The Lakeside building's additions have now been completed and various artistic group are prepping to move. Some pull up stakes this Friday, some next week.
"Some people don't want to move, but I'm in favor of it. I'll have more natural light."
Production on Shrek 4 is pretty much wrapping up. A bunch of artists will be cycling off the feature this week and next. Naturally enough, lots of the people I talked to have high hopes for How to Train Your Dragon's launch in two weeks ...
But Janney Capital Analyst Tony Wible has his worries:
Wible writes that the movie is “a great film that will likely show DWA is perfecting its 3D skills,” but that awareness and interest in the film “looks weaker than expecting (sic) heading into the final 11 days to its release.”
If public awareness isn't where financial analysts (or the studio?) would like it to be, it isn't for want of trying, as writer Ethan Alter points out in Film Journal International:
Dragon [had] an inventive ad campaign that included a unique promotional partnership with the 2010 Winter Olympics, for which DreamWorks produced seven original animated shorts featuring the movie's characters competing in various winter sports. ...
DWA is skilled at promoting its features, and I anticipate a drumbeat of publicity for Dragon in the next week and a half. Jeffrey always works every venue to the max. Why would anybody think it's going to be different this time?
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Remember when financial analysts predicted UP's failure? Haha, yeah, that was accurate.
When will people stop listening to/writing about these pencilnecks and their dumbass predictions?
Only when and if they start hauling Goldman Sachs executives off to prison. That will shut them the f**k up quick.
One thing I've noticed is that Dreamworks has apparently caught Disney's "Title-itis" disease; in its newer ads for "How To Train Your Dragon", the voice-over refers to the film as "Dreamwork's Dragons", leaving out the first four words of the official title completely. Who knew that Disney's Princess difficulties would affect a movie company that has pretty much made its fortune making fun of that genre? Irony, thy name is Katzenberg...
Dreamworks has apparently caught Disney's "Title-itis" disease; in its newer ads for "How To Train Your Dragon", the voice-over refers to the film as "Dreamwork's Dragons"
What a dumbass remark. We at Dreamworks refer to the film as Dragons ourselves. Kung Fu Panda 2, we call Panda. Don't put Dreamworks in the same drama as Disney. You obviously have no pulse on the industry.
^^ touchy touchy..
It will be interesting to see what happens. I thought that there were ads everywhere, but when I talk to people outside the industry they don't seem to know what it is. Also, the trailer makes that lead character look pretty bland, and the Viking supporting characters look like one dimensional cliches.
We'll see, tho. I love Chris Sanders.
"What a dumbass remark. We at Dreamworks refer to the film as Dragons ourselves."
whoooshhh. I think you missed the point of the original commenter.
Dreamwork's biggest weakness has always been their Marketing. Jeffrey claims, "Its out of my hands"...its your company is it not?
I barely see any ads anywhere, and we have 2 young children at home that watch a *lot* of TV....
Why DW waits til the last minute to blitz with a few commercials has always confused me.
Look at movies like the Incredibles.... They released that teaser clip of Mr Incredible putting his belt on *Long* before the movie was out, and it created a growing buzz up until release time.
Time to get a handle on your marketing.
Right.. you know the incredibles was not a success at the box office right? great film though.
have you seen the numbers for Shrek??
why don't you leave the marketing to people who actually know what the $#@! they are talking about...
"I barely see any ads anywhere, and we have 2 young children at home that watch a *lot* of TV.... "
Are you living under a rock? seriously what channel are you watching?? the Korean news??? Dragon marketing is freaking everywhere. All over TV, all over the internet, all over the buildings here in LA.
One of the megabillboards that covers a building in LA did not have proper permits, the man responsible was jailed with 3 million dollars bail. So the billboard in question has been all over the news.
It was one million dollars bail, (meaning the landlord had to fork over 100k).
But yeah, it's been promoted everywhere. I check Twitter and the usual online sources just to see if anyone NOT in animation(that is, the target audience)is aware of it and what the perception is, and 99 out of 100 are positive: "This looks really good!" and "I can't wait to see it"-from people in their 20s. So we'll see.
Right.. you know the incredibles was not a success at the box office right?
have you seen the numbers for Shrek??
Um, well, no I don't, actually--
It was attacked and mis-analyzed for "not making as much as Finding Nemo", a fallacy that later came to a head when Cars ended up unfairly crucified for the same crime.
And as for Shrek's numbers, I could go into a long analysis of the audience climate in '01 that fueled the mania of the time, but this is not the place.
(So, if the rabid reality-spinning pro-Lasseter defenders are "Pixies", do we have a name for the hyper-defensive, cursing-like-fanboys Katzenberg defenders-of-the-realm?..."Balloonatics"? ;) )
The Incredibles made 631 million worldwide.
I think that speaks for itself.
Pixar's strategy seems to work very well. I remember the teasers for "It's a Bugs Life" coming out well a year ahead of the realease of the movie. And they continue to do the same, creating a buzz early on.
nos.
I have to agree there has not been much marketing for Dragon that I have seen. We are on the east coast. There has been a TON for Alice, I wish there was more of a presence for Dragons. I know they like to put bill boards on sunset blvd but the rest of the country needs to buy tickets. Perhaps the TV push will ramp up this week. I wonder if it will complicate the 3D theaters interested in showing it given the money that Alice is making.
There's been a lot of marketing for "Dreamworks. DRAGON.", and a tail or bit of flame...But precious little as to exactly how you train a dragon, or who is our poor hero doing the training, who his friends/detractors are, or indeed what the sam-heck is going on in the clips.
Pixar can do vague teasers A) because they have to (so Jeff won't steal them again), B) because they can set up the beginnings of a good story concept (a rat in a French restraurant?), and C) because they can deliver the goods in the full script. (Admit it, how many were uninterested in "Up" before the Squirrels Joke?)
DW can't take that option: They may think their name alone is a draw, others would have quite the opposite impression...But when you're dealing with an artistic change of pace, as everyone's saying they are, it helps to put as much on the table and in people's faces as possible, and hope you DO have loyal fans willing to give the doubt.
I don't know why people rag on DreamWorks so much, I guess cos they aren't Pixar, I'm getting kind of a Microsoft/Apple vibe, which is laughable. If anything DW is the plucky upstart company who takes on the majors and Pixar/Disney is the giant establishment corporate conglomerate.
btw I saw Dragon (no, I don't work at DW) and it is very, very good.
yeah Dw sucks so much at what they do that they only have the highest grossing animated film of all time.(that admits its animated). They must be soooo concerned they aren't pleasing the Pixies.
DW can't take that option: They may think their name alone is a draw, others would have quite the opposite impression...But when you're dealing with an artistic change of pace...blah blah etc etc
What are you basing this analysis on?
Have you watched any of the trailers? You know-the ones that play in theaters?
As for training dragons, there are shorts on YT and everywhere else that are stand-alone bits on training the different dragons; they're quite good(and not in the film-but never fear, there IS a lot of dragon training in "How To Train Your Dragon").
So DreamWorks' name is supposedly a turn off to audiences? Then how is it that the average box-office gross for DreamWorks' CG features is almost identical to that of Pixar's?
Damn, those pesky facts. They just never quite line up with the die-hard fans' opinion.
"why don't you leave the marketing to people who actually know what the $#@! they are talking about..."
Thats the Trouble... Dreamworks Marketing does not know what they're talking about. They for years put all their trust in Terry Press, and now Paramount... If you live somewhere outside of LA...(Sorry, there are other cities besides LA), you don't see the epic billboards blanketing buildings, and posters on bus stops at every corner. If you live anywhere east of Rancho Cucamonga, you havent seen barely any advertisements for Dragons, except for the trailers at the head of movies in the theaters. We all know about it because we are animation fans, and actively seek Trailers and info on upcoming animated films. Joe Blow in the midwest has to have marketing put in front of him. And the fact is, that "How to Train your Dragon" has a very lo-profile presence right now. That's unfortunate. I've seen sequences from the Film, and it looks Amazing.
I just saw tonight during "Lost" the first TV commercial in prime time on ABC for Dragons, and it opens in 10 days. This is how its been since 1998 with Prince of Egypt....10 days before the movie opens, a mad dash to the finish line blitz of Marketing comes out. Its a bit too little too late.
This has nothing to do with "Pixies" or "This company sucks and That company is Better" It has everything to do with Dreamworks has always had, and appears to still have bad Marketing. Has NOTHING to do with the film itself... This marketing fact frustrates the employees and animators at Dreamworks themselves.... Ask any of them.
Why do you think pixar sold themselves to disney instead of warners or the other courting studios? 7.5 billion and the worlds best known company brand for marketing.
How's this for marketing?
http://licensingbook.com/40-foot-viking-ship-docks-in-times-square
Barely any ads for Dragons?!? Are you living in a pit? Did you watch the Olympics? Millions of people did, and they were saturated with ads-- very entertaining ones, I might add. Also American Idol, which is also hugely popular, has at least two ads per show. And its all over Nick. I don't know how you're missing them, unless you watch only Antiques Roadshow or something.
This movie will KILL at the BO. And I work for the competition!
It's official, I just saw a commercial in which the voice over guy called it "Dreamwork's, Dragons."
It's official, I just saw a commercial in which the voice over guy called it "Dreamwork's, Dragons."
Hopefully they will crank up the ads this weekend. I'm spreading the word on my own. Some non-animation people think its coming out against toy story in the summer!
How's this for marketing?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523204575129922534406334.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
How is this for marketing?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523204575129922534406334.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
...Sounds just about the same as this:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-53143379.html
And I dont recall seeing the Moses Action figures flying off the shelves back then either....
;)
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