Sony seek their own Shrek

Shrek starred Mike Myers as the voice of the giant

Sony Pictures is to compete with animation studios such as Disney with their own computer-animated movies like Ice Age and Monsters, Inc.

The studio's new division is to be headed by Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkelman, who were the executive producers of the Oscar-winning movie Shrek.

Ice Age has been a smash hit worldwide

Sony's goal is to have its first digital feature in cinemas by 2005, as it seeks to cash in on the kinds of family-oriented, computer-animated fare that has proved to be so popular for Disney and Dreamworks.

Ms Cox and Ms Rabins said they were seeking "great stories" that families could enjoy together.

Hits

Sony Pictures said they hoped to emulate the success of Pixar, which makes films for Disney under a long-standing deal.

The company has had four hits in a row, including the Toy Story series and Monsters, Inc, which has grossed more than $250m (£171m) in the US alone.

Fox scored a hit this year with the prehistoric adventure Ice Age, which has grossed $170m (£116m) to date domestically.

About 150 animators and staff are set to be hired to work at the new unit, and Sony said it will be drawing on the resources of Imageworks, its existing visual-effects operation, which was behind the recently released smash hit Spider-Man movie.

Pixar is working on the last three films of its distribution deal with Disney, which plans to release them in the summer of 2004 and the holiday seasons of 2004 and 2005.

Pixar has not yet said whether it would renew its partnership with Disney, a subject of much speculation in the entertainment industry.

However Sony executives will be well aware that not every computer-animated film is not always guaranteed to bring box office success.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which cost an estimated $130m (£89m) to produce, took in just $32m (£22m) at the US box office last year.