Disney+ Chasing Profitability: Pixar Will See Layoffs in 2024
TechCrunch reports that Pixar Animation Studio will undergo layoffs this year, with insiders indicating it may be as much as 20% of the animation house’s workforce. The layoffs will include hires forced on the studio by Disney to produce content for Disney+. The studio insiders claim that the current staff of 1,300 will drop to below 1,000, but Pixar themselves say the number is still being determined. The layoffs will take place later in 2024 as Pixar seeks to produce less content. Disney+ expects to be out of the red by Q4 this year. This all comes as a reversal of COVID-era choices made by Disney to prioritize streaming. Pixar and Disney’s other subsidiaries created material just for the service, and in 2020-2022, Pixar’s Soul, Luca, and Turning Red went straight to Disney+. Onward, released earlier in 2020, bombed as COVID hit right after its opening weekend.
Well, I don’t love that. I’m so tired of these huge companies firing people because they can’t pay them. I don’t feel sympathy for an entity like Disney, and it’s painful to see them gut the studios and companies they’ve purchased. I’ve always loved Pixar, and even if I’m not impacted directly, it sucks to see their workforce suffer because of Disney’s poor management. Disney is finally realizing that they have to get people in the theater to make money. Tossing Pixar’s work straight on the Internet with no theatrical window was not only disrespectful and dismissive but financially detrimental. Who knew? And as usual, it’s the people at the bottom, the workers creating the content, who have to pay the price. I’m not sure about the streaming service’s profitability or how much it has hurt theaters. Elemental had a pretty long window(for post-COVID times), and it still underperformed. Regardless, it’s important to remember that these are human beings losing their jobs through no fault of their own.
What do you think about any of the films, Disney+ as a whole, or the decision to implement these restructuring measures? Sound off in the comments!
