Toy Story becomes a critical and financial failure

As we all know, Toy Story was released in 1995 to critical acclaim. It was also the highest-grossing film in its opening weekend and eventually earned over $373 million at the worldwide box office. A unique film for its time, it has even been credited multiple times as being the film to have changed animated films forever.

https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2015/11/toy-story-20th-anniversary
http://www.tribpub.com/gdpr/latimes.com/
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainmen...nged-animated-films-forever/story?id=35281890
https://www.wired.com/2010/11/15-years-ago-toy-story-changed-animated-films-forever/
http://time.com/4118006/20-years-toy-story-pixar/
https://www.salon.com/2018/09/16/how-toy-story-changed-everything-in-its-first-eight-minutes/

But what if the first feature-length film to be entirely computer animated ended up being agreed by both critics and audiences to be absolutely terrible, and/or ended up being a financial flop? Say, the "Black Friday Reel" (in the initial draft, Woody was a cunt who bullied around the rest of Andy's toys and tried to actively get rid of Buzz) makes it into the movie instead. What would be of CGI films? Would there even be CGI films from that point onwards? Would animated films have remained 2D? How would cinema be affected, for that matter?
 
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Shrek comes in six years later and saves the CGI medium.
I was sort of thinking about that too. I wonder if Shrek would end up mocking Toy Story in the film too (adding it as one of the references to Disney)? I mean, Jeffrey Katzenberg did end up having some beef with Disney in the 90s...

Also, would Antz still be a thing?
 

Deleted member 96839

I was sort of thinking about that too. I wonder if Shrek would end up mocking Toy Story in the film too (adding it as one of the references to Disney)? I mean, Jeffrey Katzenberg did end up having some beef with Disney in the 90s...

Great point. I could totally see them making a jab at Disney for Toy Story’s failure and Shrek is probably an even bigger success for stealing the thunder as the pioneer of CGI. If DreamWorks was already in a good position parodying Disney, I can’t imagine being able to say “We succeeded at this and you didn’t.”
 

Deleted member 96839

As for the specific joke at Toy Story’s expense I’m thinking maybe the scene at Duloc with the singing dolls is replaced with obvious caricatures of Woody and Buzz in the same position. Almost makes me wish I could be in that world, but on the downside there’s no Toy Story 3.
 
As for the specific joke at Toy Story’s expense I’m thinking maybe the scene at Duloc with the singing dolls is replaced with obvious caricatures of Woody and Buzz in the same position. Almost makes me wish I could be in that world, but on the downside there’s no Toy Story 3.
Very funny idea. Also makes a lot of sense seeing how Duloc is meant to be a mocking portrayal of Disneyland. Maybe have John Lasseter be a character too, perhaps another antagonist or even a different Farquaad himself?

Toy Story 2 was probably my favourite of the three. Speaking of that, Toy Story 2 was originally going to be a direct-to-video sequel. If that actually happens after the first Toy Story in this world, it could end up being even worse for Pixar (direct-to-video sequels generally suck).

Buuuut... who's to say that Shrek couldn't suck in this universe too? Test screenings of the initial drafts were apparently poorly-received, and Katzenberg had this to say about them:
"It looked terrible, it didn't work, it wasn't funny, and we didn't like it."
http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_c...-train-wreck-to-one-for-the-record-books.aspx
Shrek was originally going to be a motion capture CGI film (I believe it was a CG-live action hybrid, actually), back when Chris Farley was playing Shrek. Maybe if the test results were a bit different, maybe mixed-to-slightly positive, and didn't really represent the views of much of the rest of the public, then that could end up being a film too.
 
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Western CGI Animation might end up looking different. A lot of CGI western CGI animation studios ended up emulating Pixar's style and technology.
 
As for the specific joke at Toy Story’s expense I’m thinking maybe the scene at Duloc with the singing dolls is replaced with obvious caricatures of Woody and Buzz in the same position. Almost makes me wish I could be in that world, but on the downside there’s no Toy Story 3.

I like that...
 
What if The Great Train Robbery was a failure?
What if The Jazz Singer was a failure?
What if The first Technicolor film was a failure?

If Toy Story was a failure it would have been because of the story and screenplay, not because of the technology.
Hand drawn animation was becoming too expensive for the studios and it was also very time consuming.
Disney would still have bought Pixar but at a much lower cost and it would have been folded in with Walt Disney Animation Studio instead of being it's own division.
 
Hand drawn animation was becoming too expensive for the studios and it was also very time consuming.
Disney would still have bought Pixar but at a much lower cost and it would have been folded in with Walt Disney Animation Studio instead of being it's own division.
Unfortunately it looks like it's true.
 

Deleted member 96839

I'm thinking that even if Shrek also fails, in the end it's only a delay of what would have naturally progressed anyway, for financial reasons already stated. For example, many might not know that The Wizard of Oz wasn't actually the first color film, but since it's gotten to be such a big cultural phenomenon that's usually what people think of when they picture the pioneers of color film.

If it wasn't Toy Story, or Shrek, it would have been something eventually as part of the natural evolution. It's merely stalled at best, and maybe some 2000s movies that were CGI are traditionally animated ITTL.
 
You can kiss Pixar goodbye and any CGI through Disney would be branded as Disney and not Pixar.

But if this butterflies away Wreck-It Ralph, it’s not a timeline I want to live in.
 
What it really butterflies is the Pixar brand of films compared to the Disney brand, Disney is presumed to be more focused on the "Princess" model while Pixar "is more for boys" with films like Toy Story, and the Cars franchise.
Pixar has only done one "Princess" film Brave, and that character was brutally satirized in Ralph Breaks the Internet by speaking in an incomprehensible Scottish accent with another Princess saying that she is from the other studio.
 
Pixar has only done one "Princess" film Brave, and that character was brutally satirized in Ralph Breaks the Internet by speaking in an incomprehensible Scottish accent with another Princess saying that she is from the other studio.
Yeah, that film sucked. Not as bad as Cars franchise, but still really boring.
Brave, I mean.
 
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Like I mentioned before the whole aesthetic of Pixar may not even be used depending on who eventually makes a good movie. If you only see mainstream western animated movies you may believe that is just how CGI animation is supposed to look like, but there are actually quite a range (like how 2-D has a lot of styles, even between western styles, such as Looney Toons and Disney).

Pixar's early success(and relationship with Disney) allowed their style and technology to dominate the art schools and the cultural mindset of what a CGI animated film is "supposed" to look like. No only aesthetic, but their types of story.

Slower growth might lead to more diversity of styles cinematically at least in the west.
 
If it wasn't Toy Story, or Shrek, it would have been something eventually as part of the natural evolution. It's merely stalled at best, and maybe some 2000s movies that were CGI are traditionally animated ITTL.
ASB-ish idea: maybe Ice Age becomes the first major success in the CGI film industry?

I remember reading before that Ice Age was originally going to be directed by Don Bluth, and it was to be traditionally animated and a serious/non-comedic film. Don Bluth apparently got really angry and stormed out of the project because the film was going to be changed to CGI. He hated CGI for some reason, probably an angry old man thing.

AHC: Illumination Animation actually creates good content.

AUGH MUM I DON'T NEED A MAHN
ALSHO BEARSH
Wreck it Ralph 2 sounds legitimately awful though
I saw Wreck-it Ralph 2 myself. Not going to reveal spoilers obviously, but I thought it was okay. Not really bad, not really good, just okay.
Also this is going to be a really unpopular opinion but I didn't like The Incredibles 2. Obviously loved the first one, though.

If you've seen the movie and want to know what I mean, I suggest you watch Schaffrillas Productions's video on it. He sums it up pretty well for me.
 
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