tavis: speaking of pixar, 10 films, all of them have done marvelously well.be they don't want this out, but why are all these films so successful? >> i think the formula is there is no formula. the one thing we do is we allow ourselves to make mistakes and correct them. what you are seeing on the screen when it is done is like the eighth version of the movie. we have made a bunch of other versions, we have had directors, man, give really hard notes, -- we have had directors come in, give really hard notes, or structured things. in the end, and hopefully it has come together in a way that is cohesive. tavis: never once have i heard anybody say they were on a project where a director gave them notes on the project, but that appears to work for pixar films. tell me about the process as a director of having other directors critique your work? >> it is not a little intimidating. really, the great thing about working at pixar is even with john placer, -- john lassiter it was the creative officer at the studio, he will give us notes, but we're not required to follow

shying away from big bold risks and that has been true of them, whether you're talking about apple or pixarer he has done as a business guy. it also means there's a risk of a big flop in some of these products over time. >> there's not much risk of a big flop here, is it? except for the thact that we don't know there's a great market for a tablet. >> but that's it, charlie. he is going into an area here, and -- look, look, i think the odds are likelier this will be a success than it will be a big flop. but he is going into an area where everyone is tried, including bill gates, and he not a stupid man. he was totally personally passionate about the windows tablet pc, which was a big flop. so all i'm saying about steve jobs is, he trieses to think of what would be a good way to use technology, software, hardware, all together, thewhole enchilada and i'm going to try to do it and try to make you understand why you would be excited and passionate about it, and that's his style. >> the businessman of the last decade said -- michael, do you want to add to spheches jobs? >> i think there's a coupl

you have the disney's pixar movie "up" which is also in the category. it's fantastic.t too often the last time you had a disney animated film in the best picture category was back in 1991 with "beauty and the beast." it opens the door to films like "up" "the blind side" with sandra bullock, "up in the air" with george clooney, an amazing line-up. >> usual sus spects on the list, but new ones as well, thank you, careen. >>> let me know what you think about the oscar picks. do you like the fact that there are ten pictures up for best picture? do you think it's too many or a way of being inclusive? you can write to me at my facebook and twitter sites at betty nguyen@cnn.com. >>> you can add nine academy award nominations to "avatar's" acclaims. the highest grossest movie of all-time join "larry king live" tomorrow 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. >>> here's what we're working on for the next hour of "cnn newsroom" -- >>> dismantling don't ask, don't tell. defense secretary, roberts gates, talks about rolling back the policy on gays in the military. we'll bring you his

so, the disney pixar film, for example, "up" it's very, very rare to see an animated film in the best category. in fact, the last time this happened, t.j., was 1991 with "the beauty of the beast." there's your list. "avatar," "the hurt locker," "inglourious basterds," "precious," "the blind side," it's all about ratings. the akkcademy wants to boost ratings. they've seen a little bit of a decline over the last several years. last year it jumped a little bit, but they want to have a megayear in terms of audience. >> is that strictly it, trying to include more movies that are popular, nothing wrong with the independent films, the kind of artsy films that didn't do so well at the box office, a lot of people over the years, what movieias nominated, that was strictly it, to boost ratings? >> to boost ratings and, again, to broaden the audience. there are people now who may be in to animated films, so you have "up," you have the smaller film, the film that could, the film that is really doing amazing, this accordmy award season, "the hurt locker," it's picked up so many awards and that's al

[laughter] >> when disney was starting to partner with pixar and doing debate toy story -- and doingthere was some of that going on, so it was interesting. i went back to the federal government and and they're right there -- and a.m. there right now. -- and a.m. there right now -- and am there right now. >> they swing you through the gate. you get your parking space, and you walk into the oval office, and you start shooting film, and people are waiting to take it and developed it -- develope it, and the next day, that is all gone. it is a great job for people who like to shoot lots of pictures and who likes to have a front- row seat in history. there is really no way to prepare for it other than being interested in history and being at the right place at the right time, and then, when it is over, it cannot be relived. you have to move on fairly quickly, and i think that is what we all tried to do. you go back to taking pictures and making good ones and enjoying what you do. i want to thank everyone. there is 1 million images there. i am amazed by eric's story. it is just amazing. the