When I first saw the box-office results for this past weekend, I was of two minds about Disney's (DIS) The Princess and the Frog. As of early estimates at Box Office Mojo, Princess took in $25 million at domestic theaters, good for first place.

That's pretty cool, right? Maybe even more than pretty cool, one would think. It's not an insignificant sum of money. Plus, Princess finished ahead of strong competitors such as Time Warner's (TWX) The Blind Side and Summit Entertainment's The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

Recently, DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) announced that it would be making more movies. According to the press release, the move calls for five movies every two years. The plan would be for one year to have the normal two projects, while the next year would have three releases.

This is an interesting scheme. It has many implications. First, it means that CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg is extremely confident in his company's ability to produce compelling content. Second, it means that he believes that 3D theaters will be more important than ever in the near future. Third, it is a direct attack against Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Pixar asset. DreamWorks Animation is, without a doubt, becoming much more cutthroat in its competitive stance.

Without a doubt, DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) really nailed it with its latest computer-cartoon sequel, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. According to estimates at Boxofficemojo, the film, which is distributed by Viacom (NYSE: VIA), was number one at the box office over the weekend at domestic theaters.

That was expected. But I have to give kudos to the studio's marketing department for improving the previous film's opening weekend. Madagascar, which was released in May 2005, took in $47 million during its opening weekend. As of this writing, Escape 2 Africa has been credited with about $63 million. Considering that this isn't the summertime, I thought the sequel's debut performance was pretty cool.

And here's another equally cool fact: if the estimates hold, then Escape 2 Africa's first-weekend take will be slightly higher than Kung Fu Panda's opening weekend of $60.2 million. You've got to call that a success. Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Pixar brand definitely better take notice, especially if DreamWorks Animation can consistently put out blockbusters during both the summer and fall.

News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox network recently settled a snag with the talent behind The Simpsons. According to The Hollywood Reporter, fresh deals were struck that will keep the show on for a 20th season. That's pretty darn long to be on television, and it's a testament to the iconic quality that the animated series possesses.

Negotiations reportedly went on for months. In fact, next season will only see 20 episodes instead of 22 (they better still do a Halloween episode!). Some of the talent will be receiving $400,000 per show, representing a 33% raise (the cast actually wanted more than that). The Reporter article did not say who was getting what. I have to ask the following question: considering how long the show has been on, and considering that media companies are trying to discourage rampant increases in above-the-line costs (at least, that's what they should be doing, as far as I'm concerned), should News Corp. execs have demanded that Fox just end the negotiations and refuse to give in to a 33% raise?

I've got to be honest, a big part of me says "yes." However, there is incentive to keep The Simpsons on the air. Last summer, a movie version of the long-running show made a successful leap to the silver screen. The film grossed over $180 million at domestic theaters, and its worldwide total stands at more than $525 million, according to Boxofficemojo.

Yesterday I half-heartedly went to see the Pixar / Disney (NYSE: DIS) movie "Ratatouille" with my 11-year-old son. To my great surprise it was fantastic. The story, quality of animation and superb writing were cleverly executed. If Pixar continues to produce this highly imaginative level of animation then the first class Walt Disney tradition lives on.

It may appear that the entertainment industry is being diluted, fragmented and slowly surrendering to the Internet via vast amounts of "product" created by amateurs and wannabees, but this is deceiving. The Web has allowed for the immediate distribution of a diverse range of ideas in new media such as YouTube (Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). It has created a platform to launch what otherwise might be undiscovered talent. But we deceive ourselves if we think this will ever be a substitute for the top talent assembled by Pixar / Disney.

For example, we know that there are more people playing basketball then ever before and they have greater skills too. However, we still pay top dollar and flock to see Kobe and Shaq, even though they now play on opposite coasts. We want to see the best. While the web has proven to be informative, entertaining and democratizing it is not Hollywood. While it has exposed us to new ideas, (and garbage) and provided opportunity to millions of people and new artists, for the most part it is a new delivery system and a new marketing platform. It is not Disney or Dreamworks and it never will be.

Disney (NYSE: DIS) has decided to stop making straight-to-DVD sequels to its old animated hits like Bambi. It is an odd decision since the company makes money on the content. The Wall Street Journal claims that the products were killed by Steve Jobs and his friends who came from Pixar when Disney bought the animation firm. The new guys feel that the "Mickey Mouse XXV" sequels don't burnish the franchise. They hurt it.

Jobs could be right. Disney and Pixar have been known as the gold standard of animated films, with the Disney part of that franchise going back decades to the original studios of Mr. Walt Disney. Since it is not known outside of the company what kind of revenue is being given up, it is hard to judge.

But, the resurgence of "content" as a valuable asset for companies from Disney to Viacom (NYSE: VIA) may have emboldened the company's management to decide it does not want to damage something that it already has --cachet.

The other side of the argument is also compelling. A child of six probably does not know that a second-rate version of "Bambi Goes to Planet Hollywood" was made by the same company that created Toy Story and The Lion King. Unless, of course, that child reads The Wall Street Journal.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

When I read on our sister blog TV Squad that CNBC was developing an animated show, I couldn't believe it. Then again, this is the same TV network that thinks Donny Deutsch is a talk show host and that Maria Bartiromo is a journalist. Anything is possible.

Just to be clear, I am talking about a cartoon. Not the type of "animation" that viewers of Jim Cramer's Mad Money show regularly enjoy. I used to work for The Street.com, the company he co-founded, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that Cramer is almost as energetic in real life.

Getting back to the cartoon, CNBC's show is based on a comic strip called CEO Dad. I checked out the strip's Web site and found it amusing in a Dilbertish sort of way. The strip features the adventures of Frank Pitt, "President and CEO of Pitt Packaging International, the third largest manufacturer of Styrofoam peanuts in Bucks County, Pennsylvania."

I'm not smart enough to predict whether CEO Dad will be a smash hit. I didn't think Sanjaya Malakar would last on American Idol and the appeal of Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) shoes eludes me.

This got me thinking what could be next for CNBC. Perhaps a musical version of Squawk Box? What about Cramer action figures? The possibilities are endless.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) is doing so well that even the powers of Captain Hook, Cruella De Vil and the Queen from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" can slow it down.

The company reported great fiscal first quarter results yesterday. Revenue rose 10 percent to $9.72 billion. Net Income more than doubled to $1.7 billion, or 79 cents. Factoring gains from the sale of its interest in the E! cable channel and US magazine, profit was 50 cents, easily topping Wall Street forecasts. The shares are trading up in pre-market action.

Studio Entertainment revenue soared 29 percent to $2.63 billion, helped by DVD sales of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," "Cars" and the "Little Mermaid" Platinum which off-set declining box office receipts. Revenue at Media Networks jumped 6 percent to $3.9 billion helped by higher ad sales at both the ABC television network and ESPN. Parks and Resorts revenue rose 4 percent to $2.5 billion, as increases at Walt Disney World were dragged down by declines at The Disneyland Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland. Consumer products was the only laggard, with revenue declining 6 percent to $692 million amid a drop off in self-published titles at Buena Vista Games.

More good news is on its way. ABC should do well at the upcoming upfront advertising sales thanks to the success of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost." Upfront sales are often contentious and investors should realize that doing well means that the beating from advertisers is minimal. The theme parks should be boosted by tourists from Europe and Asia eager to take advantage of the low U.S. dollar. The company's idea of adding to the business through tours and additions to its Disney cruise line looks like a smart idea. "Ratatouille," a computer animated feature set to be released by Disney/Pixar in the summer, looks promising as does "The Bridge to Terabithia" due out next week.

There seems to be more going right for Disney than most other media companies and there's no reason not to expect that to continue.

Also check out some other earnings reports that we're following, and let us know what you're expecting.

Disney will scale back its film production schedule, and the bulk of its pared down offerings will be ten traditional Disney-style films a year -- with just two or three entries under its Touchstone brand. So, more Shaggy Dog less M. Night Shyamalan -- whose new film from Warner, "Lady in the Water," (unrelated to today's Disney announcement) ends a relationship between Disney and the writer/director that generated four straight hits.

Right now, Disney produces about 18 films a year. The cutbacks at Disney will result in the elimination of 650 jobs worldwide.

I found no specifics about where the cuts will come from, but Disney stated that the Disney features unit, Pixar, and Miramax, were among the divisions that weren't going to be affected by cuts. (Reuters).

Among those individuals pushed out already is Nina Jacobson, formerly production head at Walt Disney Pictures, who will be replaced by Oren Aviv, currently chief creative officer at Walt Disney Studios.