Walt Disney Co. plans to partner with Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis to create a film unit specializing in cutting-edge “performance-capture” technology used extensively in Zemeckis’ 2004 movie “The Polar Express.”

Performance capture, also known as motion capture, records an actor’s movements and facial expressions via a series of sensors attached at various points to the body; the movements are then altered to develop animated characters that can look similar to the actor. The technology is similar to what was used to create Gollum, the semi-animated character in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Zemeckis, with Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey, will make films that Disney will market and distribute, the Burbank-based-Disney said. The announcement didn’t specify how many films will be made.

Disney has a long relationship with Zemeckis, dating back to 1988’s “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” a movie that combined animation and live-action. The film cost $70 million and took in an estimated $349 million in worldwide ticket sales. The 2004 “Polar Express” cost $150 million and made $278 million worldwide.

The deal is Chief Executive Robert Iger’s latest effort to enhance Disney’s presence in the computer-animated filmmaking arena. The company bought the respected animation house Pixar last year for $8.06 billion.