PIXAR Challenge

About this project

Introduction

For the Maven Analytics Pixar Challenge, I built a multi-dashboard Tableau visualization that explores 30 years of Pixar films. My goal was to create an interactive, visually engaging, and analytically rich dashboard that goes beyond simple bar charts and delivers unique insights into what makes a Pixar film successful—from box office performance and audience reception to creative patterns and award-winning formulas.

Project Approach & Data Preparation

1. Understanding the Data

The dataset contained detailed information on Pixar films, including:

Films – Title, release year, genre(s), runtime, rating
Box Office – Budget, domestic earnings, international earnings, total worldwide earnings
Public Responses– IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, Cinema Score ratings and review counts
Academy – Wins and nominations across different categories
People – Directors, producers, writers, animators
Scores – additional sheet created consisting of Image URLs and Pivoted scores f public responses

Before diving into visualization, I conducted Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) to:

Identify missing values and inconsistencies
Standardize data formats
Aggregate data to create trend insights over time

2. Data Transformation & Cleaning

Extracted multiple genres per film and transformed them into separate categories
Created calculated fields in Tableau for key metrics like
- Awards Count/Won
- ROI, Profit Ratio
- Avg Audience Rating (IMDb), Avg Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes + Metacritic), Avg Rating (IMDb, RT, MC), IMDb10, Total reviews*
Used parameter controls to enable user-driven analysis of normalized scoring. Hence added 4 parameters so user can add custom weightage to each parameter.

Dashboard Design & Sections

I structured the project into five interactive dashboards, each with a unique focus:

Dashboard 1: Introduction

A visually appealing landing page with title, navigation buttons, and Pixar-themed design
Clean UI & storytelling flow to guide users through the analysis

Dashboard 2: Film-Specific Details

This dashboard provides a deep dive into each film, with a user-friendly filter mechanism:

Section 1: Film Overview (Dynamic Selection)

Movie Thumbnail & Details – Title, genre, runtime, MPAA rating
Ratings Summary – IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and Cinema Score ratings & review counts
Financials – Budget, revenue breakdown, and profit visualization
Key People – Directors, producers, writers, animators
Awards & Nominations – Displayed as a vertical bar chart

Section 2: Quick Comparisons

MPAA Rating Distribution – Circle chart for G vs. PG ratings
Genre Trends – Genre icons for each film
Interactive Action Filter – Clicking on a movie poster dynamically filters Section 1

The extra efforts - Radar chart to compare the selected films ratings with the average Pixar rating

Dashboard 3: Box Office & Financial Analysis

This section explores how Pixar films performed financially:

Stacked Bar Chart – Domestic vs. international earnings per film
Dual-Axis Chart – Budget (circles) vs. profit (bars, showing both positive & negative values)
Bubble Chart – Film-wise Profit ratio, with bubble size indicating times earnings from budget
Scatter Plot – X-axis: Budget, Y-axis: Profit Ratio, bubble size: Total earnings
Regional Analysis – Scatter plot showing US/Canada earnings vs. international earnings

Dashboard 4: Audience & Critical Reception

Analyzing audience and critic engagement through:

Scatter Plots – IMDb scores vs. review count, Rotten Tomatoes vs. count, Metacritic vs. count
Multi-Dot Chart – Comparing IMDb, RT, and Metacritic scores per film
Weighted Score Visualization – Combining all 3 scores into an average rating and how its 5 year Moving average shows the slumps and rises.
Critic darlings v Fan Favorites – Dot plot showing differential trend

The extra efforts - 5 year Moving average shows the slumps and rises

Dashboard 5: Pixar's Success Formula (Advanced Analytics)

This was the most challenging dashboard, aimed at uncovering patterns behind Pixar’s biggest hits:

Section 1: Profitability Trends

Profit Ratio by MPAA Rating – Comparing G vs. PG-rated films
Profit Ratio by Genre – Identifying the most successful genres
Runtime vs. Profit Ratio – Scatter plot showing if longer movies perform better
IMDb Scores vs Profit Ratio – If scores affected the profits during initial launch

Section 2: Influence of Key Creatives

Top 5 Directors/Producers/Writers by Awards Won/Nominations

Section 3: Yearly Profit Trends

Profit and profit % per year (1996–2024)
Number of awards and nominations each year

Section 4: Play the Normalized Score game

Normalized Scoring showing the best films. Custom weightage as a parameter to define the score according each one’s weightage to Profit Ratio, Critics Score, Audience Score, Awards.
Find the ideal/dream team for the Pixar films by Genre, runtime, rating and director.

The extra efforts - Normalized rating section (The best films according to me on a normalized scale)

(The formula and calculations)

(Try it yourself box - enter your weightage, don't worry if you think Oscars' weight is 0 relating to a film's success. this chart covers that)

(The dream team for a PIXAR film)

Design & Theme Selection

Color Palette & Aesthetics

To capture the essence of Pixar, I used:

Primary Colors: Navy Blue (inspired by Pixar’s branding)
Background: Dark gradient with playful yet professional contrast of glass morphed themed
Typography: Clean, readable fonts for a friendly UI

Advanced Features Beyond Tableau Defaults

To push Tableau’s capabilities further, I implemented:

Custom Navigation & Interactive Buttons – Seamless transition between dashboards
Image-Based Filtering – Clicking on a movie poster filters all sections
Dynamic Tooltip Enhancements – Hovering over elements reveals additional insights
Normalized Ratings Calculation – Adjusting different rating scales for fair comparisons
5-Year Moving Average for Trends – Smoothing fluctuations in financial & critical success

Challenges & Learnings

Balancing Creativity with Analytical Depth – Avoiding a generic dashboard while keeping it insightful
Data Processing Issues – Cleaning multi-genre classification and normalizing ratings took extra effort
Ensuring High Interactivity – Action filters, dynamic visuals, and intuitive navigation were key
The "Success Formula" Challenge – Extracting meaningful insights beyond just financial success was the toughest part

Conclusion

This Pixar Legacy Dashboard stands out due to:

Unique Storytelling Approach – Rather than generic visuals, it tells a compelling data-driven story
Advanced Interactivity & Customization – Making Tableau feel more like a seamless app experience
Deep-Dive Analysis – Combining financial, critical, and creative insights to decode Pixar’s magic

This project showcases not just data visualization skills but also storytelling, UI/UX design, and analytical thinking. Would love to hear your feedback!