Disney, Pixar Playing Chicken

All eyes will be on a little chicken this weekend as Disney (DIS Quote) releases its first home-grown, entirely computer-generated feature.

If Chicken Little has wings -- and it's far from certain that it will, given the recent uneven results from Disney's once-storied animated studio -- it could help the media giant reassert itself just as high-profile talks loom with Pixar's (PIXR Quote) Steve Jobs. On the other hand, if the sky falls, Jobs will have a little more leverage when the parties start serious negotiations in coming weeks.

"I think it has huge implications," one media analyst says of the movie's box office performance. "I think it might show that they [Disney] can't seem to get animation right and need a relationship with Pixar." ...