(from Forbes Magazine) – The Walt Disney Company (DIS) is glowing with pride as its 2006 acquisition of animation studio Pixar continues to payoff. Over the weekend, Disney Pixar debuted its newest movie, Brave, which earned $66.7 million at the box office. This marks the studio’s 13th consecutive number one movie, following past blockbusters including Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo and the Toy Story series.
Brave’s strong debut is a big win for Disney. After a $200 million write-off on mega-flop John Carter, the company needs more than just The Avengers (which grossed nearly $1.5 billion since its April release) to recoup the losses. And another box office hit not only adds to the bottom line of Disney’s movie divisions, but also to other properties.
“They’ve exhibited an industry-leading integration of their business lines – so whenever they think of a character, they have an effective way of cross-pollinating across cable networks, studios and theme parks,” says Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce.
When new character appears onscreen, it is not long before they show up in rides and attractions in the company’s theme parks, not to mention in the gift shops. Brave-branded backpacks and video games are already up for sale on Disney’s website.
Read the entire Forbes article by Scott Gamm here.