The LA Times reports the latest on Pixar’s distribution deal with Disney: “The difficult bargaining, which has been under way for the last two weeks, finds Disney and its key animation supplier far apart on key issues… Open points include financial terms, whether productions under way would be swept into the new agreement, and how Disney would coordinate the release dates of its animated films with Pixar-supplied movies in which Disney would no longer have ownership under a new deal.” The Times also offers details on “Ratatouille,” the first Pixar movie to be produced outside of the existing Disney deal. “Jobs has tried to keep details of this so-called ‘Project 2006’ under wraps, though details have leaked in various news reports. The new film has been said to be about a rat named ‘Ratatouille,’ who lives in a fancy Parisian restaurant. The picture is being directed by Jan Pinkava, who made Pixar’s 1998 Oscar-winning short, ‘Geri’s Game.'”
