Pixar has reported the company’s third quarter 2004 earnings in an investor conference call, on the business side of things, during the quarter, the company earned $22.4 million, or $0.38 per diluted share on revenues of $44.5 million. The company expects strong fourth quarter earnings that will be driven by the recent release of The Incredibles. Pixar also dropped quite a few bits of other info. Pixar expects a home video release of The Incredibles sometime in spring of 2005. Pixar CEO Steve Jobs said that the company is discussing the idea of moving their release schedule up six months, releasing films in the summer instead of the holiday season. Jobs said the idea was brought up when the box-office receipts of the summer released Finding Nemo were compared to the fall released Monsters, Inc., Jobs explained that the difference in the returns of both films was attributed to Nemo‘s significantly higher mid-week performance, successful because the film’s release period was when kids tend to be off from school. Jobs credits Nemo‘s extremely successful DVD release to the fact it was released during the holiday season, made possible because of the film’s summer theatrical release. Jobs did not say whether the release schedule shift, if it goes into effect, will start with next year’s Cars. If the deal does go into effect with the company’s first self-financed feature, it will result in a six month delay of that film, from holiday 2006 to summer 2007. Jobs said the studio is not currently in the discussions with Disney about extend their currrent distribution contract, and said Pixar is getting know some of the other studios, but is not is negotiations with anyone. Jobs said that self-distribution is inplausible, since the company’s output is only one film a year. There is a possibility of a special tenth anniversary DVD of Toy Story being released next year, but talks between Disney and Pixar on the subject are in the very initial stages. The company will unveil the first couple of its self-financed films, hopefully within the next year.
Jobs Talks Pixar's Future