Pixar, Disney Delay Release of ‘Cars’
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Walt Disney Co and Pixar Animation Studios Inc on Tuesday said they would postpone the theatrical release of their animated feature “Cars” to June 2006 from November 2005.
Officials from both companies said the move was aimed at profiting from potentially stronger movie attendance by kids on summer break, but analysts said it may help buy Pixar more time to find a new distributor for its films.
“Cars,” an animated road movie helmed by “Toy Story” and “A Bug’s Life” director John Lasseter, is the seventh and final film produced by the successful Disney-Pixar partnership.
Pixar Chief Executive Steve Jobs said on Tuesday the schedule shift would also apply to films released after “Cars,” meaning they will be released in theaters over the summer and on home video at the holidays.
Last month, Jobs said the company hoped to replicate its success with “Finding Nemo,” a summer release that became the 12th highest grossing U.S. movie of all time.
Jobs’ announcement in November that Pixar was considering the schedule change prompted Wall Street speculation that the company would postpone making a distribution deal planned for mid-2005.
Emeryville, California-based Pixar’s distribution and production agreement with Disney is set to expire in 2005 with the delivery of “Cars.”
Pixar now pays Disney 10 percent to 15 percent of revenues from the films, plus a 50-percent cut of profits. Jobs and outgoing Disney CEO Michael Eisner have publicly clashed over terms for a new deal.
Jobs admitted then that he wanted to see how the “musical chairs” affecting the heads of several major studios would turn out before committing to a new partner.
Disney spokeswoman Heidi Trotta said on Tuesday that the two studios were not in talks over a new distribution pact.
“This is about moving a summer movie to summer,” she said.
Analyst David Miller of Sanders Morris Harris said the shift shows Pixar needs more time to find a new partner.
“They’re going to sugar-coat it and say, ‘Well, this is going to play better in the summer,’ but that’s only a quarter of the story,” Miller said.
The schedule shift also will mean that Pixar will have only the DVD release of “The Incredibles” on which to peg its financial performance in 2005.
Fulcrum Global Partners analyst Richard Greenfield called the move “not terribly surprising” but predicted it would pressure Pixar’s stock price.
“We are surprised that Disney was interested in pushing out a very important part of its fiscal ’06 earnings,” Greenfield said.
Categories