Last Call: THQ up after 'WALL-E' movie does well

Shares of THQ Inc. jumped Monday after "WALL-E," the Pixar Animation movie featuring a trash compactor robot left toiling on a long-abandoned planet Earth, debuted as the No. 1 movie over the weekend, boding well for the company's video game based on it.

"WALL-E" made $62.5 million in ticket sales over the weekend, beating Angelina Jolie's thriller "Wanted," which opened at $51.1 million, according to studio estimates.

THQ, which launched "WALL-E" the video game concurrently with the movie, is poised to benefit form the movie's better-than-expected performance, analysts said Monday.

"WALL-E" is THQ's second game launched as part of the company's deal with Disney Pixar, which includes the rights games based on four new Disney Pixar properties, the company said on Friday. The first, based on "Ratatouille," was a top-performing kids title in 2007, the company said.

Oppenheimer analyst Shawn Milne said in a client note the sales the "WALL-E" movie generated over the weekend were 32 percent higher than the opening of "Ratatouille" last year, and above Wall Street's expectations of about $50 million to $60 million. He said the "solid start" for "WALL-E" bodes well for THQ's fiscal first quarter, which ends this month.

THQ's shares rose 70 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $20.42 in afternoon trading. The stock has traded between $16.36 and $31.56 in the past year.