Walt Disney Co. will reduce the number of movies it releases and trim its work force, according to a report in the entertainment trade paper “Daily Variety.” An official announcement from the company should come in the next 10 days.

The media conglomerate’s film slate will shrink from 18 films to eight. In the future, all films will carry the Walt Disney brand, rather than coming from the Touchstone, Hollywood or other subsidiary studios of Disney.

On the day of the “Daily Variety” story, Disney’s stock fell slightly more than 1 percent to close at $29.91. So far in 2006, the stock has gained 22.6 percent.

Last weekend, the Disney film “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” took in nearly $136 million to break the all-time box office record.