DreamWorks Animation, the Weekend After

This day I ambled through DreamWorks arched entrance, wondering how high the staff's mood would be after Panda's sixty million dollar weekend.

I'm pleased to report the mood was good. (Alert the media.)

"We had a pre-opening party here Friday, with speeches and refreshments. The company was pretty confident of big numbers, since some early returns overseas were up there. And everybody kinda thought it would be doing well, because we knew what we had ..."

So spirits are high. People said they were elated to have another hit, that it was lots better than, you know, the alternative. A layout artist said, "I want every animated feature this year to do well, Horton, Wall-E, Panda, all of them." Another staffer told me:

"They used to do the release parties the Monday after the opening weekend, but they stopped that. Some of the pictures tanked, and then nobody felt like celebrating. A few years ago they had balloons set up for a party, but the picture didn't do well. I remember walking through and seeing them taking down the party balloons from the ceiling before the party happened. There were people up on ladders popping them." ...

No balloons getting popped today, I can tell you. Nothing in sight but big banners hanging in the commissary celebrating KFP. The only disgruntlement I came across was in the big corner building, where noisy construction work expanding the studio gets on some artists' nerves.