(October 22, 2001 - by digitalmediafx.com) There's good news and bad news for Pixar's November 2 release of Monsters, Inc. The good news is that early critic reviews are extremely positive as with past Pixar movies and it is bound to make a boatload of money at the box office. The bad news is that several companies will try to derail a monster run for Monsters, Inc.

Disney/Pixar were forced to move Monsters, Inc. away from its unofficial mid-to-late November release when Warner Bros. decided to put Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone into wide release on November 16.

After Monsters, Inc. was moved to November 2 (which gives it a strong two week run before facing serious competition from Harry Potter), DreamWorks decided to add additional heat by releasing the Shrek DVD on the same day - Friday, November 2. DVDs are always released on Tuesday's as part of an industry standard. Six weeks after Monsters, Inc. hits theaters, it will lose hundreds of screens to Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and face additional competition from Nickelodeon's newest animated feature - Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.

A survey by movie ticket seller Fandago found that Monsters, Inc. was the third most anticipated movie of the fall/winter season. Second was Harry Potter and number one was easily Lord of the Rings.

All the factors brought together will likely slow Monsters, Inc. at the box office after its first two weeks, but only slightly. Pixar animated movies have shown an amazing ability to hold strong for the long term while many other movies come and go. Financial analyst company Prudential believes that the box office results for Monsters, Inc. will end up somewhere between A Bug's Life ($163 million domestically) and Toy Story 2 ($246 million domestically).