DreamWorks Animation's Home

Seriously, I actually enjoyed Puss In Boots (I thought it was a really good side story film) - and I don't think another of that is needed, period, since the iron isn't hot for it, nor was anyone else really asking for it. OR any of these other sequels.

Pixar has an opportunity here to start winning big if they get their fucking acts together, that's for sure.

...for the sake of my sanity I think I'll just pretend this film doesn't exist from now on.

Making a sequel to Puss in Boots does strike me as kind of an odd decision. I mean, the first movie was okay (and looking it up, made way more money than I expected), but still.. it's not all that popular, is it? I mean, in the sense of people remembering it and going back to it? And they've scheduled it for 2018, seven years after the first one, and eight years after the presumed end of the Shrek film series!

Yeah... Sounds like a stupider decision for the regime with EVERY. PASSING. SECOND.

THAT... Is a wise policy, indeed. I'd like to inherit it alongside you for the sake of my future respect toward Western Animation in general.

It does seem like they're slipping back into their old ways. And they were doing so well for a while...

As for the future of animation, I think WDAS is going to end up back on top for the next few years. Blue Sky, Illumination, Sony and Pixar haven't made anything noteworthy in a while and don't look like they're going to. Laika has yet to make a bad film, but they aren't currently equipped to do a major release every year. Reel FX is too early to call.

The worst part? Dreamworks keep making sequels caused by the loss of revenue from their past films under-performing, because they can't afford to take risks. .... so they greenlight more sequels. Which results in more bad movies. ...which results in more loss of revenue. ...which results if taking LESS risks. They drove themselves into a pit they keep digging deeper into!

Katzenberg's right. They're not as relevant in the CGI animated film industry as they were, and that's why they're invading other areas of media like TV, the web, Netflix, and mobile.

edited 12th Jun '14 5:04:03 PM by Shota

If that's true... They need to give up already - they're becoming an example of why Western Animation is becoming more and more hated worldwide, while Japan becomes increasingly praised in its place. I'd like to see some competition from all sides, dammit - and Dreamworks' piss poor management ain't helping.

The question is, will this increased focus on sequels really be a stable business model?

Increased? That's been Dreamworks' MO since almost day one.

Hell NO.

Why is Dreamworks more vulnerable to losing money than Disney?? Because unlike Disney, Dreamworks is an independent company with no major backing for them to fall on if they produce a financial flop. Instead of a pile of billions of dollars they can keep in a gigantic vault, they have angry investors who can threaten to have them closed. Why else do you think they keep switching distributors!? Their last 3 films have all lost them money. They're in BIG TROUBLE.

If bad idea sequels is the best they can do on such short notice - then good riddance, I'm afraid.....

They're done.

They sure are. Eventually enough...

I think it's a little early to say with certainty that they're "done." I think Madagascar 4 is a bad idea, but I'm open to the other sequels. You're also completely ignoring the original projects they have planned.

I hate to ask, but can I see what some of them are? After all, I don't want Disney/Pixar to be the only ones around - but Dreamworks needs to do better and NOT rely on sequels so damn much.

For starters, they're going forward with B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations, which I think sounds like fun. They've also set a date for Mumbai Musical, and I'm partially to anything Bollywood-inspired. Then there's "Larrikins."

I'm not saying all of these will be good, but my point is that it's not like they're gonna do sequels only from this point on.

Honestly..... would it really be worse if Disney was the only one around??? With no competition, all the money would go to them and there would be more of it, which means they can finally start putting out more stuff in greater quantities and with better quality. They can set the trends again instead of following any other studio.

... Dreamworks seems to be pushing for more musicals in the future.

edited 16th Jun '14 2:53:57 PM by kyun

It'd be nice if they were in a position, monetarily, to take risks, because if they want to play it safe maybe they shouldn't be adapting a high-concept sci-fi colonialism parallel that contains lines like, I dunno:

...I can't copy and paste from a Kindle and I don't feel like retyping vast swaths of the book, but there's also bits where, for example, the folks helping Tip track down her mom simply assumed her mom was black because she never specified otherwise, white folks claiming Native American preservation in the wake of their own forced relocation, really transparent stuff about the Boov neglecting their environment, neglect of war veterans, commentary on the dearth of heroines in children's literature...I think I've made this point about a dozen times by now, but if you want a play-it-safe, by-the-numbers family movie to recoup financial losses, this absolutely 100% the wrong property to use, like holy shit.

Unless of course Dreamworks is comfortable alienating what's largely considered the Hollywood audience where sci-fi is concerned in the name of attracting women and minorities. But I doubt that. So they're probably gonna bungle it. And knowing that they're in dire straights financially just makes this whole thing even dumber because why would you license this to begin with uuuuugh

edited 16th Jun '14 3:01:47 PM by Wackd

I think it's good to have variety.

Yes

Because with no competition they WON'T have any reason to make quality. Not to mention a the consumer base is going to be held by the balls whenever a monopoly usually.

edited 18th Jun '14 3:46:05 PM by NoName999

My opinion of Kyun has reached a new low.

Let's try to keep personal remarks out of this. The thread's been ugly enough lately.

edited 18th Jun '14 6:33:39 PM by Mort08

I can do that - and I can admire your optimism toward Dreamworks as of late... I just can't help but feel they're doing things wrong, unfortunately, when it comes to entertaining the masses properly, hence my feelings of this being another step down for them.

And I DON'T want Disney to be the only ones around, either - I am NO FAN of their library of movies to begin with, overall (AT ALL), and I'm EVEN LESS of a fan of monopolies, or worse, these guys becoming one, what with them buying out property after property that they're not really making the best use(s) of, IMHO...

I'm not very hard to please, really. I'll be happy as long as they don't fuck up and make a fourth HTTYD. If the new sequel wave works, though, they probably will. Where do they get these crazy investors, anyway?

And yeah, we definitely need people fighting the mouse and making some different stuff. Several of my favorite animated movies, not to mention the one I'm most excited to see this fall, deal with concepts that Disney wouldn't be willing to tackle.

edited 18th Jun '14 7:40:37 PM by Mort08