The 73-year-old Catmull will relinquish his role as president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios at the end of the year. He will serve in an advisory role through July 2019.
Pixar president Jim Morris and Walt Disney Animation Studios president Andrew Millstein will continue to oversee operations of their respective studios, reporting to Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman.
Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios will continue to be creatively led by the
recently appointed chief creative officers Pete Docter and Jennifer Lee. The two will report to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn.
Catmull leaves behind an impressive record of developing technology for 3d animated film. According to Deadline, he founded three centers of computer graphics research -- the computer graphics laboratory at the New York Institute of Technology, the computer division of Lucasfilm and Pixar Animation Studios. The Computer History Museum acknowledges these organizations for producing some of the most fundamental advances in computer graphics.
Regarding his achievements of the past decades, Catmull said the following:
“Never in my wildest imagination could I have conceived of the path or the extraordinary people I have worked with over all of these years – the twists and turns, the ups and downs, along with exhilarating passion, talent, and dedication that have led to something extraordinary, something that has an enduring impact in the world,”
Read more about Catmull's distinguished career:
Catmull’s pioneering work in computer animation and visionary leadership in key technology companies including Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Disney over the past 45-plus years changed the face of film. Catmull was hired by George Lucas in 1979 to lead Lucasfilm’s computer division, before co-founding Pixar Animation Studios in 1986 with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. Pixar released the world’s first feature-length computer animated film, the seminal “Toy Story,” in 1995 and has broken creative and technological boundaries ever since. The studio’s 20 feature films have won 15 Academy Awards and earned more than $13 billion in global box office; its most recent film, “Incredibles 2,” broke records in its debut and is the highest grossing animated film in U.S. box office history.
Catmull’s association with Disney goes back to 1986 with Pixar’s work on the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), and Disney has released all of Pixar’s feature films. Upon The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Pixar in 2006, Catmull became President of both Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios. Since arriving at Disney, Catmull has overseen numerous groundbreaking films from both studios, including five billion-dollar hits – Disney’s “Frozen” and “Zootopia” and Pixar’s “Incredibles 2,” “Toy Story 3,” and “Finding Dory” – alongside such beloved films as Pixar’s “Wall-E,” “Up,” “Inside Out,” and “Coco” and Disney’s “The Princess and The Frog,” “Tangled,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Big Hero 6,” and “Moana.”