DREAMWORKS ANIMATION TO SERIALIZE ITS HIT FRANCHISES

DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg has indicated that each of his studio’s hit films will produce a series of serialized sequels. In an interview with Britain’s Empire magazine, Katzenberg said the studio’s franchises all “have a beginning, a middle and an end; they’re not open-ended. Each of the films is a chapter of a story and in every instance we knew what that journey was or could be before we even started.” There will, he said, be two more “chapters” of Madagascar. “Kung Fu Panda actually has six chapters to it, and we’ve mapped that out over the years,” he remarked. “How to Train Your Dragon is at least three, maybe more.” However, when asked whether it was definite that the Shrek franchise was over for good, as marketing for Shrek the Fourth had claimed. Katzenberg answered indirectly. “We feel that Shrek is on a journey, and it’s a journey that I think many of us share a lot in common with it, which is why people have connected so much to it over the years. But it seemed to us as though it was not an unlimited journey.” The guarded response would seem to indicate that Katzenberg is looking for wiggle room to allow his studio’s most bankable character to resume his “journey” should circumstance demand.