Report: Pixar Will Perform Hundreds of Layoffs

In 2023, Disney’s beloved animation subsidiary, Pixar, performed its first round of significant layoffs in a decade.

Now, according to a recent report, we’ve learned that other layoffs are likely to occur in 2024. Here’s what we know.

The Report and Disney’s Response

Photo: Pixar

According to TechCrunch, Pixar will undergo another round of layoffs later this year.

Nobody quite knows the total number yet, but the expectation is that it will be in the hundreds.

According to one source, the total could amount to as much as 20 percent of the company.

Photo: Pixar

However, Disney pushed back against that assertion. A Reuters source suggested much lower numbers.

The reality is that Pixar hasn’t decided how many of its 1,300 workers it will need in the future.

That statement is true because Pixar recently completed its first full-length animated series for Disney+, Win Or Lose.

Photo: Pixar Post

Now that this project and some of the Pixar animated shorts have finished production, the studio considers itself overstaffed.

Currently, executives are determining how many extra employees it has and will whittle down the numbers from there.

To perform an accurate head count, Pixar must decide how many people it will need for its upcoming projects.

Photo: Pixar

The insider who spoke with Reuters indicated that TechCrunch’s estimate is overblown. 

This unlikely scenario would have Pixar cut more than 300 jobs.

That’s a massive amount for a company this size. Realistically, Pixar does need to trim its staff, though.

Why Pixar Must Perform Layoffs

Photo: Also Pixar Post

Pixar works differently from most Hollywood studios in that it keeps permanent staff members rather than hiring based on upcoming projects.

So, when Pixar films struggle at the box office, which happened with Lightyear, the entire studio suffers a financial shortfall.

Pixar had already paid its staff in anticipation of film revenues counterbalancing those expenses.

For this reason, bombs hurt Pixar more than any other film studio.

Meanwhile, Elemental turned a modest profit, but it wasn’t enough to offset the financial losses Pixar had already suffered.

The studio has cut corners as a result. In 2023, Pixar subleased 16,800 square feet of office space to offset some of those losses.

Now, Pixar will let go of some of its staff as Disney plans for its subsidiary to reduce fewer films and Disney+ programs in the short term.

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