(CNN) "The Incredibles" stayed away for 14 years, then picked up superhero-ing right where they left off. "Toy Story 4" and "Finding Dory" put nine and 13 years between themselves and their predecessors. "Frozen" will have been on ice for six years when the sequel blows back into theaters around Thanksgiving.

Welcome to the ageless world of animation, and the new math when it comes to sequels -- capitalizing on the genre's time-defying qualities to turn sequels into occasions. And the massive returns for those aforementioned movies -- and anticipated paydays for the others -- provides strong incentive to keep revisiting such established properties, at the potential expense, inevitably, of pouring resources into developing new ones.

At first blush, the idea of animated movies practically skipping generations sounds counter-intuitive. Eight and nine year olds who thrilled to "Toy Story 3" or "Finding Nemo" have, like Woody and Buzz's pal Andy, had enough time to move on to college and even graduate from it, likely putting aside some of their more childish occupations.

The reality, however, is that these movies never really go away. They play on TV and sit on DVD shelves and are watched via Netflix or whatever streaming service (read: Disney+) will wind up carrying them, amassing new little consumers and offering parents the comfort of familiar faces. They live on in Disney parks and stores. (Disclosure: My wife works for a division of the company.)

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