Walt Disney Co. is working on not just one but two new sequels in the "Toy Story" series at the same time, Disney chief executive Michael Eisner said yesterday.
"Toy Story," which came out in 1995, and 1999's "Toy Story 2" were blockbuster film and merchandising hits for Pixar Animation Studios, the Disney partner that produced it, and for Disney.
But that partnership is ending after two more films, giving Disney the right to craft sequels if Pixar does not want to.
"We're doing two 'Toy Stories' at once," Eisner said in listing some of Disney's film plans at a Goldman Sachs investment conference in Manhattan.
A spokeswoman in Los Angeles for Disney studios later elaborated, saying, "They're working on different story ideas with the hopes there will be a 'Toy Story 3' and another after that."
A Pixar spokeswoman declined to comment.
The partnership's next computer-animated film is "The Incredibles," which debuts Nov. 5 and which Eisner predicts will be a "giant blockbuster."
Disney is trying to rev up its own computer animation department because traditional animation has fared poorly in recent years. Among its computer animation plans, Disney is producing "Chicken Little," which Eisner said will cost half as much as competitors spend on such films.
Still, the question remains whether on its own, Disney can come close to Pixar's unbroken streak of huge triumphs with computer-animated films.
Eisner said an enormous amount of computer-animated movies will spill forth from Hollywood in the next few years, but victory will boil down to story-telling and emotion, rather than just technology.
"Toy Story," which came out in 1995, and 1999's "Toy Story 2" were blockbuster film and merchandising hits for Pixar Animation Studios, the Disney partner that produced it, and for Disney.
But that partnership is ending after two more films, giving Disney the right to craft sequels if Pixar does not want to.
"We're doing two 'Toy Stories' at once," Eisner said in listing some of Disney's film plans at a Goldman Sachs investment conference in Manhattan.
A spokeswoman in Los Angeles for Disney studios later elaborated, saying, "They're working on different story ideas with the hopes there will be a 'Toy Story 3' and another after that."
A Pixar spokeswoman declined to comment.
The partnership's next computer-animated film is "The Incredibles," which debuts Nov. 5 and which Eisner predicts will be a "giant blockbuster."
Disney is trying to rev up its own computer animation department because traditional animation has fared poorly in recent years. Among its computer animation plans, Disney is producing "Chicken Little," which Eisner said will cost half as much as competitors spend on such films.
Still, the question remains whether on its own, Disney can come close to Pixar's unbroken streak of huge triumphs with computer-animated films.
Eisner said an enormous amount of computer-animated movies will spill forth from Hollywood in the next few years, but victory will boil down to story-telling and emotion, rather than just technology.
