BAD NEWS, FOLLOWED BY SINKING STOCKS AT DISNEY

For investors, the news from Disney on Thursday was not good. First came word that its Pixar unit had decided to delay the release of two movies, The Good Dinosaur and a sequel to Finding Nemo, titled Finding Dory. That would leave Disney without a Pixar release in 2014. In fact, The Good Dinosaur is now not scheduled to hit movie theaters until Nov. 25, 2015. Finding Dory, which was to have been released in 2015, now won’t appear until June 17, 2016. Disney attempted to put a good face on the 18-month delay, saying in a statement, “We continue to believe at Pixar, ‘quality is the best business plan,’ and we live by that.” But then, late in the day, another thump. Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer will be ending his current deal with the studio next year in order “to produce more mature films outside the scope of the Disney brand,” a studio announcement said. While the Pirates franchise has been responsible for selling $3.7 billion worth of tickets worldwide, some of Bruckheimer’s other extravaganzas have not fared so well, including this year’s The Lone Ranger. The studio has indicated it will take a $190-million write-off on that one. On Thursday, Disney shares fell 2 percent on the news, and they were down an additional 1.12 percent at the close of trading today (Friday).