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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Will Maule

Tim Allen slams new 'Buzz' film and says it was a non-starter without Woody

Actor and the original voice of Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear, Tim Allen, has struck out at the makers of the new film Lightyear, which tells the story of the infamous intergalactic character.

The Hollywood star believes the movie didn't have anything to do with the first set of movies and criticised the storylin.

"I've stayed out of this," Tim said in an interview with Extra.

"We talked about this many years ago…but the brass that did the first four movies is not this. It's a whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies."

He also said that when he heard news of a movie featuring Buzz, he assumed it would be with "real humans, not an animated thing".

Tim Allen (Getty Images)

And he is convinced that a movie featuring Buzz without Woody is a non-starter.

"There's really no Toy Story Buzz without Woody," he continued.

"I'm not sure what the idea—I'm a plot guy. It would seem to be a big adventure story, and as I see, it's not a big adventure story. It's a wonderful story, it just doesn't seem to have any connection to the toy. It has no relationship to Buzz."

Lightyear was released on June 17 and is a prequel to the 1995 hit film Toy Story, which starred Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim as Buzz Lightyear.

Tim voiced the character for four movies in the franchise, but was not picked for the new movie. Actor Chris Evans was chosen for the role instead - a decision which was slammed by Everybody Loves Raymond actress and friend of Tim's Patricia Heaton.

"Saw the trailer for Buzz Lightyear and all I can say is Disney/Pixar made a HUGE mistake in not casting0 my pal @ofctimallen Tim Allen in the role that he originated, the role that he owns," she tweeted June 14. "

Tim IS Buzz! Why would they completely castrate this iconic, beloved character?"

She added: "Why remove the one element that makes us want to see it? #stupidHollywooddecisions."

The movie has not performed particularly well at the box office since release, according to Slash Film. As of June 30 it had earned $155 milllion, but its budget was estimated at around $300 million.

Slash Film said the poor ticket sales could be in part due to the Tim Allen controversy.

"One thing that fans of the franchise seemed to be missing was actor Tim Allen, who is deeply associated with the character of Buzz Lightyear," reporter Ryan Scott wrote for the website.

"The absence of the voice that anchored four "Toy Story" films was felt."

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