Sayonara, Disney

Yay for Pixar:

Pixar Sees End to Its Disney Partnership [NY Times]

Pixar Animation Studios, which produced last summer's popular Finding Nemo, said on Thursday that it was ending talks on continuing its 12-year partnership with the Walt Disney Company and would seek another studio to distribute its films, beginning in 2006.

...Under their current arrangement, Disney distributes all of Pixar's films in exchange for 12.5 percent of the box-office revenue, and the two companies split the profits. In addition, Disney owns the rights to all movies made by Pixar, which lacks its own distribution arm. As part of that deal, Disney will distribute Pixar's two coming films "The Incredibles," scheduled to be released later this year, and "Cars," due out next year.

"After 10 months of trying to strike a deal with Disney, we're moving on," Mr. Jobs said in a statement. "We've had a great run together — one of the most successful in Hollywood history — and it's a shame that Disney won't be participating in Pixar's future success."

Pixar's been a better Disney than Disney for years now, producing solid animated films year in and year out, and they deserve a better deal than they currently have.

I think Pixar is more than capable of doing its own thing without needing Disney's brand to get people to try it, and it's about time they did.

Interestingly:

But Disney can begin creating sequels to all of Pixar's films, something it could not do under its current arrangement and is almost certain to exploit.