Producers Guild of America Honors Pixar Animation Studios with Vanguard Award
The Producers Guild of America
is pleased to announce that Pixar Animation Studios will be honored with
the Guild's inaugural Vanguard Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement
in new media and technology. Ed Catmull, John Lasseter and Steve Jobs
will accept the award on behalf of Pixar at the annual PGA Awards on Sunday,
March 3rd, 2002 at the Century Plaza Hotel.
The PGA established the Vanguard
Award to honor the brilliance and creative contributions in entertainment
production in new media and technology. Pixar has made significant contributions
in the field of computer graphic imaging (CGI) technology since its inception
15 years ago. They revolutionized the animation industry with the first
full-length computer animated feature film, the 1995 Academy Award®-winning Toy Story. Their Academy Award®-winning RenderManTM software
propelled computer graphics into mainstream movie-making by allowing computer
generated images to blend in seamlessly with live-action scenes. RenderMan™
has been used in 26 of the last 30 films nominated for a visual effects
Oscar®, including Gladiator, The Matrix, Titanic and Jurassic Park.
Ed Catmull, president of Pixar
Animation Studios said, “We are so thrilled to be the first recipient
of the Vanguard Award, and we thank the Producers Guild for giving us
this very special honor.”
PGA Awards Co-Chairs, Bruce
Cohen and Debra Hill said, “Pixar’s groundbreaking body of work
has created a whole new genre of filmmaking and has entertained a new
generation of film goers. They are the perfect premiere recipients of
this new award.”
Pixar Animation Studios (Nasdaq:
PIXR) combines creative and technical artistry to create original stories
in the medium of computer animation. In partnership with Disney, Pixar
has created four of the most successful and beloved animated films of
all time: Academy Award ®-winning Toy Story (1995); A Bug’s
Life (1998); Golden Globe-winner Toy Story 2 (1999); and Monsters,
Inc. (2001). Pixar’s four films have earned more than $1.5 billion
at the worldwide box office to date. The Northern California studio's
next film, Finding Nemo, will be released in summer 2003.
The PGA recently announced
its nominated productions for Producer of the Year in Theatrical Motion
Picture and Television (drama, comedy and Longform) and is currently conducting
its accreditation process to determine the eligible producers for each
nominated film and television production. The PGA will announce its determinations
for Producer of the Year on Wednesday, February 13th, 2002.
The PGA will honor Robert
Wise with their Milestone Award. Lawrence Gordon will receive the David
O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures and
Carsey-Werner-Mandabach with the David Susskind Lifetime Achievement Award
in Television. The PGA will bestow its Hall of Fame award on the features, The Manchurian Candidate and Network, as well as television
shows, Happy Days and Maude. The Visionary and Stanley Kramer
Humanitarian Award will be announced in the near future.
About Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar Animation Studios (Nasdaq: PIXR) combines creative and technical
artistry to create original characters and stories in the medium of computer
animation. Under its partnership with Disney, Pixar has created and produced
the first computer-animated feature film, the Academy Award®-winning Toy Story, released in 1995; A Bug’s Life, the highest
grossing animated film released in 1998; and Golden Globe-winner Toy
Story 2, the highest domestic grossing animated film released in 1999.
The Northern California studio’s current films include Monsters, Inc., which was released on November 2, 2001, and Finding Nemo, scheduled
for a summer 2003 release.
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