Kung Fu Panda 3 | 1/29/2016 | New Trailer on Page 26!

[Fancyarcher]

Dreamworks is in panic mode right now. Yikes!

[Jandrew]

Even worse date. May 13 or May 20, 2016 could have worked. Seeing KFP in Spring will be awkward. And to be honest, I dont see what was so wrong with Xmas. Yes, SW will be huge...I mean huge, but damn, not every kid and everyone in America will be seeing it. The Xmas break is so long, you have to time to see more than 1 movie over the break.

Avatar was a juggernaut, but Sherlock Holmes and Alvin 2 did just fine. I dont see how SW7, KFP3, and MI5 cant coexist. Its like the exact same scenario. But hey oh well, good luck DWA. You need it.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Jandrew In The Mist

[Melvin Frohike]

Dreamworks needs a big hug.

But Katzenberg needs a kick in the pants.

 

 

Poor Katzenberg, he is  in panic  mode right now, his animation empire is crumbling, nobody wants to buy it ...

SoftBank did, but JK turned down their offer of $32/share (and probably asked for too many conditions on top of that). For comparison, DWA's stock closed at $21.71 today, and its original IPO price was $28. I get that he believes that he's built DWA up so much since the IPO that it's worth more than a 14% capital gain for all of those years combined, but realistically he's not going to get a better offer, and DWA's future prospects--if they stay the course--look grim.

A sale takes both a willing buyer and a willing seller, and the seller in this case has been driving a way harder bargain than he has any reasonable right to, in my opinion.

 

 

What would happen if Disney bought DWA?

They'd probably put John Lasseter in charge of the animation studios, cancel all of the crap projects, try to get better ones started depending on the overall schedule they want, and lay off everybody they don't need right away (possibly closing down PDI and moving its key personnel to the Glendale studio if they're willing to move--if more space is needed, then the DisneyToon building at Disney's Grand Central Creative Campus, which is close to DWA's Glendale studio, will probably soon be vacated anyway).

 

I imagine that would be all of Jeffrey Katzenberg's worst nightmares come true.

True, for personal reasons, but sometimes worst nightmare = last-resort savior. Not that this is likely at all to ever happen. What I'm curious about is whether Disney's stock price would take a hit like those of other companies that have considered buying DWA (Hasbro in particular). Who knows, maybe it would go up because investors believe that Disney could actually do something with DWA's potential.

 

 

I do imagine the IPs of Shrek, Dragon, and Madagascar would be pretty appealing to them if they could snap it up at a low price.

Disney wouldn't pay much, but I'm sure that they wouldn't mind having these, as well as Kung Fu Panda and other assets that DWA has acquired themselves in order to diversify. Again, this is purely hypothetical given the extremely low probability that this would ever happen.

[Jonwo]

Disney don't need DreamWorks Animation when they already have their own legendary animation studio in WDAS and Pixar and TBH neither do the other studios apart from perhaps Paramount and Lionsgate as they all have their own relatively successful studios. 

 

Katzenberg brought this mess onto himself with increasing their film slate to three films a year and failing to diversify much earlier. If any company wants DWA to be successful, they need to replace him

[tupek]

Disney don't need DreamWorks Animation when they already have their own legendary animation studio in WDAS and Pixar and TBH neither do the other studios apart from perhaps Paramount and Lionsgate as they all have their own relatively successful studios. 

 

Katzenberg brought this mess onto himself with increasing their film slate to three films a year and failing to diversify much earlier. If any company wants DWA to be successful, they need to replace him

 

Well I think the main reason of its debacle is the bunch of mediocre films they released after Shrek...... 1.

Edited December 12, 2014 by tupek

[BK007]

That's a terrible move.

 

Dreamworks idea of 3 movies a year has never fully took flight. In 2010 it was only because HTTYD was delayed from 2009, which only had MVA, and now this year, their first year with 3 movies, Home and Penguins switch dates, to no effect, and then both BOO and KFP3 get delayed out of 2015.

 

They should really concentrate on making two movies really well and consider canning a number of stupid projects like Boss Baby and Captain Underpants. 

 

Anyway, I don't see how this move helps Panda at all.

 

Going against Star Wars and Mission Impossible 5 over Christmas is a difficult release, but there is the ability to make $200m, something KFP2 couldn't even reach anyway, so really, if their realistic target is $150m, it should be easily attainable. This is the same period that allowed Avatar, Sherlock and Alvin to make $500m+ combined. Star Wars and Mission Impossible are both franchises and have their own already pre-existing lows and ceilings unlike Avatar/Sherlock. Either than those two, there is nothing else! It's a great date even factoring in competition.

 

They want to go to a period in which the most successful animated movie hasn't made $200m and fight against direct competition from a resurgent studio. Sounds like a great idea. Not to mention a small get-together, Marvel-lite DC Avengers coming out the week after. Surely, it will be no problem. And while we're at it, we are actually opening against a likely $175m fangirl franchise movie. Easy. Just so we can test ourselves, a week earlier a heavy fanboy/gamer movie opens, a week after a nostalgic franchise from the 80s gets rebooted, and in our 4th weekend we have another kid-skewing brand movie. 

 

Yeah, Boss Baby was supposed to open there, but that was with two things in mind 1) KFP3 takes Dec 15 2) Turbo mark 3. No one expected anything anyway.

 

I just don't see how non-holiday weekdays and competition for every demographic is considered a better release date that the inflatable Christmas period appealing to only certain demographics.

 

Dreamworks are going under.

[Chinoiserie]

Was it confirmed that B.O.O was not goming out in 2015 or could they move it to August or October perhaps?

Kun Fu Panda 3 move made sense to awoid the crowded Christmas season but the new date is not much better. Could they really not find a better date?

[babz06]

Yeah the new date is definitely worse. Atleast during Christmas, the marketplace is larger because everyone is going to the movies. Kung Fu would have had some space from Good Dinosaur, now it has no space from Zootopia. Not to mention BvS opening the next weekend. April 15 is a better date if they are really scared of the competition but dont want to completely bomb; I hope DWA isnt counting on a 200m grosser with this one because thats not going to happen.

Edited December 12, 2014 by babz06

[Jonwo]

It does seem Fox does favour Blue Sky which its own over DWA given that it has much better release dates for their films. Peanuts got November over KFP3 for example.

[Sir Tiki]

It does seem Fox does favour Blue Sky which its own over DWA given that it has much better release dates for their films. Peanuts got November over KFP3 for example.

 

Blue Sky's movies cost less and as of late have been making more than DreamWorks' movies, so I'm not too surprised.

[Ethan Hunt]

I've come to the realization that I will no longer be using this a s an excuse to not see SW7 but as an excuse not to see BvS.

[The Futurist]

So the Pandas will be destroyed by Lex Luthor instead of some random stormtrooper.

Genius move.

[grim22]

This year's Christmas weekend shows why moving out of December was a bad idea. Movies can easily coexist during the long holiday weekends. In March, movies get cannibalized by the next weekends openers since audiences don't have the free time to watch more than one movie in a weekend.

[CJohn]

I am pretty sure that after their contract ends FOX won't renew with DWA. Blue Sky is enough. They produce a lot of movies that make money. They will probably return to Paramount. I would like them to go to Lionsgate personally. 

[TServo2049]

I honestly wonder if Fox freaked out after the Penguins numbers came in, and put pressure on DW to allow them to move Panda. (Boss Baby could have hit some development snags as well - wouldn't be surprised.)

I think it says something that Fox has more faith in a fourth Chipmunks movie being successful counterprogramming to Star Wars, even though the third one made $50m less than Kung Fu Panda 2 did.

Edited January 2, 2015 by TServo2049

[CJohn]

I honestly wonder if Fox freaked out after the Penguins numbers came in, and put pressure on DW to allow them to move Panda. (Boss Baby could have hit some development snags as well - wouldn't be surprised.)

I think it says something that Fox has more faith in a fourth Chipmunks movie being successful counterprogramming to Star Wars, even though the third one made $50m less than Kung Fu Panda 2 did.

Panda moved way before any Penguins numbers came out?

 

EDIT: My mistake, it was after. Way after actually  

Edited January 2, 2015 by CJohn

[TServo2049]

Also, I don't know if Paramount would want DreamWorks back. Remember, they had a falling out over Katzenberg demanding a bigger cut for DWA. They've set up their own animation studio to replace them - maybe if that venture isn't successful for them? (Or if Katzenberg is no longer in charge when the Fox contract runs out?)

[CJohn]

Also, I don't know if Paramount would want DreamWorks back. Remember, they had a falling out over Katzenberg demanding a bigger cut for DWA. They've set up their own animation studio to replace them - maybe if that venture isn't successful for them? (Or if Katzenberg is no longer in charge when the Fox contract runs out?)

Monster Trucks and the Spongebob sequel will bomb hard enough to convince them that they need DWA

[mahnamahna]

Monster Trucks and the Spongebob sequel will bomb hard enough to convince them that they need DWA

SpongeBob 2 looks really solid, and has zero competition until March 13. 

 

It'll do fine. $120-160 million DOM. 

[Ethan Hunt]

SpongeBob 2 looks really solid, and has zero competition until March 13.

It'll do fine. $120-160 million DOM.

I have it doing similarly to the first one.