In a strange and shocking move, former Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios headJohn Lasseteris setting up shop at Skydance Animation. The announcement was made today that Lasseter has been named head of Skydance Animation and will report directly to Skydance CEODavid Ellison. The production company launched in 2010 and has mainly been focused on blockbusters, producing the big screenMission: ImpossibleandStar Trekfranchises as well as one-offs likeGeostormandBaywatch. Skydance also famously won the rights to theTerminatorseries and tried to relaunch that franchise with 2015’sTerminator Genisys, but the film faltered at the box office. They’re trying again with a new reboot directed byTim Miller.
Lasseter, of course, helped turn Pixar into a powerhouse animation studio as director ofToy Story,A Bug’s Life, andToy Story 2, going on to oversee operations as Pixar became a dominating force in the animation industry. When Disney bought Pixar, Lasseter was appointed head of Walt Disney Animation Studios and oversaw a resurgence of quality over there with films likeFrozenandWreck-It Ralph.
But last year,awful reports of alleged sexual harassmentarose, claiming that Lasseter had a history of harassment and misconduct throughout his tenure at Pixar and Disney. While Disney never formally admonished Lasseter, the studio put him on a six-month leave of absence, after which it was announced that he would be “retiring” at the end of 2018.
Now that the new year has begun, Lasseter is formally out of Pixar and Disney, withPete DocterandJennifer Leetaking on lead rolesat the two animation studios, respectively.Varietyreports that Lasseter had been “trying to drum up interest” at various other studios over the last few months, meeting with players like Warner Bros. Many major studios were wary of partnering with Lasseter given the allegations, but it was apparently no cause for concern at Skydance.
Skydance only just launched its animation studio in 2017 so it appears Lasseter will be somewhat building his studio from the ground up. The company has the aforementionedTerminatorfilm,Ang Lee’sGemini Man, andMichael Bay’s Netflix movieSix Undergroundset for release in 2019, followed byTop GunandWorld War Zsequels in the near future.
