Pixar biggest draw in animated battle

THE battle for the crown of the world's leading maker of animated films is going all the way of young pretender Pixar.

A fourfold surge in fourth-quarter revenue gave chief executive Steve Jobs another opportunity to crow over erstwhile partner Walt Disney's 'embarrassing' recent releases.

It was a sweet moment for Jobs, who last week broke off talks with Disney over renewing the distribution contract for Pixar's products, allegedly because counterpart Michael Eisner had overplayed his hand.

Jobs' message was clear - what Disney was yesterday, Pixar, with hits such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo, is today.

'We think the Pixar brand is now the most powerful and trusted brand in animation,' Jobs said on a conference call.

Recent Disney offerings were 'pretty embarrassing', he said, with animated features Treasure Planet and Brother Bear bombing.

Jobs was speaking from a position of strength that many chief executives would envy. Fourth-quarter net profit at Pixar rose to $83.9m (£46.1m) from $17m for the same quarter last year.

Revenue grew to $164.8m from $39.4m, driven by video sales and foreign box office takes for computer animated hit Finding Nemo. That was the top US film at the box office last year and has $850m in total ticket sales to date, making it the ninth-biggest draw worldwide ever.

By the end of the year, it had sold 24.8m copies of home videos and DVDs. Jobs reckons that puts him in a good position to negotiate a quick deal with a new distributor with all the major Hollywood studios beating a path to his door. He will start talks next month and expects a contract to be completed by the autumn.

For Disney there was little to do but rue its loss and beg for better manners from Jobs.

'It's also sad and unfortunate that he has resorted to insults and name-calling in the wake of the disagreement. We expected better of him,' the company said.