The idea of making museums more fun is in parallel with a government initiative to introduce a series of reforms to introduce more commercial elements and flexibility for museum operation. An earlier proposal to corporatise museums was rejected.

In addition to attracting new visitors, there will be moves to break down barriers between different museums. The Pixar exhibition, together with another on scientist Albert Einstein at the Science Museum and China's 1911 Revolution at the Museum of History, will be promoted by a cross-museum publicity campaign called 'A Century of Changes' next year. 'We want a crossover of history, science and popular culture,' Fung said.

What's more the city could look forward to more multimillion dollar exhibitions in future, as fund-raising mechanisms improved. Fung explained that the government was setting up an account for accumulating donations for exhibitions.

In the past, officials raised funds for a single exhibition. Now they could secure more funding and plan ahead, deputy director Chung Ling-hoi said.

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department is also hoping to give museum gift shops and restaurants a facelift by turning operators from tenants into long-term partners.

Instead of offering contracts to operators who provide the lowest costs, the government would pay more attention to bringing the facilities in line with the museum's image, Permanent Secretary of Homes Affairs Raymond Young Lap-Moon said. Operators would be invited to submit expressions of interest explaining their designs and pricing next year.

Three new museum advisory panels, with 15 members each from art and business fields, would also be established to advise the government over the coming two years.

Animation action

The exhibition is just one of the surprises in store for visitors next year

The exhibition from Pixar Animation Studios has toured this amount of museums worldwide: 14