Tag: pixar

Pixar, the animation studio powerhouse with Steve Jobs as its CEO, has reported first quarter earnings that soundly beat expectations, reports TheStreet.com. Earnings came in at US$81.9 million, or 67 cents per share, up from the year-ago profit of $26.7 million, or 23 cents a share. Revenue increased to $161.2 million from $53.8 million a year earlier, which is attributed to strong sales of the company’s latest DVD release, “The Incredibles.” In after-market trading Thursday, Pixar shares rose $2.78 to $49.05.

Pixar’s “The Incredibles” sold five million units on DVD and video in North America on its first day of availability, putting it on track to be the best-selling DVD of 2005. “The superheroes at Pixar who created The Incredibles have made it even more thrilling in this extraordinary DVD release,” said Pixar and Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

At the Academy Awards on Sunday, Pixar’s “The Incredibles” won the Oscar for best animated feature, beating out “Shark Tale” and “Shrek 2” from rival DreamWorks. The animated film also won the Oscar for best sound editing, but lost in the sound mixing and original screenplay categories.

Pixar, the animation studio headed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, today reported financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended January 1, 2005. For the year, Pixar earned US$141.7 million, or $2.38 per share, on revenues of $273.5 million. For the quarter, the company earned $55.2 million, or 91 cents per share, on revenues of $108.9 million.

Millimeter has an interesting article on a Mac application that Pixar created to allow its creative team to be more efficient when making changes to a film. “If you were in the Pixar screening room where director Brad Bird regularly reviewed images for The Incredibles, you would have seen a cool, new tool in action–the Review Sketch tool. This tool literally allowed Bird to draw on top of a projected image using a digitizing pen. The drawings were then accessible online by other members of his team…

Pixar on Thursday reported a third quarter profit of US$22.4 million, or 38 cents per share, on revenue of $44.5 million. In a conference call with analysts following the earnings release, Pixar (and Apple) CEO Steve Jobs discussed some of the studio’s future plans and took a shot at a competing film. Jobs said Pixar is not in serious negotiations for a new distribution deal with any studio and is waiting until Disney names a new CEO to replace Michael Eisner, who is retiring in 2006.

Randall Stross of The New York Times writes that in spite of Apple’s recent successes, the company can do better — much better. Stross looks at the early days of Pixar [free registration required], where Steve Jobs is CEO, and tracks it from its humble beginnings to where the movie making powerhouse dominates today. “He’s capable of better, much better. His record as C.E.O.

Pixar, the animation studio headed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, has announced a second quarter profit of US$37.4 million, or 63 cents per share, thanks to the continuing success of “Finding Nemo” on home video. These results compare to earnings of $19.5 million, or 34 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues for the quarter were $66.3 million, as compared to $48.9 million last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected the company to report earnings of 37 cents a share.

Pixar today announced a new version of its Academy Award-winning RenderMan 3D rendering software. RenderMan Pro Server Release 12 offers 3D Baking, volume rendering, significant memory reductions, geometry improvements, shading language improvements, arbitrary output variables, “Rif” filters, OpenEXR support, reduction of ray tracing bias, and dicing camera and strategies.

Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner has confirmed to Jessica Reif Cohen of Merrill Lynch that the studio has several sequels in the works to films that Pixar has created for the company. The analyst cautions that such sequels could have an “adverse impact” on Pixar.

Pixar, the animation studio headed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, on Thursday reported financial results for its fiscal first quarter ended April 3, 2004. For the quarter, the company posted a profit of US$26.7 million or 46 cents a share. These results compare to earnings of $8.2 million, or 15 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues for the quarter were $53.8 million, compared to $18.7 million in the year-ago quarter. “Pixar is off to a strong start in 2004 with Finding Nemo’s worldwide home video sales already surpassing Monsters, Inc.” said Jobs.

Disney studio chief Dick Cook said on Friday he was leaning toward making the third installment of “Toy Story,” Pixar’s 1995 box office hit, a feature movie rather than a straight-to-home video project. “Pixar and Disney plan to part ways after two more films together, but Disney retains the rights to make the sequels to the movies they have already produced, including the two ‘Toy Story’ movies,” reports Reuters.