Actor John Ratzenberger has voiced a character in every Pixar film released, as of 2014, including the Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, and Monsters, Inc and its sequel. Although Ratzenberger is perhaps most notable for his television work on the American sitcom Cheers, his movie voice over work for the animated feature films of Pixar contributes significantly to making him the sixth most successful actor of all time in terms of box office sales. Pixar filmmakers have gone on record referring to Ratzenberger as their “lucky charm” because he has a distinctive voice that works well for animation, as well as being enjoyable to work with.
More about Pixar:
- Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple Computers, became the largest individual shareholder of Pixar in 2006.
- Toy Story, Pixar’s first feature film and one of its most successful of all time, was almost shut down because producers found the main character, Woody the toy cowboy, unlikable.
- Pixar film Finding Nemo has sold over 40 million DVDs, making it the top selling DVD of all time, as of 2014.
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More Info: pixar.com
Discussion Comments
While I've always been a big fan of Pixar and their movies, does anyone else think there's been a recent decline in the quality of their movies over the past few years?
Just my opinion, but this is especially in comparison to some of the more recent movies, such Frozen and Big Hero 6, some of the best Disney movies.
Overall though, I guess it's good to remember that Pixar is still a company at heart, and even though they make good movies, a business is a business. Not only is their job to make money, but even more, their films need to reach a certain level of success.
Between all of the movies that are in production for years and years, not to mention the budgets that they have to associate with these movies, it's always good to take into consideration that making a movie certainly isn't as easy as it appears to be at first glance.
On a final note, Pixar's decline in quality is something that I've been noticing over the past few years myself, although I don't know if anyone else agrees with me.
On the other hand, with the new Pixar movie Inside Out being released this summer, it will be a good chance to see if Pixar is at the top of their game.
Speaking of Pixar, I do find it interesting that John Ratzenberger has voiced a character in every Pixar film released so far. It really shows how these movies are a labor of love. He doesn't just work on a movie and then throw it away. He actually enjoys what he does.
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