Pirates of the Caribbean Doubles Quarterly Profits at Disney

Deep Lead Pirates Raise Profits Through the Roof at Disney

The successful collaboration of Johnny Depp and the British actor Orlando Bloom caused Walt Disney to more than double its quarterly profits as DVDs of the second installment of their Pirates of the Caribbean series flew off shop shelves. Disney announced last night that its profits for the three months to December leapt by 145%, rising from $734m (£379m) to $1.7bn. As a result, the Los Angeles-based company has enjoyed a astonishing run of financial success. Even reflecting successes with its shares, which were among Wall Street's top performers last year with a rise of more than 40%.

Disney can claim top honor for the two of the top selling DVDs of the year - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and the animated feature film Cars, which was made by the group's Pixar studio. Chief executive Bob Iger said: "These results are particularly gratifying given the great year we had in 2006 and are another clear sign our strategy is driving growth and creating shareholder value." Disney's Hollywood film division was responsible for the bulk of the improved profits. The movie-making arm's earnings rocketed from $128m to $604m.

Depp stars in his next project, "Shantaram," based on the life story of Gregory David Roberts, whose book of the same name describes his escape from an Australian prison to Mumbai and his adventures with the city's powerful mafia dons. Roberts, who was later captured and extradited to Australia, now lives in Mumbai and has set up a free health service for the poor and does some teaching, the author says on his Web site www.shantaram.com.

The talented Mira Nair one of the leading directors in Hollywood is set for directing the project. The Indian born director now rises to the challenge of directing one of Hollywood's leading men Johnny Deep. She said when asked about her thoughts on Deep as lead in the film-, "Johnny Depp is such an extraordinary human being and an extraordinary actor and he embodies so much what Shantaram is and so when he asked me to direct him it was obviously a great honor and challenge for me."