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Dreamworks to cut 1/4 of workforce; delay movies
Topic Started: Feb 8 2013, 12:37 AM (760 Views)
Tasermon's Partner


This doesn't bode well:

Dreamworks to cut 500 jobs; delay movies

Jeez, and here I thought they were doin' pretty well, 'specially with the returns on "Rise of the Guardians".

No specific word in the article on delays to the HTTYD movies (only to movies comin' out sooner), but if they cut 1/4 of their animation staff, then it would seem plausible...
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Night Fury
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Truly sad news, though this doesn't catch me by surprise. I've been following DWA's financial situation closely over the last couple of years. They've had a string of films that have underwhelmed at the Box Office, despite many of them getting decent to good reviews.

Though ROTG has done okay overseas, it flopped at the North American Box Office, not even recouping its production budget. Based on the combined worldwide earnings of just under 300 million, and factoring in advertising and the distributor's cut of the profits, I'd be surprised if it broke even.

I feel horrible for all the talented people who might be out of a job due to this cutback. It's hard to know where to start laying the blame -- the economy is an easy target, but consumers' tastes are also fickle, and the market has been highly saturated with CGI animated films over the last decade.

In any case, we can only wait and see what effect this has on HTTYD 2...

Edited by Night Fury, Feb 8 2013, 01:03 AM.
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sweet_tea8
Newborn
I caught the news yesterday and immediately thought about what impact there would be to httyd2. I don't think they would delay the sequel as they do need to return back to profitabilty and the best way to do that is release movies which have great earning potential.
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Night Fury
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sweet_tea8
Feb 8 2013, 02:26 PM
I don't think they would delay the sequel as they do need to return back to profitabilty and the best way to do that is release movies which have great earning potential.
I agree; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they fast-tracked HTTYD 2.

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Tasermon's Partner


Sadly, I get the feelin' that "The Croods" won't live up it's earning potential either, and only exacerbate the situation.

Let's hope I'm wrong on that front.
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Night Fury
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Croods doesn't exactly have Box Office gold written all over it, that's for sure.

They also have "Turbo" coming this summer, and who knows about that.

On second thought, I don't see any way they could release HTTYD 2 any sooner than planned. There's no way it'll be ready for this year, and they can't release it too close to Mr. Peabody and Sherman...

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Night Fury
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On a semi-related note, I must say that Yahoo articles always have the funniest comment section of any site on the web. I can't believe these people are serious, haha.

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Celestra
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Fledgling
Dang, that's rather upsetting. I thought they were doing much better financially :\ I'm sure part of it is the economy, since culture is often the first thing people make cuts on... and I'm sure that people waiting to torrent movies instead of seeing them in theaters doesn't help either. Admittedly I've done that, but I did pay to see RotG, Tangled, and Brave in theaters, so I have no qualms about paying to see animated films.
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Oneill5491
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Hmm, that really is a cause for concern. :worried:a

What has also been troubling me in regard to the sequel is the slated movie release schedule for the summer of 2014.

DenofGeek.com
 
May, in particular, has five major releases to speak of: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2nd May), Godzilla and Ninja Turtles (both 16th May), Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (23rd May) and Pixar's The Good Dinosaur (30th May). In June, we have Jurassic Park 4 scheduled for June 13th, How To Train Your Dragon 2 out the following week (20th June) and Transformers 4 the week after that (the 27th). In July, X-Men: Days Of Future Past and The Hobbit: There And Back Again are both scheduled for release on the same day - the 18th.
What's notable about May and June's releases - apart from the sheer number of reptiles and other animals they contain - is that they'll all be tapping into the same youthful audience, and will potentially feature quite similar incidents.
This sudden, probably coincidental glut of creatures and anarchy is somewhat worrying. With going to the movies such an expensive proposition these days (particularly when you factor in the 3D surcharge, which we know most of next summer's releases will include), many cinemagoers will be forced to choose which movies to avoid until they appear on DVD or Blu-ray.
I was really hoping everything would work out in favor of DreamWorks to better facilitate a box office killing for HTTYD 2. It's going to be tough. They're really going to have to hit it out of the park with such big, high-production titles colluding to steal ticket sales away from HTTYD 2, especially with a Pixar film and a Jurassic Park restart leading HTTYD 2 with similar reptile fanfare.

Source - DenofGeek.com
Edited by Oneill5491, Feb 10 2013, 04:45 AM.
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Night Fury
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Well, damn. That is quite the crowded schedule.

The only consolation is that it seems like Dreamworks can count on their sequels to make money against all odds. Just look at their releases over the last three years:

Shrek Forever After, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Madagascar 3 all did well at the Box Office. The Shrek spin-off Puss in Boots was also a mild success, even if overseas grosses are essentially what saved its skin (that also goes for KFP 2, for that matter).

Meanwhile, their two original films, Megamind and Rise of Guardians, both flopped.

Aside from HTTYD, their last original film to break out was Kung Fu Panda in 2008.

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