Disney posts 2nd quarter earnings and announces its proceeded with 'Toy Story 3'

[OogieBoogie]

Thanks to AliasD for this article...

Bloomberg.com

Full story at: http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news...fer=news_index

Disney 2nd-Qtr Profit Rises 12% on Theme Parks, ABC (Update3)

May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co., the No. 2 U.S. media company, said second-quarter profit rose 12 percent, boosted by sales gains at theme parks and the ABC broadcast network.

Net income rose to $733 million, or 37 cents a share, from $657 million, or 31 cents, a year ago, Burbank, California-based Disney said today in a statement. Sales advanced 2.5 percent to $8.03 billion in the period ended April 1.

Film distribution costs fell because there were fewer Miramax releases during the quarter, the company said. Disney also had more high-margin films where the studio didn't put up as much of the production costs, Sanders Morris's Miller said.

Operating profit at Disney's consumer products unit, which includes products licensed to retailers, fell 8 percent to $104 million from $113 million. Sales fell 3 percent to $451 million.

Disney is in production with ``Toy Story 3'' and may do other sequels of Pixar films, Iger said on the call. He said he's ``being careful'' about Pixar's output so quality isn't diminished.

(A replay of Disney's conference call is available at (1)(888) 286-8010 or (1)(617) 801-6888 using passcode 67491925.)

[cellarhound]

If it takes 4-5 years to move a Pixar film from story board to screen... does this mean it will happen to Toy Story 3? 2009? 2010?

[XCLIPSE129]

Hasnt Toy Story3 been in production for a couple years but not under pixar but through Disney itself...and I thought the John Lasster (sp?) put a stop to the Pixar sequels. oh well I guess it comes down to the new big boss, Iger.

[cellarhound]

Lassiter is on the record of saying that if there are sequels made it should be done by the origninal creation team... In other words, it is a Pixar property, not a Circle 7 property...

In two words, "quality control."