DreamWorks Animation SKG

[Milo]

Prepare to try containing your sides. From the horses' mouths that are Dreamworks executives, they explain to Stifel Nicolaus analyst Benjamin Mogil their reasons that the studio's recent films have been underperforming at the box office:

 

 

 

…the company’s slate changes are more realistic/in-tune with the evolution in changes in the box office market as the 2012-2014 film challenges were tied to films which skewed older right as the box office began to see changes whereby animation demand was increasingly skewing younger as kids began to age out of the genre earlier. While we view the ability to reduce P&A as more difficult given the need to advertise to two distinct groups (kids and moms), the combination of both cost reductions in production and a younger skewing slate, do position the slate better in our view.

 

Or as Cartoon Brew summarized it, kids stopped watching animated films as much as they used to at a point between 2012 and 2014, and now only very small children watch animated films. And because their films didn't appeal as much to this demographic, their output started to flop. And in order to reverse the studio's ailing fortunes, they will start making their films appeal to said younger audiences.

 

Fascinating that they claim their films during this period weren't appealing to kids. From the top of my head, I remember these films featuring historical childhood icons, superfast snails racing alongside cars, and flightless birds with espionage skills. I also find it funny that that they pointed to the period between 2012 and 2014 that kids weren't watching animated films as much as they used to. I remember a certain Disney film coming out during that period and grossing over one billion dollars at the box office, to the point of becoming the highest grossing animated film ever....I think its title had something to do with ice or snow or something, I'm not sure. Universal also released a sequel to an earlier animated film in that timeframe that grossed almost as much money and was the highest grossing film ever for the studio that produced it, it had something to do with people being despicable or something.

 

Judging this stunning revelation, I think it's safe to say that one should expect more of DWA's future films to be entrenched in the darkest depths of the animation age ghetto (in layman's terms, more Shark Tales and Shrek the Thirds), rather than films that can appeal to adults as well as children (Kung Fu Pandas and How To Train Your Dragons).

[Gabz Girl]

That is the stupidest excuse I've ever heard. No Dreamworks, the reason why those movies underperformed at the box office is because they're simply not that good.

 

First you have a movie about a snail who wants to be an Indy race car which sounds stupid as hell on paper, then there's a movie about two old Jay Ward characters that barely anyone remembers today (especially in Europe!) and finally a movie about Penguins who have already appeared in so many shorts plus their own TV series that most people are tired of seeing them. The reason why How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2 did so well in comparison to these is because they don't have lame pop culture humour, predictable plots and annoying dance party endings. Dreamworks, your audience is sick and tired of seeing those kind of movies, and even if Home was a moderate success it still didn't gross the amount that HTTYD and KFP did and there's a very good reason why!

 

To think that tripe like Trolls and Boss Baby are in the future line up of Dreamworks Animation, while unique and special films like Me and My Shadow have been canned really disappoints me and actually makes me dislike the company even more. I like a lot of their stuff, but if they keep releasing the kind of stuff that makes them so infamous then I don't think I'll ever watch a film of theirs in the cinema.

[DarkLight]

I can't help but feel they're deliberately ignoring the successes of other animated films from their competition just so they could act less self-defeated and make their excuse seem more valid.

 

Hint: It's not working.

 

If that's seriously going to be their attitude to how their films will be from now on, then KFP3 had better be good so they get a goddamn clue as to what made it work worked whereas Turbo and Penguins didn't.

[Failinhearts]

 

To think that tripe like Trolls and Boss Baby are in the future line up of Dreamworks Animation, while unique and special films like Me and My Shadow have been canned really disappoints me and actually makes me dislike the company even more. I like a lot of their stuff, but if they keep releasing the kind of stuff that makes them so infamous then I don't think I'll ever watch a film of theirs in the cinema.

 

Isn't Captain Underpants having a movie in 2017 from Dreamworks?

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2091256/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Underpants#Film

 

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/dreamworks-will-outsource-captain-underpantsbut-not-where-you-think-108174.html

 

Apparently, they are. It looks like Dreamworks Animation SKG isn't animating though.

[tvn88pl]

Shrek was really enjoyable.I heard rumours Shrek Forever is just preparations from Minion to Shrek 5.Anyways it's canceled like Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4(we had Black Cat-Felicia Hardy as Anne Hathaway and Vulture).

[Failinhearts]

Shrek was really enjoyable.I heard rumours Shrek Forever is just preparations from Minion to Shrek 5.Anyways it's canceled like Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4(we had Black Cat-Felicia Hardy as Anne Hathaway and Vulture).

 

Minion? Are you talking about the movie Minions?

 

Minions is not a Dreamworks movie, it's Illumination Entertainment.

[Nepenthe]

Kung Fu Panda 3 Chinese teaser trailer is here!

https://youtu.be/5KWRcBefo2A

[DarkLight]

Shit, the Jade Palace gets wrecked in this one..... 0_0

 

Kai looks awesome. Yeah, that's the name of the new villain. Read it in an article from the USA Today newspaper the other day. Didn't say who'd be voicing him though.

 

And that girl panda with the ribbons is named Ming-Ming (or Mei-Mei, don't remember now). They causally remarked whether or not she'd be a love interest for Po. Hopefully not.

 

Animation definitely looks up to snuff if not better than KFP2's.

 

Anyone want to bet that we won't get this kind of advertisement in the West?

[Gabz Girl]

Stunning, absolutely stunning. The colours in this scene reminds me of a Chinese painting come to life. <3

 

 

 

Kai looks awesome. Yeah, that's the name of the new villain. Read it in an article from the USA Today newspaper the other day. Didn't say who'd be voicing him though.

 

And that girl panda with the ribbons is named Ming-Ming (or Mei-Mei, don't remember now). They causally remarked whether or not she'd be a love interest for Po. Hopefully not

 

Kai is voiced by J.K. Simmons. It was going to be Mads Mikkelsen but they changed it recently.

 

Yes, Mei Mei is the female Panda voiced by Rebel Wilson and no, I really hope she isn't Po's love interest. XP

[DarkLight]

Ah, okay. Thanks for the info!

[Milo]

 

So damn beautiful, and even then the screenshot really doesn't do it justice. The animators and artists at DWA / ODW are unbelievably on their game with this film.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Evan just called attention to a detail I hadn't noticed- they're actually all lipsynch'd to Chinese! I guess this movie'll officially have the original be Mandarin and English is just a dub, then? Even if they change the lips the timing of the scenes will still be put to Chinese

[Mogtaki]

Dangit, the clip is gone already D:

Any mirrors out there yet?

[Rucdose]

Full trailer for KFP3 is out.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10r9ozshGVE

[nintega137]

Everyone's reaction to that was pretty much priceless. 

[DarkLight]

Yeah, it figures they went with a more comedic approach than what we saw from the Chinese trailer. But I admittedly laughed at the "they don't recognize each other when everybody else put two and two together" bit.

 

Looks great.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Liking the looks of that trailer, even if the don't recongize each other joke goes on a little too long.

 

Oh by the way, Viper's the best Furious Five member, kthxbye.

[Failinhearts]

Definitely more comedic than the Chinese trailer that we got and it didn't look as jaw-dropping but still a fun trailer nevertheless.

I guess comedy doesn't sell in China or something.

[Gabz Girl]

It's certainly more comedy-centered than the epic Chinese trailer, but it was still fun! I laughed at the scene where Po and Li Shan, so at least we know the comedy is going to be great.

[Dejimon11]

Hey guys did you know that Chris Farley was originally going to voice Shrek before they got Mike Meyers? The story reel got leaked today and we finally know how he would of sounded like if he had voiced the Ogre 

 

[...]

First full-length trailer for KFP3 is finally out! Looking really good, can't wait for this January.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Felix

[nintega137]

First full-length trailer for KFP3 is finally out! Looking really good, can't wait for this January.

It doesn't look to impressive........................ so it'll probably be a great movie. 

So curious question. What happened to Legends of Awesomeness? It's been over a year and apparently they still have more episodes to air. Was it cancelled or what?

[ElectricAngel]

Not sure about Legends of Awesomeness, but speaking of cancelled, what happened to that 2D/CGI hybrid film Dreamworks was working on? I can't recall the name but it was something along the lines of "Me and My Shadow". I remember hearing about it once a few years back and then.. nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if it was cancelled though, as hand drawn animation is expensive (according to studios, but I still think CGI is more expensive) and Dreamworks hasn't been gaining much profit from its latest films. Kung Fu Panda 3 looks really solid though, so I hope that can help Dreamworks earn back some of that lost profit. 

[nintega137]

what happened to that 2D/CGI hybrid film Dreamworks was working on? I can't recall the name but it was something along the lines of "Me and My Shadow". I remember hearing about it once a few years back and then.. nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if it was cancelled though, as hand drawn animation is expensive (according to studios, but I still think CGI is more expensive) and Dreamworks hasn't been gaining much profit from its latest films. 

Taken from the wiki

"In an interview in late 2013, Jeffrey Katzenberg stated that the film was not cancelled but put back on it's development tracks and would start up production when they get a new re-write. Josh Gad, the one who plays Stanley Grubb, recorded his first line of dialogue on February 16, 2012 and posted it on his Instagram. He also posted a picture of a page of the script and one of the lines of direction were, "Stanley in Stan's control, waves at Heidi as she advantages closer to him". The film should start production in August or September. In a comic con, it was said that half of the movie is in 2D." 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

First full-length trailer for KFP3 is finally out! Looking really good, can't wait for this January.

I will fully admit that Kung Fu Panda 2 is up there as one of my favourite animated movies ever, so this has some pretty big shoes to fill. Don't know how to feel so far. Animation looks spectacular, but the humor isn't quite doing it for me just yet.