Another reason why AVV looks good - International but relevant...

Another reason why AVV looks good - International but relevant all the same given "Nemo" is an AVV Movie.

Pixar up on "Nemo" sales
Strong overseas sales of cartoon fish DVD helps animation company almost double profit.
August 5, 2004: 6:44 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pixar Animation Studios Inc. on Thursday posted a 92 percent rise in second-quarter profit on international sales of "Finding Nemo" DVDs and home videos, handily beating Wall Street estimates.

Executives were mum on one of the biggest questions in Hollywood -- which studio Pixar will pick to distribute its films in 2006 and beyond, after its current deal with Walt Disney Co. ends.

Net profit at Emeryville, California-based Pixar rose to $37.4 million, or 63 cents per share, compared with $19.5 million, or 34 cents per share a year earlier, which had been driven by box office revenue from computer-animated fish tale "Nemo."

Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates on average had expected earnings of 37 cents per share in the 2004 quarter, and Pixar, known for its conservative guidance, had forecast 30 cents.

Chief Financial Officer Simon Bax told a conference call he was comfortable with the Wall Street consensus estimate of 20 cents per share in third-quarter earnings.

Pixar shares rose to $67.97 in after-hours trade on INET after falling more than 3 percent to $66 during the day on Nasdaq.

"Even five quarters after the release of 'Nemo' domestically, it is 'Nemo' that is still driving the income statement, and that proves how evergreen Pixar's CGI (computer generated imagery) product is," Sanders Morris Harris analyst David Miller said.

The 2003 tale about a father fish searching for his lost son off the coast of Australia is the No. 8 film by worldwide box office revenue ever.

Quarterly revenue rose to $66.3 million from $48.9 million, with film-related revenue rising to $63.7 million from $45.2 million and software revenue dropping to $2.6 million from $3.7 million.

Bax said Pixar still aimed to have a new distribution deal in place about 18 months before the holiday 2006 release.

That would mean a new deal by mid-2005, although Bax said there was no deadline.

Disney will release Pixar's next movie, "The Incredibles," on Nov. 5. Although Pixar earlier this year called off talks with Disney to extend the current deal, there has been widespread speculation that the two sides might return to the bargaining table as Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner has said a deal could be good for both companies.

Bax, asked whether talks with Disney had resumed, responded, "There has been no change in the status of our distribution agreement. I just don't have anything to add to that."

Pixar also said it had signed a deal with game publisher THQ Inc. for THQ to develop video games based on four Pixar films starting in 2006. THQ currently develops games for Pixar films in a deal with Pixar and Disney.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2004 Reuters All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.