Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

General Discussions, Polls, Lists, Video Clips and Links
Post Reply
User avatar
AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 25268
Joined: October 22nd, 2004
Location: London, UK

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by Ben » April 20th, 2017, 1:49 pm

Generalisation is such an unfortunate thing.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 5192
Joined: September 27th, 2007

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by EricJ » April 20th, 2017, 4:53 pm

Dacey wrote:So DreamWorks greenlit the risky movie in which the main character doesn't talk based on the box office success of a Nickelodeon property. Gotcha.
Well, technically they greenlit it because JK had managed to steal a movie that had been on Disney's desk at the time (forcing Disney to turn their "Western cows" movie into a comedy instead)--
The issue was more that original 90's non-Disney 2D features like Swan Princess and The Pagemaster were on the way out, with or without the new cable movies on the way in, and that sad truth never looked truer in 2002 than in this movie.
Dacey, five minutes from now, or maybe SV wrote:Yes, but the fact that they brought it back shows it's still popular years later, doesn't it?
No, it means they're scraping further and further for Intellectual Property to Develop, now that they have better chance of making Netflix projects than movies, and with a lot fewer movies in their future, DWA's future is in its past. They'd just better hope they had enough of a good-looking past. (Although an El Dorado series probably wouldn't be so bad, and better than the Kipling movie.)
And Warner Bros. "bet the studio" on The PowerPuff Girls Movie...which had a production budget of $11 million. Gotcha.
Weren't watching Cartoon Network at the time, were you?: The weekend it was opening, every other commercial on CN was for the Movie. No, not every other break, every other commercial. I suspect Warner, Inc. wanted us to get the general hint.
Now that there was no 90's-original Warner Animation of Iron Giant and Cats Don't Dance anymore, studios had to stake their horse in the Share the Spotlight With Disney race on what properties they did own, and Paramount's Nick movies, on the established marketing of their corporately owned cable networks, showed them a new secret of how to do it. Heck, even Disney tried getting into it, with the Recess and Teacher's Pet movies (of which the results were not fortunate).

Just how Warner's PPG Movie came about that same summer gives you a look into how things were operating at that time: Warner was having a delightful sock-puppet conversation with itself between its own various sub-divisions, and no outside voice was telling them there might not be a mainstream audience--Warner told CN how big a cult audience they had, AOL told Warner how promotionally they could tie it in, CN promised how much they could promote the movie on their network, and CN Marketing told all three how much merchandise would hit the shelves...Was anything missing? Yes. On opening weekend.

A movie's budget isn't always the central battle over whether your studio's ability to make animated features like everyone else lives or dies.

AV Team
AV Team
Posts: 6633
Joined: February 8th, 2005
Location: The US of A

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by Dacey » April 20th, 2017, 5:18 pm

The PowerPuff Girls was a terrific show, and was easily Cartoon Network's most popular program at the time (wait, what? You mean they advertised the movie frequently on the network it aired on? I wonder why that would happen?). Recess, meanwhile, made money, and Teacher's Pet (a great little film, for what it's worth) only went to theaters because of a contractional obligation to do so with the show's creator.

And Warner Feature Animation didn't close until after Osmosis Jones bombed, so I guess you're saying that Warner Bros. "bet the whole studio" on a movie they never even made a full trailer for, and greenlit and produced said movie over the course of six or seven months, apparently.

Warner Feature Animation also didn't produce Cats Don't Dance. Their first feature was Quest for Camelot.

And that's only addressing one of the crazy things said in...whatever it is all of that was. Eric, take my advice, and take a chill pill. Seriously.
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

User avatar
AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 25268
Joined: October 22nd, 2004
Location: London, UK

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by Ben » April 20th, 2017, 7:45 pm

I love how Eric *thinks* this all makes sense. Like all this is worked out in meetings and goes to some kind of plan. It does all make sense. In Eric's world.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 1210
Joined: July 9th, 2008
Location: Australia

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by Bill1978 » April 21st, 2017, 7:42 am

For me Spirit is my least favourite DreamWorks movie. I saw it in the cinema, and half way through something happened with the projector. And I didn't care that there was a delay. And to this day I have not managed to watch it from beginning to end without falling asleep or giving up and stopping it. I'm not sure whether it's because I'm not a horse person, a western person or cause it is just so goddamn serious it is just not my cup of tea.

I enjoy the other 3 tradigital films - although I have to be in the right mood for Prince of Egypt. And all there other films I would be happy to watch if I stumbled across them on TV (well maybe not Shark Tale). Puss In Boots surprised me with how much I enjoyed it and Trolls kinda caught me by surprise, but I'm in no hurry to rewatch it. But my heart will always lie with the 2 Dragons movie and Rise of the Guardians, for DreamWorks computer films.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 5192
Joined: September 27th, 2007

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by EricJ » April 21st, 2017, 1:32 pm

Bill1978 wrote:And I didn't care that there was a delay. And to this day I have not managed to watch it from beginning to end without falling asleep or giving up and stopping it. I'm not sure whether it's because I'm not a horse person, a western person or cause it is just so goddamn serious it is just not my cup of tea.
Given that Katzenberg left Disney BEFORE Hunchback finally made us all collectively sick of the corny overwrought black-hat-white-hat "melodrama" plots in 90's Disney movies, and became the Producer That Time Forgot when he tried to keep his Lion King act going with the DWA 2D-tradigital's, I pick C), final answer.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9044
Joined: October 25th, 2004
Location: Binghamton, NY

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by ShyViolet » May 1st, 2017, 9:58 am

You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

AV Team
AV Team
Posts: 6633
Joined: February 8th, 2005
Location: The US of A

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by Dacey » May 1st, 2017, 10:47 am

Well, at least people will be able to see the shows outside of Netflix now. I haven't been able to see Dragons (which is really good) since it left Cartoon Network. I've heard nothing but great things about Trollhunters, and even Turbo (well, in the screener I was given, at least) was surprising fun.
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9044
Joined: October 25th, 2004
Location: Binghamton, NY

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by ShyViolet » May 8th, 2017, 5:08 pm

Animation Block Party to celebrate ten-year anniversary of Bee Movie in Brooklyn, NY:


http://www.awn.com/news/abp-2017-celebr ... -bee-movie
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

User avatar
AV Founder
AV Founder
Posts: 25268
Joined: October 22nd, 2004
Location: London, UK

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by Ben » May 8th, 2017, 8:54 pm

Eric will be there, I know it! ;)

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 5192
Joined: September 27th, 2007

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by EricJ » May 8th, 2017, 11:34 pm

Ben wrote:Eric will be there, I know it! ;)
I'm on the side of "Can't tell if real or trolling"--If Seinfeld shows up, lord help us, it's real, or he doesn't know the difference either.
With Dreamworks dead, there may be a bit of hipsterism to look back at some of the Dreamworks misfires as their own genre, while all other smitten Draconians will believe that the movie has now been "redeemed by later video generations", just by virtue of it being DWA....Just try getting THEM to sit through "SharkTale".

AV Team
AV Team
Posts: 6633
Joined: February 8th, 2005
Location: The US of A

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by Dacey » May 9th, 2017, 10:08 am

"redeemed by later video generations"
Bee Movie's not even 10 yet, so....
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9044
Joined: October 25th, 2004
Location: Binghamton, NY

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by ShyViolet » May 10th, 2017, 3:13 pm

All DWA films in 10 words or less. Have no idea why I'm even posting this, but...oh well. :roll:


http://www.tvovermind.com/movies/guy-re ... words-less
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 5192
Joined: September 27th, 2007

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by EricJ » May 10th, 2017, 4:38 pm

Oh, thought it was going to be "ALL DWA films in 10 words or less":
"I don't wanna be picked on anymore!" :P
(Yes, Shy, even the first Dragons...)

And, er, technically "Joseph, King of Dreams" wasn't theatrical (none of this), but he didn't have anything to say about it anyway.

AV Forum Member
AV Forum Member
Posts: 9044
Joined: October 25th, 2004
Location: Binghamton, NY

Re: Will Disney buy DWA? No! Universal did!

Post by ShyViolet » June 15th, 2021, 6:12 pm

In a weird way Disney did buy DWA, since all their movies are showing on Hulu now. (Who knows maybe one day on Disney+ ! :wink:)


https://www.thewrap.com/dreamworks-anim ... deal-hulu/
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

Post Reply