The upcoming film slate is very troubling…six of the next nine films will all be originals. Over the last few years DWA has taken a write-down on four of the five most recent films (Rise of the Guardians, Me and My Shadow, Turbo, and Mr. Peabody and Sherman). The only movie to make money has been The Croods…
2015 is stacking up to be one of the most epic years in computer animation. There are whopping 17 films that are scheduled to be released! That is just insane…It looks like Home may get competition from Ratchet & Clank and Shaun the Sheep in the Spring. In addition, B.O.O: Bureau of Otherwordly Operations is basically going head-to-head with Inside Out (Pixar) and will also see competition from Minions (Despicable Me) in July.
This leads right into a bigger issue that I have with the upcoming sequels that DWA will be releasing. The Penguins of Madagascar will be released just 19 days after Walt Disney’s Big Hero 6. The Marvel franchise has been on a tear recently and superhero themed movies have been red hot at the box office! Disney is coming off a huge hit with Frozen and if Big Hero 6 can find even half those legs it might spell trouble for Penguins…
Next, Kung Fu Panda 3 will be released on December 23, 2015 just 5 days after Star Wars Episode VII. Seriously!? Enough said…
Finally, How to Train Your Dragon 3 is literally going head-to-head with Finding Dory on the same exact release date of June 17, 2016. Once again seriously? Finding Nemo grossed $936.7 million at the box office back in 2003…adjusted for inflation today is around $1.2 billion! Even if Dreamworks moves the date it will get added competition from Ice Age 5 and Angry Birds also in the Summer of 2016.
Looking at the most recent film slate, Home was just pushed out along with Bollywood Superstar Monkey (Mumbai Musical). The last film to slip a release date was Me and My Shadow, which was eventually terminated for a $47.6 million write-down
http://finance.yahoo.com/mbview/userview/?&u=shrek_money&bn=801ffa0c-e194-39b6-b8b6-072c64104a75