DreamWorks made it official today in a <a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/21/busin ... 1DREA.html target=blank>New York Times article</a>. They will no logner produce any traditionally animated feature films, concentrating all of their workforce instead on CGI like Shrek 2 and Sharkslayer.
"We are extremely disappointed [in the box office performance of 'Sinbad']," said Ann Daly, the head of animation for DreamWorks, noting that "Sinbad" would be the studio's last traditionally drawn film. From now on, DreamWorks will use computers to animate its movies. Even Mr. Katzenberg concedes that the art form on which he made his reputation may be obsolete. "I think the idea of a traditional story being told using traditional animation is likely a thing of the past," he said.
I sure hope Brother Bear is a hit this fall for Disney so the studios can see that there is still animated life inside the pencil.
Sinbad's failure may exemplify a market that has changed faster than even animation pros like Jeffrey Katzenberg could have anticipated, writes the New York Times. As a traditional-style hand-drawn animated feature, the movie took four years to make--a period in which audiences have come to prefer computer-animated comedies like Shrek to serious animated action adventures. "We are extremely disappointed," said Ann Daly, the head of animation for DreamWorks, noting that Sinbad would be the studio's last traditionally drawn film. From now on, DreamWorks will use computers to animate its movies. Even Jeffrey Katzenberg concedes that the art form on which he made his reputation may be obsolete. "I think the idea of a traditional story being told using traditional animation is likely a thing of the past," he admitted. Among other factors, Katzenberg said, fast-evolving technology is making it easier to create images that a few years ago could only be drawn by hand. DreamWorks executives declined to say how much Sinbad cost. Some industry people have conservatively estimated that DreamWorks spent $70 million (not including marketing expenses), although the comparable Treasure Planet cost Disney about $140 million, according to animation industry executives. Ann Daly said that whatever the losses on "Sinbad," they would not be financially devastating. The problem with Sinbad, like Treasure Planet, may lie more in the evidently flawed strategy that many large studios embarked on several years ago to produce animated action-oriented adventure movies to attract boys, said Jerry Beck, an animation historian. "Almost all these movies have failed." DreamWorks' Ann Daly also pointed out that the only animated movies (whether hand-drawn or computer-generated) that have done well recently are comedies, including Finding Nemo and last summer's hand-drawn Lilo & Stitch from Disney. And so DreamWorks executives are looking forward to next year's jokey Shrek 2 and Sharkslayer. Certainly the marketing onslaught has begun.
Dreamworks really need to understand that their 2-D animated films failed because they all suffered from story problems of different magnitudes. If they haven't learned that lesson yet, there's going to make the same mistake in their 3-D films too.
I hate DreamWorks... and I don't plan on seeing any of their other movies, because I couldn't even sit through their computer movies like Antz and Shrek.
I hate Dreamworks too, and I'm glad they decided to stop 2-D. now Disney doesn't have compentition in the 2-D area. which I'm happy not that Dreamworks could ever beat Disney! I boycotted Sinbad and it worked!
Captain Hook wrote:I hate DreamWorks... and I don't plan on seeing any of their other movies, because I couldn't even sit through their computer movies like Antz and Shrek.
I thought Antz was really boring, but I found Shrek to be pretty enjoyable...
MickeyMouseboy wrote:I hate Dreamworks too, and I'm glad they decided to stop 2-D. now Disney doesn't have compentition in the 2-D area. which I'm happy not that Dreamworks could ever beat Disney! I boycotted Sinbad and it worked!
Yeah, me too! Maybe we'll have to talk to Loomis and have that bake-off against Dreamworks.
As for Shrek, I was hoping it would be good, I love fairy tales and spoofs, but I don't know, it kind of bugged me. Besides, most movies I love are Disney anyway...
I sure hope Brother Bear is a hit this fall for Disney so the studios can see that there is still animated life inside the pencil.
Idiots.
