Finding Nemo took more than $800m at the box office

Pixar Animation has announced that for the first quarter of 2004 its net income rose to $26.7m (�15m) from $8.2m in the same period last year.

The San Francisco-based firm thanked the continuing popularity of the film on DVD.

It says it expects to sell 40 million copies of Nemo on DVD during 2004.

The DVDs are distributed by Disney, but Nemo could be the last partnership between the two companies after they recently failed to renew their agreement in a dispute over how future revenues would be split.

Box office smash

Pixar's five films for Disney, which also include Monsters Inc and Toy Story, have made a combined $2.6bn at the box office so far.

The contract renewal was said to have failed because Pixar wanted a larger share of the profits.

Pixar's continuing profitability, and the seemingly watertight success of its films, is said to put it in a very strong position for securing a distribution deal for its next movie, which is timetabled for release in 2006.

Disney's failure to renew its contract with Pixar put pressure on its chief executive Michael Eisner, who had to see off a shareholders rebellion.

Pixar's chief executive is Steve Jobs, who also founded and runs Apple Computer.

Some analysts have speculated that Pixar may yet return to the Disney fold - but only if Mr Eisner is no longer with the company.