Pixar, the leading producer of computer animated films whose five releases have earned more than $2.5 billion, is ending its 13-year relationship with the Walt Disney Co.  Pixar's deal with Disney will continue through two more films, The Incredibles, the animated superhero saga, which should be one of this year's biggest hits and Cars, which is slated for 2005. 

Disney's deal with Pixar was a very sweet one indeed.  In return for financing half the cost of the Pixar films, Disney received half the profits plus a 13% distribution fee.  Finding Nemo, which has earned more than $800 million at the box office worldwide, may well end up with a profit of over half a billion dollars, and industry analysts quoted in the L.A. Times estimate that Pixar's productions have accounted for as much as 50% of Disney's operating income in recent years.

In the short term, the split-up will probably result in the release of more animated films as Disney, which has already formed relationships with two other computer animation studios, attempts to fill the void left by Pixar's departure.  The break-up also means that there will be no proper Pixar sequels to Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., A Bug's Life, or the Toy Story films.