Madagascar

Post by **Daniel** » October 3rd, 2008, 11:15 am

I loved the part where Alex danced and the penguin part "looks impressive, but will it fly" haha.

Still have some doubts, but it's looking good.

Post by **Dacey** » October 3rd, 2008, 12:14 pm

"Madagascar" was actually very popular, Once. And it did really well on DVD.

Post by **Once Upon A Dream** » October 3rd, 2008, 4:43 pm

Madagascar is as popular as Shrek?.

Post by **Meg** » October 3rd, 2008, 6:05 pm

I would answer your question if I could understand it.

Post by **Once Upon A Dream** » October 3rd, 2008, 6:32 pm

And this thread whould do just fine without those unnecessary comments

.

Post by **Meg** » October 3rd, 2008, 7:46 pm

I could say the same to you.

Post by **Whippet Angel** » October 4th, 2008, 12:36 am

Now, now children, play nicely!

Post by **Macaluso** » October 4th, 2008, 2:29 am

Once Upon A Dream wrote:Well,the Shrek films are their most popular films but does Madagascar is as popular as Shrek?.

does madagascar is

Post by **Once Upon A Dream** » October 4th, 2008, 5:35 am

Meg wrote:I could say the same to you.

No,I was just talking about your dumb and insulting comments

.

Post by **EricJ** » October 4th, 2008, 6:41 am

Neal wrote:I have a big issue with DreamWork's policy of 'every film needs a sequel'. I mean...plans for up to, what was it, six installments of Shrek? And just weeks after Kung Fu Panda hit theaters they began talking about up to five installments? I'm not anti-sequel, but if we began to get Cinderella 5 or The Lion King 1/2 and whatnot... I'd definitely be against it. And on occasion, hasn't Katzenberger announced a number of sequels he plans to release and then upped that number? Maybe I'm stupid but it sounds as if they're trying to milk cows that sometimes aren't even born yet!

Actually, Katz announced M2 with greenlit fanfare as "the new DW franchise", back when he'd first gotten that "scare" about not enough people buying Shrek 2 on disk, and thought he had to quickly shift all of DW's eggs to another basket.

Of course, nowadays, looking for something else to Save the Company Name, we're more likely to get "Kung Fu Panda" rammed down our throats, while the Penguins are quietly ushered out the back door...
Thus demonstrating the problem with CGI movies taking three years to film, and the perils of saying anything generous around DW, The Little Animation Studio That Burped At the Table.

Post by **Ben** » October 5th, 2008, 9:10 am

The main "problem" is that DWA is a fragile company, still young and still needing to pay a lot of people out from their releases, hence all the partnering and promotion that DWA puts into their releases. A major content provider actually can't just survive on two features a year: they <I>need</I> each one to succeed and make their money back at the very least, hence the cutting of from the Aardman deal and the lack of follow-ups to anything that made less than a certain sum.

I'm not sure what the figured were like on Bee Movie, but it's no secret that it was intended to be the first of at least a few projects with Seinfeld, DWA's "new comedy partner", but I guess they're waiting on final DVD and eventual Blu-ray sales to see if they're going to chase up that relationship.

Essentially, when something sticks, they need to go for another one as they're pretty much guaranteed money makers, meaning DWA gets another film out in theaters, and has a guaranteed hit, while the other movie can be a bit more adventurous. This is also why, at the end of the day, all their projected movies are "commercially viable" propositions...there's nothing truly risk-taking in the bunch, factoring in the saleability of these things.

Which is why it's great that, on the artistic side of things, the animators keep pushing the boundaries, because with that aspect, DWA would be in the position that it's in. JK, Spielberg or no...if the films don't make the money they need to, DWA would be closed down. As an independent, putting their films out through Paramount for which they pat them a percentage fee, they just don't have the studio safety blanket enjoyed by Disney (and Pixar) and Blue Sky.

"arrogant mockery" - I nearly made a mess of myself laughing at that. What a fantastic phrase. Someone should start a band with that name or, better yet, change it to "arrogant monkey", which is what I keep reading it as.

More seriously, play nice. Though Once's comments are sometimes hard to make out - and often don't reflect what's been said in a thread already - it's not fair to pick on that. And in that case, it was quite clear what Once was getting at, and thanks to Mac for providing the right answer!

Post by **Macaluso** » October 5th, 2008, 9:17 am

you all would be lost without me

Post by **Ben** » October 5th, 2008, 9:48 am

Yes we would?

Post by **Whippet Angel** » October 5th, 2008, 11:19 pm

I just assume English isn't his first language.

Correct me if I'm wrong Once

Post by **Ben** » October 6th, 2008, 12:53 pm

Yep...you're right there, which I mentioned in our private staff thread. Don't worry about it Once...keep posting.