Pixar Animation Studios is ending its relationship with the Walt Disney Co. and taking its lucrative track record of animated blockbusters to another studio that will allow it to retain ownership of future movies, Pixar chief Steve Jobs said.
Pixar, which co-produced last year's top-box office draw, Finding Nemo, has long chafed under its contract with Disney, which retains the right to make sequels to movies such as Toy Story and Monsters Inc.
The companies share box office receipts and licensing revenues under the current arrangement.
"After 10 months of trying to strike a deal with Disney, we're moving on," Jobs said Thursday in a statement. "We've had a great run together -- one of the most successful in Hollywood history -- and it's a shame that Disney won't be participating in Pixar's future successes."
Pixar still has two movies to deliver under its current deal, including The Incredibles, due in theaters in November, and Cars, which will be released next year.
Disney chief financial officer Thomas Staggs said the company rejected Pixar's "final offer" because it would have cost Disney hundreds of millions of dollars it is entitled to under the existing agreement "while not providing sufficient incremental returns on new collaborations to justify the changes to the existing deal.''
People familiar with the talks said Pixar was seeking a new deal that would pay Disney a flat distribution fee and include the two films left under its current arrangement as well as new films.
"We have had a fantastic partnership with Pixar and wish Steve Jobs and the wonderfully creative team there, led by John Lasseter, much success in the future," Disney chief executive Michael Eisner said in a statement Thursday.
"Although we would have enjoyed continuing our successful collaboration under mutually acceptable terms, Pixar understandably has chosen to go its own way to grow as an independent company," Eisner said.
Warner Bros said the studio had two informal meetings with Pixar last year, but no serious negotiations took place.
"We'd love to be in business with them," Warner Bros spokeswoman Barbara Brogliatti said.
Analysts said the end of the Disney-Pixar relationship will have mixed results for both companies.
The five films produced under the partnership have grossed more than US$2.5 billion at the box office. Disney has kept varying amounts of the profits and will pocket 60 percent from the final two films covered by the existing agreement.
Disney also retains the right to Pixar characters and can make unlimited theatrical or direct-to-video sequels, including a long-expected Toy Story 3.
For Pixar, the break from Disney will allow it to keep more profit from future films while increasing the risks should those movies underperform.
"The risk is all theirs now," said Peter Mirsky, a financial analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. "They wanted it, they got it. Plus, they've added a competitor in Disney."
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique