Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol hits theaters everywhere tomorrow. Surprisingly, the movie actually got really good reviews and is positioned to be one of the top movies of the holiday season. We went and watched the film this weekend at IMAX and enjoyed the dose of big-budget popcorn entertainment that reminded us how huge action movies used to be a lot more fun than the annoying and cringe-worthy action flicks that hit the screen en masse nowadays. Thanks a lot Michael Bay.
The success of Mission Impossible 4 shouldn’t come as a huge surprise though to anyone who is familiar with the director Brad Bird. Having worked at Pixar for a number of years, Bird has directed popular films such as The Iron Giant, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles, as well as leading the creative teams behind Toy Story 3 and Up. Being a Pixar alum, Bird had the opportunity to work with Steve Jobs and remarks that, “he wasn’t about making something that was going to be cool next week, he was about making something that was going to be cool 100 years from now.”
As a fan of Apple, Bird places Apple products throughout his newest movie and uses them as tools for Ethan Hunt and his team to do some really awesome stuff. Here’s some of the coolest uses of Apple technology in Mission Impossible 4 (we’ll try and keep the spoilers at a minimum).
When Disney CEO Robert Iger joined Apple’s board of directors, the tech giant offered him a little gift — and it wasn’t a fruit basket. No, Iger received shares worth more than an estimated $84,000. Of course, the amount is Mickey Mouse compared to the $29 million he pulls in as Disney’s head exec.
Oftentimes the most useful clues about the future come from the past. Few questions are as important to ask as, What happened last time?
When attempting to decipher the changes that Steve Jobs’ transition away from leading Apple will bring, it’s essential to examine a surprisingly analogous case: Pixar.
Engineers built and flew a replica of the flying house in Pixar’s “Up” — setting the record for the largest cluster balloon flight ever.
It took 300 balloons, each 8-feet tall and filled with an entire tank of helium. The stint was for or National Geographic Channel’s “How Hard Can It Be?” show. Watch the video report:
Unkrich during production of "Toy Story 3" in November 2009 (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
This is a guest interview by Mike Bastoli of The Pixar Blog, a popular news blog about the studio.
Lee Unkrich is the director of Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3, the highest-grossing animated film of all time, which was released on DVD, Blu-ray and iTunes today. He also served as co-director of Toy Story 2 and editor of Toy Story, and is a member of Pixar’s Senior Creative Team.
Unkrich is an avid Mac user and Apple ‘addict’ who can be spotted at Apple’s events from time to time. “Whenever I’m invited, it’s something awwwwwwesome,” he tweeted to his 80,000 plus followers on Twitter ahead of the launch of the iPad in January.
Here’s an exclusive interview with Unkrich, who talks about his first Mac, Apple cameos in Pixar’s movies and Steve Jobs feeding his Apple addiction.
“Toy Story 3’ director Lee Unkrich gave something for his seat mate to gawk at as he sat at 36,000 feet editing the latest animated tale of plaything adventures.
With not a second to waste — the release date is June 18, 2010 – Unkrich worked on a MacBook Pro, with what looks like shortcut color codes for Avid Media Composer. (Crane as I might, all I ever see are Excel spreadsheets. Need to get upgraded from Economy more often, perhaps.)
Apple products often feature in Pixar movies (perhaps in a nod to history?), the trailer for Toy Story 3 already has a nice bit of iProduct placement.
![Like Pixar, Apple Will Continue to Thrive Without Jobs as CEO [Opinion]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/pixar_up_flying_house.jpg "pixar_up_flying_house")
![I’m an Apple Junkie, Says Toy Story 3 Director Lee Unkrich [Exclusive Interview]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Lee_Unkrich.jpg)
