why did toy story 2 have a 200mil production cost?
Did they have to invent new technology or something?
A few reasons.
Remember when Disney and Pixar split? Disney owned the rights to the Pixar characters from
Toy Story to
Cars, and they created a brand new division called Circle 7 to make sequels to those seven films, basically operating as diet Pixar. The entire studio (with like 200 employees) was basically a bargaining chip for Disney to try and get Pixar back. The Circle 7 team began pre-production on
Toy Story 3 early in the 2000s, and though they never made the movie, some of the reported budget may have been from that development team.
Also, the cast got a bigger salary than they did on previous films. Tom Hanks got a $15 million salary for Toy Story 3, more than the $5million he got for
Toy Story 2. I bet Tim Allen negotiated a nice raise as well.
And yes, they did have to research and invent some new tech, since they lost assets from the first films.
From wiki...
During the initial development stages of the film, Pixar revisited their work from the original Toy Story and found that, although they could open the old computer files for the animated 3D models, error messages prevented them from editing the files. This necessitated recreating the models from scratch.[26] To create the chaotic and complex junkyard scene near the film's end, more than a year and a half was invested on research and development to create the simulation systems required for the sequence.[27]
Instead of sending Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and John Ratzenberger scripts for their consideration in reprising their roles, a complete story reel of the film was shown to the actors in a theater. The reel was made up of moving storyboards with pre-recorded voices, sound effects, and music. At the conclusion of the preview, the actors signed on to the film.[28]