THB. React.
LATE ADDITION: An excellent piece on DW by Kate Kelly and Merissa Marr at the WSJ brought up a key element that has escaped me… a major piece of the value of DreamWorks live action is that they have distribution rights to all the DreamWorks Animation films. That alone could add $50 million to $100 million a year in net revenue to DreamWorks SKG. Interesting….
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Trailer: The Wolf of Wall Street
Weekend Estimates by Man of Klady
DP/30: My Day In Video from Michael Cera to Costa-Gravas
Review: Man of Steel (spoilers)
“I don’t really think, Sean, that you need to know about my various sexual liaisons. Or that anyone else needs to. I did write about them. I filled a hundred pages of Moleskine notebooks with my one-night stands, my affairs. But I decided they didn’t belong in a professional memoir. First of all, these are real people we’re talking about. Many of them were enjoyable. Some were abject failures. My wife said to me when she read the pages, ‘Of what purpose is this in a memoir? Of what purpose is this other than to titillate?’ The point is, I never see them. It’s because I have nothing in common with them, frankly. And probably didn’t at the time. I could not provide a sensible reason why I married these women. The thing is, in the case of my marriages, it takes two people to fuck up a marriage. It wasn’t simply the fault of these women that I lost interest in them and realised they were insignificant relationships. Which is how I look at them right now–as being insignificant. I see them as blips.”
~ William Friedkin On Cutting Interviewers Off At The Sass
“I have to imagine from Mr. Spielberg’s point of view, the paradigm shift in the 1970s was just the new “normal,” a “halcyon era” from which we are straying in the 21st century–because theatrical exhibition is tenuous (as it has been since the 1940s), the home video market has dried up and people are watching pirated movies on their phone. Spielberg’s coming-of-age era was for him the halcyon period that the 21st century “implosion” will cause to go “crashing into the ground.” But he is wrong. The market for movies is actually diverse and highly segmented–although from the top-down movie industry vantage point and media punditry you would not think this to be true. Would we really mourn for Mr. Spielberg or ourselves if Lincoln would have been made for cable or had played on public television? Is it bad for humanity that cable television is creating wonderful, resonant stories in long-form series that people want to watch at home on TV (or streamed onto their computer)? I don’t think so, but it is a paradigm shift and it might affect people’s theatrical moviegoing habits. Televisions in people’s homes have had that effect for seven decades–it is not a new phenomenon. As Art House cinema impresarios we need to focus on what WE can do at our theaters and in our communities. It is not productive for us to fret over what pundits say or about what well-meaning filmmakers like the Stevens–Spielberg and Soderbergh–say. We should fret about what we can do in our communities. What we can do to support filmmakers.”
~ From A Response By Russ Collins, CEO, Michigan Theater – Ann Arbor And Director, Art House Convergence, To Mr. Spielberg
Is the above logo JAWS IV?
Looks like Dreamworks is going out in a blaze of glory.
They need a serious cash infusion. STAT.
David,
your picture isn’t finished. You need a caption that has the shark saying: “WHo’s your Daddy?” to DreamWorks
Dreamworks must have said or done something that really peaved off Paul Allen. He has the deep pockets and patience to back risky ventures. I vagely recall that Allen was suppose to be able to cash out (5 years?) in the original deal. The fact that he wants out must make DW nervous.
that would be JAWS V old man.
Jeezz, you mean I missed Jaws IV? sigh
They really needed a studio lot. They are just a big production company and no production company can afford 50mill bombs.
Paul Allen should pull his money out of the Portland Trailblazers first (although he’s the one who drove that NBA team into the ground…)
forget THE ISLAND – i think infuriating your shareholders by returning 30,000,000+ dvd units over the space of a couple of months is a lot worse than a Bay bellyflop.
I’m clueless. Why would a studio lot have made much of a difference?
JBD, is that 30 million number of returns right? I know the DVD has sold about 35 million units so far, well below projected estimates, but an extra 30 million copies seems amazingly high. I’m not doubting you, I’m just asking for a confirmation.
Studio lots are huge sources of income. They rent studio space, office space, sets, costumes, props, scoring stages, etc. out to productions. Dreamworks has been living off of Universal its entire life.
What DVD are you talking about?
How are the Trail Blazers in the ground? They got the best collection of young talent in the league right now. The Jail Blazer stuff is done.
The DVD in question is “Shrek 2.”
This looks like it’s becoming inevitable. Sadly, more excellent marketing and distrobution people will loose their jobs. In a market already flooded with MGM and soon to be Miramax people looking for work. Didn’t Sumner Redstone say the big Media model wasn’t working any more? I would be happier with EA or an outside company buying DW than Uni.
I believe something like 80% of Miramax’s staff is simply moving to the Weinstein’s new company.
so dreamworks owes its existence and future existence to shrek?
They have really been a waste of talent and money and time since they started. They’re television division has been downright awful. It’s a miracle they didn’t need this money 3 years ago.
I don’t really care of the internal politics of the this situation and others like it but if we lose Dreamworks then thats a lot of movies that won’t get financed or made.
I hope they don’t go under or start cutting back on their already minimal production schedules. A lot of cast and crews will be out of work.
The main problem with Dreamworks imo is that there was no point to it. Any of their movies could have been made anywhere else, it’s not like Miramax where they pretty much created a category. Even New Line for a long while was adept at providing films that the majors wouldn’t touch. Dreamworks felt like a carbon copy of a major studio from day one.
I always assumed they’d build a lot and make it like one of those classic studios from the Golden Age.
This is what happens when you get in business with Michael Bay.
After the eco-terrorists stopped them from building a studio on the old Hughes property they just sort of gave up on the idea and settle at Universal.
Is Bay being set up as “the man who killed DW”?
All the people before this who made Millions off of Bay aren’t complaining.
One movie doesn’t sink a studio. The Island isn’t Heaven’s Gate. Far from it.
Actually it’s pretty damn close.
Studios have a bomb this size on an annual basis these days. Heaven’s Gate was the equivalent of a movie like Titanic grossing $20 million.
The Island will make most of its money back overseas and on the DVD market. The only people taking shots now are the anti Bay crowd.
I don’t think it was the size of the budget of the Bay bomb that worried people. I looks like it was more of a case of none of them saw it coming. When you’re predicting 20+ million opening weekend, which granted is already low for what’s supposed to be a summer blockbuster and you get 12, I think that shakes the cofidence in the yet to be released. Especially after what happened with the Shrek 2 DVD sales. So while they may not have been dragged under by The Island, but they may fear it could happen so it’s just easier to shore everything up by dragging another studio down with them.
The Island will make it all back overseas. Foreign people love dumb action movies.
But the movie business is different that how it was when Heaven’s Gate was out. As Jeff said studios suffer movies like The Island every year now. Besides, I think xXx2 will go down as the biggest flop of this year, considering The Island has a much better looking outlook for DVD.
Besides, Dreamworks has been coasting along for a few years now. It seems that only their animated films and Meet The Fockers were successes. Infact those are the only Dreamworks movies I can think of of the last few years.
And somebody up there said that Dreamworks’ movies could’ve been made anywhere else. And that’s true. In fact, a lot of them were. Spielberg’s are basically Universal, right?
Seriously, I can’t really think of anything substantial that Dreamworks has done. They’ve been quiet on the awards circuit too, i believe.
“They’ve been quiet on the awards circuit too, i believe.”
Say what? How about three consecutive Best Picture Oscars: AMERICAN BEAUTY, GLADIATOR and A BEAUTIFUL MIND. (And they came within a whisker of four in a row with SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.)
kamikaze – being australian is not enough of an excuse for such clueless comments. Brotherhood served yo ass. ownd.