Disney & Pixar

In 1979, the CGI animation production studio, Graphics Group, began under a division of LucasFilm. In 1986, Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple) bought the company and changed the name to Pixar, now a house-hold name for its innovative CGI process. Pixar's first movie, "Toy Story" was released in 1995 and became a huge hit, starring big-time actors Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. Since then, Pixar has had commercial and critical success for its next eight movies, earning four academy awards. These movies are as follows:

1995 - Toy Story

1998 - A Bug's Life

1999 - Toy Story 2

2001 - Monster's Inc. (nominated for Academy Award)

2003 - Finding Nemo (won Academy Award)

2004 - The Incredibles (won Academy Award)

2006 - Cars (nominated for Academy Award)

2007 - Ratatouille (won Academy Award)

2008 - Wall-E (won Academy Award)

Disney and Pixar began as partners back in 1991. Originally, Pixar was in charge of creation and production, while Disney handled the marketing and distribution of the films. After the success of "Toy Story," disagreements began between Steve Jobs and Disney CEO Michael Eisner about the partnership and the money involved, as Disney owned all sequel and distribution rights. A new agreement was in the works in 2004 that would give more rights to Pixar, but the deal fell through in mid-2004 and Pixar announced it was looking for other partners than Disney because Jobs and Eisner just couldn't get along.

By that time, the first five Pixar movies had collectively grossed over $2.5 billion. After Eisner left Disney in September 2005, new arrangements began between Disney and Pixar. Pixar announced it would release movies in early summer (not in November as Disney had them contracted to do while under partnerships), beginning with "Cars." "Cars" was the last movie to be made under the old arrangements between Disney and Pixar and by releasing it several months later than planned, time was bought to see how things played out between the two companies, now that Eisner had left.

In January 2006, Disney announced that it would buy Pixar for $7.4 billion. The two companies didn't merge, however. Pixar remained a separate entity with its own studios and employees. However, the name Disney-Pixar began to be used, beginning with "Cars."

Today, the name Disney-Pixar almost guarantees success. Their next movie, "Up," to be released on May 29, 2009 will be the first Pixar film presented in Disney Digital 3-D. "Toy Story 3" is also in the works, expected to be release in June 2010.