Walt Disney Excels Thanks to Frozen and Announces Toy Story 4

Iconic animation producer The Walt Disney Company has exceeded revenue expectations for the fourth quarter on the back of a succession of hit movies, while at the same time announcing plans for another Toy Story movie.

Guardians of The Galaxy and Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie, helped boost revenues by 8% to $12.39bn (€10bn, £7.8bn) for the quarter ending 27 September, exceeding the $12.36bn that had been forecasted.

The announcement came as part of Disney's full year results in which it brought in a record revenue of $48.8bn "reflecting strong home entertainment and theatrical performance of Frozen," read the statement.

"Our results for Fiscal 2014 were the highest in the company's history, marking our fourth consecutive year of record performance," said chairman and chief executive Robert Iger.

"We're obviously very pleased with this achievement and believe it reflects the extraordinary quality of our content and our unique ability to leverage success across the Company to create significant value, as well as our focus on embracing and adapting to emerging consumer trends and technology."

After Toy Story 3 made more than $1bn when it was released in 2010, it was inevitable that another movie in the franchise was to be made.

Disney is looking at a 2017 release date and will be directed by John Lasseter who directed Toy Story 1 and 2.

"We love these characters so much, they are like family to us," said Lasseter. "We don't want to do anything with them unless it lives up to or surpasses what's gone before."

Shares in Walt Disney remained relatively unchanged on the back of the results, moving up by just 1% to $92.00.