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Comment by baddox | Hacker News Reader

That’s a decent counterexample, although in my opinion Disney didn’t look at all out of touch with consumers just before their 2009 acquisition of Marvel or their 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm (Star Wars and Indiana Jones). Oh, and don’t forget Disney’s 2006 acquisition of Pixar, who has continued to do quite well commercially, critically, and in my humble opinion.

My gut reaction would have been far worse if a brand with very negative consumer connotations (like Comcast) had acquired Marvel or Lucasfilm or Pixar. Let’s be real, DreamWorks hasn’t made anything as wonderful as How to Train Your Dragon since their 2016 acquisition by NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast). ;)

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To be honest DreamWorks had been stuck in the sequel mud for some time before it's aqcuisition.

IMO, Dreamworks always seemed like Burger King to Pixar's McDonalds. They made some good films, but they always seemed a little more "gimmicky" (not quite the word I'm looking for, but it'll have to do) compared to Pixar's best films.

Pixar have made 18 films. Dreamworks Animation have made about 35 films, over roughly the same time.

I like most of the films from both of them. There's a lot of just terrible content for children, and these companies generally avoid that.

Of Pixar's 18 films Cars 2, Cars 3, Finding Dory, Monsters University, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3 are sequels. (6 sequels out of 18 films.)

The 2000s were definitely Pixar's golden age. They made great films before then (e.g. Toy Story), and they've made great films since then (e.g. Inside Out), but the 2000s were an incredible run of very original stories executed impeccably.

Interestingly, of the Toy Story series, Toy Story 3[1] is considered by many to be the best of them (and one of the best Pixar movies overall as well). Sequels can be done well, even if they often aren't.

1: Just thinking about the ending now is making me tear up a little. I think the older you are, the more aspects of your life it will likely relate to.

It may not be perfect, but Trollhunters on Netflix is “okay” at the least. My five year old likes it and it doesn’t make me constantly cringe like their recent movies so I’d say they still have hope yet.

How to Train Your Dragon was released in 2010. They haven't made anything as good since then, but it feels unfair to blame that on a 2016 acquisition.

Of course, it hasn’t been long enough to conclude much about that one, given the long production time of major motion pictures.

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