TServo2049

Why is it that whenever this is mentioned in articles, it's still referred to as being untitled? Hell, Disney released their official 2015 schedule and it still doesn't give the title. Where does "St. James Place" come from, if the title hasn't actually been officially announced yet?

I'm with you on Iron Man 2. I don't think it's a travesty, it's certainly weaker than other ones but it's a movie where if I were to catch it on TV while surfing channels, I'd stop and watch it.

BH6 opened with 3.7m 3-day, Penguins opened with 3.6m 4-day. I think that could be part of the reason Penguins is seen as underwhelming.

Anybody think there's a possibility that KFP3 might get an early release in China to make the 2016 New Year holiday? Even with the three-month U.S. release delay, I don't think they're going to slow down production on the film. The fact that it's a local co-production, and (IIRC) not distributed by Fox, and that it and Star Wars would be much more evenly matched, makes me think it wouldn't be a bad idea for Oriental DreamWorks to release it for CNY in advance of the rest of the world.

I think the film was proceeding on schedule when it was still set for Christmas, so it could conceivably be finished in time to get an early release in China. (Especially since it's a co-production.) Also, Fox does not handle DreamWorks films in either of those countries, right?

I don't praise it. I just don't hate it. Especially after finally seeing the Emmerich trainwreck.

James Cameron doesn't do what James Cameron does for James Cameron. James Cameron does what James Cameron does because James Cameron is James Cameron.

This will probably tank in Japan but do gangbusters in China.

Another secret:

I don't think there's an actual movie in that July date. Recall that an untitled movie has dropped off the schedule not only every time a new film was announced, but every time one MOVED. The June 2017, December 2017 and December 2018 ones slots were filled by Dragon 3, Croods 2 and Puss in Boots 2 moving, and the "untitled" films originally slotted for those dates did not move somewhere else.

Was anybody surprised? The December 2016 date was never officially announced by Fox or Cameron, I think it already became increasingly clear they wouldn't be ready.

DreamWorks. Disney would just distribute. But Paramount may be co-producing.

5 out of the last 6? Penguins = probable write-down Dragon 2 = made money Peabody = write-down Turbo = write-down Croods = made money Guardians = write-down I count 4, not 5.

Katzenberg IS DWA, he can't give himself the boot. He either has to voluntarily resign, sell the company on acceptable terms that don't involve him staying in power and then resign, or the shareholders have to revolt and throw him out like the Disney shareholders did to Michael Eisner. If someone in the future wants to buy DWA but has a condition that Katzenberg has to go, couldn't the shareholders theoretically approve such a takeover over Katzenberg's objections if they have enough votes?

Bonnie Arnold getting placed in a higher position of power at DWA is still good. If they want to turn things around, they need more films of quality like Dragon. Yes, that underperformed domestically, but they still need an identity that doesn't involve juvenile potty humor and wall-to-wall snark, and putting the producer of HTTYD1+2 and the original Toy Story in a position like this would be a good first step in moving toward a more sincere and earnest identity. The producer of Madagascar being co-president, that's not as heartening. I think DWA needs to get away from the kind of comedy films they've done in the past if they want to see successes again. They can't keep trying to catch that Shrek/Madagascar brass ring, those days are over and that's not what audiences want anymore. I think Bonnie Arnold as sole president, and Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois and Jennifer Yuh-Nelson as the creative brain trust, could turn DreamWorks around the way Catmull/Lasseter turned WDAS around. Also give Brenda Chapman her directorial job, she's at DWA and she has a project she wants to make, but it has never been greenlit.

You also have to factor in the Extended Edition Blu-rays, though I'm thinking they haven't sold more copies than the theatrical box set.

That's an argument for a different thread, in the Video Games board. I only brought up video games to say that locking digital downloads and/or digital copies to a specific TV/computer/screen could cause outcry similar to the Xbox One kerfuffle, in that people to whom the appeal of digital is "watch anywhere" could get pissed off that they're not being allowed to watch anywhere. I didn't mean to derail the HV discussion.

And I like physical media, make no mistake. And I like the added-value content that comes with it (if it's substantial, meaningful stuff). Heck, I bought my first new movie on iTunes, How to Train Your Dragon 2, only because it was: 1.) available before the Blu-Ray 2.) cheaper than the Blu-Ray was going to be at launch 3.) had all of the extra features I was interested in the Blu-Ray for Point #3 sealed the deal for me, but I bet a lot of people who are switching to digital are doing it because of point #2.

Again, that's probably the real reason the Xbox One plan was walked back, and why no system will ever be digital download only as long as GameStop is such a big part of the game market. With movies, it would be akin to if Blockbuster were still a big going concern, and they were to hypothetically boycott a movie over it releasing on VOD before becoming available to rent. (In the period when Blockbuster, Netflix, Redbox, and VOD all co-existed, Blockbuster was often able to negotiate with studios to freeze out all non-brick/mortar rental platforms for up to a month. I remember the "28 days before Netflix or Redbox" message on the big window banner when some movies came to Blockbuster. The one I specifically remember was one of the Twilight films...maybe Eclipse? That would have been the last one before Blockbuster cratered...) Notice that films release to Redbox much quicker now that the Blockbuster chain no longer exists. (And did films ever release to digital before physical when Blockbuster was still in business? Or was it only digital/online/kiosk rentals that were regulated by the studio deals with BB?) If home video sales were still huge, and brick and mortar retailers still held power, we would probably not be seeing films get early digital releases.

I dunno. I think customers could still revolt over something like that. Remember the Xbox One debacle, where the system was going to require you to be connected to the Internet to play your games, and games would be locked out from other consoles because the server would recognize which unit the game was being played on (thus making used sales impossible, because the game would only be playable on the original buyer's console)? Yeah, that went over so well that Microsoft quickly walked it back (though in that case, I still wonder if it was more due to fears of GameStop boycotting the system, than to fears of actual gamers doing so...)

It's almost like they're trying to dump it and don't care how it does.

I thought Alice was also originally intended to be 2D, at least when they did the principal photography? I always heard it wasn't meant to be 3D but was converted because of Avatar. Were people just conflating it with Clash of the Titans?

Funny story: An unsold DVD of Shrek 2 has been sitting in my local Rite-Aid for almost a decade. Nobody has ever bought it. They also had some VHS tapes sitting on the top shelf, faded from constant exposure to the fluorescent lights, until the early 10s. They eventually disappeared at some point.

And even with those stellar Shrek 2 sales, DreamWorks' stock dropped because they had forecast even bigger numbers they didn't reach: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111749009146946457 And I didn't know (or had forgotten) that The Lion King 1 1/2 sold that well. My god.

Adding those Batman Begins figures to The Numbers $30m/2.2m units figure for 2006, by the end of '06 it had sold $155m/9m units. I assume that was considered big even with the gargantuan sales figures for other stuff. (Shark Tale outsold Batman Begins? Fuckin' Shark Tale? Yes kids, there was a time when DreamWorks could put out utter crap and people would still buy it because of the novelty of CGI, and the fact that "attitude" still sold...)