Analysts are awaiting Friday's release of Chicken Little to see whether the computer-animated movie will be able to save the Walt Disney Co.'s animation unit. (Disney itself suggests as much in its ads for the movie, which say "A whole new era in Disney animated entertainment begins.") Producer Randy Fullmer told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cindy Pearlman that the film marks the formal transition by Disney from hand-drawn to computer animation. "You show kids two-dimensional [hand-drawn] animation, and they act like you're showing them a black-and-white movie," he said. Meanwhile, Sunday's New York Times reported that "serious negotiations" between Disney and Pixar have been put on hold as both sides wait to see how Chicken Little performs next weekend. Michael Nathanson, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, told the Times that investors don't expect Chicken Little to perform as well as Pixar's big hits, and if that proves to be the case, they will want to see a Pixar deal at once. "It's all about numbers," he said, "and both sides -- Disney and Pixar -- are looking for leverage." Other analysts have noted that even if Chicken Little becomes a moderate hit, grossing, say, between $150 million and $200 million, that will not be sufficient to allow Disney to go it alone in computer animated movie-making. It will need to take in at least $300 million for that to happen, they say.
