Pixar Animation Studios

With all the signs of a classic Hollywood shake-up, Dick Cook, the longtime head of Walt Disney Studios, abruptly left the company Friday afternoon after 38 years. The news, which came just as offices were emptying out for the weekend, stunned the entertainment industry for its suddenness, even as it revealed a rift between Cook and Disney Chief Executive Robert A. Iger. The studio has had an uneven box-office performance and has been struggling creatively. It lost money in its most recent financial quarter.

Luxo Jr., the squeaky desk-lamp character created by animation guru John Lasseter 23 years ago, is in the spotlight again -- under the glare of a transatlantic lawsuit. The hopping swivel lamp has been a corporate mascot for Pixar Animation Studios since its founder created the character in 1986 for a short computer-animated movie that was nominated for an Academy Award. Lasseter was said to have based the character on his own Luxo lamp. Norwegian lamp maker Luxo filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court in New York accusing Pixar and parent Walt Disney Co. of infringing its copyright by selling a limited-edition Luxo Jr. lamp packaged with a Blu-ray version of the Disney/Pixar movie "Up."

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger must act quickly to replace studio head Dick Cook to avoid further destabilizing the Burbank-based movie operation. Cook's abrupt departure Friday is upsetting employees, many of whom are finding it difficult to focus on work because they are anxious about their future. In addition, stars and filmmakers do not like to face uncertainty and want assurances that their projects will remain on track. Iger is not tipping his hand about whom he will name to fill the job. One executive that's a subject of speculation is Disney Channel President Rich Ross.

"Wall-E," the trash collecting robot abandoned by humans, found plenty of company over the weekend. The animated movie produced by Walt Disney Co.'s Pixar studio was the No. 1 movie with $62.5 million in ticket sales, the third-best opening for a Pixar film and the biggest ever June premiere for a Disney film.

PIXAR'S John Lasseter was effusive in his thank-yous after "Cars" won the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.'s inaugural animated feature award on Monday night, but did he inadvertently sideswipe the company's Southland sibling? Lasseter, the new chief creative director of both Pixar and Burbank-based Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios, doled out thanks to the voters, his Pixar pals, his wife and five kids, voice actors Tony Shalhoub and Paul Newman, producer Darla K.

Could Steve Jobs have benefited from backdating of stock options without actually receiving the securities in question? Legal and business experts say he might have done just that in the $7.4-billion sale last year of Pixar Animation Studios Inc. to the Walt Disney Co. Jobs, who was Pixar's chairman and chief executive, owned half of its shares and therefore reaped a big reward from the sale of the animation studio.

Walt Disney Co. acknowledged Friday that stock options granted at Pixar Animation Studios were backdated before Disney bought the company but added that it had found no deliberate misconduct by anyone currently associated with Disney. Although the announcement by Disney Chairman John Pepper Jr. didn't name names, such a sweeping statement would include Steve Jobs, who ran Pixar as its chief executive and majority shareholder.

Walt Disney Co. said Monday that the backdating of stock options at Pixar Animation Studios was broader than previous reports suggested. News accounts had focused on a handful of top executives whose options were worth as much as a few million dollars when they were awarded. But in a securities filing, Disney said inflated and unexercised options held by the rank and file at Pixar were worth about $323 million under the Black-Scholes-Merton method for valuing options.

In the new computer-animated comedy "Ratatouille," Remy the rat dreams of becoming a great chef. But Remy has a problem: He's an unwelcome intruder in the kitchen of a gourmet Parisian restaurant where he yearns to work. Likewise, Walt Disney Co. and its Pixar Animation Studios knew early on that they could end up chasing their tails if they didn't figure out how to sell "Ratatouille's" unsavory plot to kids and their parents who have plenty of choices.

Pixar Animation Studios shares soared to a record high Wednesday amid speculation that the company behind "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles" is on the verge of a new deal with -- and possibly sale to -- longtime partner Walt Disney Co. The nearly 8% jump in Pixar's stock, to $58.