.png){kind=logo}
New Trailer and Clip from ‘Penguins of Madagascar’
What can one say about the new trailer for “Penguins of Madagascar” that hasn’t already been said about the previous twenty-plus DreamWorks Animation comedies?
#DreamWorks Animation
Barack Obama Finally Honors America’s Greatest Animation Artist
On Monday, Jeffrey Katzenberg became just the second animation figure to receive the National Medal of Arts.
Jeffrey Katzenberg Will Receive National Medal of Arts
President Obama will honor DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg with the 2013 National Medal of Arts.
‘Planes: Fire & Rescue’ Opens With $18 Million, But The Real Money Is Elsewhere
Like its predecessor, “Planes: Fire & Rescue” opened in third place at the U.S. box office. The new film, however, grossed only $18 million, or 19% less than the opening of the first “Planes.”
Pixar’s Ed Catmull Emerges As Central Figure In The Wage-Fixing Scandal
Pixar and Disney Animation president Ed Catmull has always had a reputation as a decent person, but newly revealed court documents show that he’s been working against the interests of Pixar’s employees for years, as well as trying to hurt other studios who didn’t play by his rules.
Disney and DreamWorks May Have Been Part of Illegal Pixar/Lucasfilm Wage-Fixing Cartel
Tech site Pando Daily has been providing amazing coverage of the Department of Justice antitrust invesigation and subsequent class action lawsuits over wage-fixing amongst Silicon Valley tech companies and animation studios.
DreamWorks Lays Off Dozens of Employees As ‘Dragons 2’ Continues to Underperform
We heard rumors of layoffs at DreamWorks last week, but they weren’t confirmed by a reputable source until yesterday evening when the animator’s union, The Animation Guild, posted an item about it on their blog.
This Four-Feet-Tall, Seventy-Pound Toothless Sculpture is Actually a Cake
To toast the release of “How to Train Your Dragon 2” at a private studio party, DreamWorks commissioned boutique cake maker Fernanda Abarca, who is also an artist at the company, to create this four-foot tall, seventy-pound statute of Toothless the Dragon.
DreamWorks Buys 95-Year-Old Felix the Cat To Make Him A ‘Fashion Brand’
DreamWorks Animation has bought the rights to the 95-year-old feline cartoon icon Felix the Cat. The studio acquired the character by paying an undisclosed sum to Don Oriolo, whose father Joe helped revive Felix in the 1950s and later assumed ownership of the character.
The Emmy Awards Make Room For Internet Animation
In a sign of changing times, animated programming produced for both Netflix and YouTube has begun to earn a significant number of Emmy Award nominations, competing alongside traditional broadcast and cable series.
‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ Launches with $50 Million
DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon 2” opened in second place this weekend with an estimated $50 million. The film trailed the $60 million debut of another sequel, the R-rated “22 Jump Street,” directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who also directed “The LEGO Movie,” which opened to $69 million earlier this year.
DreamWorks Releases ‘Home’ Trailer
DreamWorks Animation released a trailer today for “Home.” The Tim Johnson-directed film will be released on March 27, 2015.
The One Thing That Could Save DreamWorks Animation: China
At least one DreamWorks animated film has lost money for the past three years in a row: “Rise of the Guardians” in 2012 had an $87 million writedown; “Turbo” in 2013 resulted in a $13.5 million writedown; and this year’s “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” caused a $57 million writedown. This is rather obviously not a sustainable trend from a business standpoint, and investors are beginning to worry about the studio’s long-term prospects.
This Week in Animation History: Disney’s Day of the Dead Problem, Wayne Allwine and ‘Shrek 2’
A look at animation history via Cartoon Brew’s archives.
DreamWorks Pushes Back ‘Home’ to 2015
Six months before its scheduled release, DreamWorks Animation has pushed back the release date of “Home” from November 26, 2014, to March 27, 2015.
DreamWorks Animation 20th Anniversary Exhibit Debuts in Melbourne
“DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition” opened last month at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). Clearly inspired by “Pixar: 20 Years of Animation,” which was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York back in 2005, the DreamWorks show includes over 400 items, and covers the studio’s twenty-year history right up to the present—there are displays about “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” and “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” which will be released next month. It is the largest exhibition in the twelve-year history of the ACMI.
“Movies Are Not A Growth Business,” Admits Movie Studio Owner Jeffrey Katzenberg
In 2011, Jeffrey Katzenberg proclaimed that moviegoing audiences would embrace 3-D and would continue to attend theaters despite higher ticket prices. Three years later, it’s obvious that his prediction was a little off.
First Look at $2.4 Billion Oriental DreamWorks Complex in Shanghai
Last week DreamWorks revealed the first renderings of the Dream Center, a 40-acre, $2.4 billion development in Shanghai, China. Scheduled to open in 2017 (or early-2018), the site will house the Oriental DreamWorks production studio, which is currently working on “Kung Fu Panda 3,” as well as the world’s largest IMAX screen, eight outdoor plazas, hotels, restaurants, theaters, galleries, and tourist attractions.
11 New ‘How To Train Your Dragon 2’ Images
DreamWorks has released a stockpile of “How to Train Your Dragon 2” film stills and publicity shots on the film’s official website. There’s new renders of Hiccup, Astrid, and Stoick, along with the dragons, including a new one, Cloudjumper. The quality of lighting and atmosphere has progressed notably since the first film in 2010. The Dean DeBlois-directed sequel will arrive into U.S. theaters on June 13.
‘Mr. Peabody & Sherman’ Top Dog at Box Office
The DreamWorks feature “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” moved from second to first place in its sophomore weekend with a modest gross of $21.2 million (estimated)
11 of 16