Yes No No No
Feast No No Yes No No No
2015 Frozen Fever No No Yes No No No
Riley's First Date? No No Yes No No No
Sanjay's Super Team No No Yes No No No
2016 Piper No No Yes No No No
Inner Workings No No Yes No No No
2017 Gone Fishing No No Yes No No No
Lou No No Yes No No No
Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool No No Yes No No No
Olaf's Frozen Adventure No No Yes No No No Featurette
2018 Bao No No Yes No No No
2021 Blush No No Yes No No Yes Logo and End Credit Designer
2023 Bad Luck Spot! No No Yes No No No [74]

TV specials and series

[edit]
Year Title Executive
Producer 		Premiered on
2009 Prep & Landing Yes ABC
2011 Pixie Hollow Games Yes Disney Channel
Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice Yes ABC
2013 Toy Story of Terror! Yes
2014 Toy Story That Time Forgot Yes
2024 WondLa Yes Apple TV+

Documentaries

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1999 The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story[75] Himself
2001 Walt: The Man Behind the Myth Grateful Acknowledgement
2007 Fog City Mavericks Special Thanks
The Pixar Story Very Special Thanks
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project Special Thanks
2009 The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story
Waking Sleeping Beauty
2010 America: The Story of Us Television Docu-series
Industrial, Light & Magic: Creating the Impossible[76] Television Special
2011 These Amazing Shadows
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan
2013 Inside Pixar[77] Television Special
2014 The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic Television Special
2015 Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman
2016 Imagining Zootopia[78] Special Thanks
2019 Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
The Imagineering Story Disney+ Original Docu-series

Other credits

[edit]
Year Title Credit
1996 La Salla Special Thanks
2009 Calendar Confloption[79]
2012 John Carter Thanks
Firefly and the Coffee Machine[80] Special Thanks
2015 Stealth[81] Special Thanks (with Nancy Lasseter)
2017 Ventana[82] Special Thanks
2021 The Ultimate Playlist of Noise Special Thanks (with Nancy Lasseter)
2022 Lightyear Additional Thanks

Reception

[edit]

Critical, public and commercial reception to films Lasseter has directed as of August 9, 2022.

Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore Budget Box office
Toy Story 100% (96 reviews) 95 (26 reviews) A $30 million $374.4 million
A Bug's Life 92% (90 reviews) 77 (23 reviews) A $120 million $363.3 million
Toy Story 2 100% (171 reviews) 88 (34 reviews) A+ $90 million $511.3 million
Cars 74% (202 reviews) 73 (39 reviews) A $120 million $461.9 million
Cars 2 40% (220 reviews) 57 (38 reviews) A− $200 million $559.8 million

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "John Lasseter to Head Animation for Skydance". The Hollywood Reporter. January 9, 2019. Archived from the original on January 10, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  2. ^ a b O'Connor, Stuart (February 12, 2009). "How to tell a great toy story". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on March 24, 2021. Retrieved May 11, 2013. I was doing a lot of amateur 3D photography – in 1988, when I got married to my wife Nancy, we took 3D wedding pictures.
  3. ^ a b Swartz, Jon (November 23, 1998). "Pixar's Lasseter – This Generation's Walt Disney". SFGate. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013. Lasseter says he depends heavily on his and wife Nancy's "own test audience" of five sons – ages 16 months to 18.
  4. ^ "Inkpot Award". December 6, 2012. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Craine, Anthony G. "John Lasseter: American Animator". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  6. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 20, 2020). "Paramount Dates Skydance's 'Spellbound' & 'Luck' For 2022". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  7. ^ Grover, Ronald (March 10, 2006). "The Happiest Place on Earth – Again". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on June 25, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  8. ^ a b "John Lasseter – Awards". IMDb. Archived from the original on February 10, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Masters, Kim (November 21, 2017). "John Lasseter Taking Leave of Absence From Pixar Amid 'Missteps'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 21, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Masters, Kim (November 21, 2017). "John Lasseter's Pattern of Alleged Misconduct Detailed by Disney/Pixar Insiders". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 21, 2017. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
  11. ^ a b Zeitchik, Steven (November 21, 2017). "Disney animation guru John Lasseter takes leave after sexual misconduct allegations". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  12. ^ Chitwood, Adam (January 18, 2019). "'Toy Story 3', 'Coco' Director Lee Unkrich Is Leaving Pixar". Collider. Archived from the original on January 20, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  13. ^ a b Barnes, Brooks (June 8, 2018). "Pixar co-founder to leave Disney after 'missteps'". CNBC. Archived from the original on June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  14. ^ Baillie, Russell (June 3, 2006). "John Lasseter king of Toon town". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
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