Back in summer 1994, before Toy Story was completed, a trio of Pixar directors and writers pitched the basic concept of A Bug's Life to Disney animation execs Tom Schumacher and Peter Schneider. Despite the fact that Toy Story was proving to be more of a challenge to complete than the CG scientists at Pixar had anticipated, Joe Ranft, Andrew Stanton and John Lasseter wanted an even bigger challenge: creating fantasy characters out of insects in a realworld, organic setting populated with a cast of thousands and filmed in widescreen CinemaScope in the grand style of a Hollywood epic. At that time, no one knew that Toy Story would go on to become a worldwide phenomenon grossing $360 million and selling more than $22 million worth of videocassettes. But Disney gamely gave the go-ahead to Pixar's "Epic of Miniature Proportions" and so began a four-year production process.
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