Disney Pictures will announce within the next ten days that it's cutting back on the number of films it makes to around eight per year - it currently releases around 18 - and will substantially reduce its workforce reports Variety.

All movies will be Disney-branded, meaning companies like Touchstone could be vastly diminished. The cutbacks will be far greater than many anticipated, as Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook looks to reinvent the architecture of his studio.

Move reflects an effort to improve the studio's return on investment and get infrastructure back into line which, despite high profile success like "Pirates" and "Cars", has seen some failures too like "Annapolis", "Stay Alive" and "The Wild".