DRAGON LIFTS DREAMWORKS’S EARNINGS

“In 2010, DreamWorks Animation became the first studio to release three feature-length CG animated films in a single year,” CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg observed during a conference call on Thursday. “How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek Forever After and Megamind together grossed approximately $1.6 billion worldwide — the company’s biggest year ever at the box office,” […]

DESPICABLE ME CHALLENGES INCEPTION

Universal’s Despicable Me has become another strong contender on the DVD/Blu-ray sales charts after $25 million in first-day sales on Tuesday of this week, according to Home Media magazine. It joins some impressive rivals for the holiday buying season, including Warner Bros.’s Inception, which debuted at the top of the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales […]

TWILIGHT: ECLIPSE DVD BIG, BUT NOT AS BIG AS PREDECESSORS

DVD and Blu-ray sales of Twilight: Eclipse were eclipsed by sales of the two earlier Twilight movies over their first two days of release, according to Summit Home Entertainment. While Eclipse sold an estimated three million copies on Dec. 4 and 5, that number was about one million fewer than the original Twilight and Twilight: […]

SHREK FOREVER AFTER: WHO’S DISAPPOINTED NOW?

Although widely described as a disappointment by analysts when it opened below expectations domestically last May, Shrek Forever After has turned out to be DreamWorks Animation’s highest-grossing release of all time. In a statement released in connection with its third-quarter SEC filing, the studio said that it now intends to release at least three films […]

DREAMWORKS TO ISSUE HOLIDAY SHREK COLLECTION

DreamWorks Animation, which has experienced declining sales of DVDs for its Shrek franchise, is hoping to give it a boost by combining all four Shrek features into a DVD and Blu-ray gift set, Shrek: The Whole Story, and releasing it in time for the holiday season on Dec. 7. Paramount Home Entertainment, which distributes the […]

ANIMATED FARE: UNEXPECTED SUMMER CHAMPS

While some analysts warned at the beginning of the summer of a glut of family films hitting the screen, with several competing for the limited number of 3D venues, it turned out that many of them far surpassed expectations — Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3 taking the prize as the biggest box-office winner of any film […]

DELAYING CHEAP DVD RENTALS DOES NOTHING, SAYS PARAMOUNT

“Of course, we are not all the way back, but the horizon is brighter,” Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone remarked today (Thursday) in discussing a strong surge in profits for his company, which includes the Paramount film studio as well as cable channels MTV, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central. Net earnings soared 52 percent to $420 million […]

DREAMWORKS WILL PASS PIXAR, KATZ PREDICTS

DreamWorks Animation said Tuesday that it netted $24 million during the second quarter on revenue of $158.1 million from domestic and international sales for How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek Forever After. While the profit figure is down 6.2 percent from the same period a year ago, CEO Jeff Katzenberg observed during a conference […]

“TOY STORY 3” SETS RECORD IN U.K.

Delayed openings of Toy Story 3 in several European countries because of the World Cup pushed the Disney/Pixar film back to No. 1 at the overseas box office. According to trade accounts, the movie drew $52 million in ticket sales from 43 countries, putting its overseas gross at $351 million and its worldwide tally at […]

“TOY STORY” — PIXAR’S BEST EVER

Toy Story 3 set a record for an opening of a Pixar movie over the weekend as it debuted with an estimated $109 million, to top The Incredibles‘s $70.5 million. After a summer of mostly so-so No. 1 films, the animated film, boosted by premium ticket prices for 3D at a record number of digital […]

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