Disney, Pixar Plan Summer Run for <I>Cars</I>

Well, at least Disney (DIS) - Get Report and Pixar Animation Studios (PIXR) can agree on something.

The two companies said Tuesday that

Cars

, the final original film in their lapsing, multiyear production/distribution pact, would be released in June 2006 rather than in late 2005, as previously planned.

The move means that Pixar, the highly regarded computer animation studio behind such blockbusters as

Finding Nemo

and

The Incredibles

, will have a year-and-a-half gap until its next release, rather than the usual one-year gap that the company has usually has.

Pixar's shares, which started climbing in August in anticipation of the release of

The Incredibles

early last month, fell $1.13 to $91.06 in regular trading Tuesday, then dropped $3.45 in after-hours action following the release date's change.

"

Cars

longs to be a summer movie," Pixar CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "We plan to finish

Cars

on its original schedule, and look forward to

Cars

and our future films benefiting by summer theatrical releases and holiday DVD releases."

Pixar has released most of its movies in the fall, but on the company's earnings call Nov. 11, Jobs raised the possibility that the company might start releasing its movies in the summer.

In discussing the possible shift, Jobs compared the performance of

Finding Nemo

, which was a summer release, with that of

Monsters Inc.,

which was released in the holiday season. Most of

Finding Nemo's

relatively better box-office revenue, said Jobs, stemmed from the greater midweek attendance enabled by releasing the movie at a time when many children didn't have to be in school.

At the time, Jobs wouldn't say whether

Cars

was under consideration for a release-date shift.