Sequelitis

Especially when there are high-dollar franchises involved.

"Toy Story of Terror!" is being treated as a film event in its own right. ABC, Pixar's sister channel, is marketing it as an "absolute destination event," according to Darren Schillace , the senior vice president of marketing for the TV network, which like Pixar, is owned by Walt Disney Co. DIS +0.96%

The film is scheduled to be broadcast an additional 10 times on Disney's affiliate channels, including ABC Family and Disney XD, before the end of October.

Because the "Toy Story" franchise has a strong built-in audience, with 32.6 million likes on its Facebook page, Mr. Schillace said he's targeting the larger Disney universe fan.

Promotional efforts for "Toy Story of Terror!" began a year ago, which is typical for a cinematic release but unusual for TV. A marketing campaign typically begins six to eight weeks before the premiere. ...

So, any talk you may have heard that Toy Story 3 was the capstone to a wonderful story arc, that Toy Story 3 was going to be "it?"

Forget you ever heard such a thing. Because the story of the toys continues. Six months after the final moments of the third feature.

And will there be another feature? (Does Santa Claus distribute presents? Do the swallows fly to Capistrano?)

Of course there will be one or more Toy Stories of the eight-seven minute variety. Especially when there are many dollars to be made.

Add On: Variety provides its take of the new opus:

... Written and directed by Angus MacLane, at roughly 21 minutes sans commercials “Toy Story of Terror!” is about a quarter the length of the average animated feature, but everything else here could easily be mistaken for the bigscreen version, from the pacing and humor to Michael Giacchino’s score. ...