Think Global

These Hollywood people. You can sneak nothing by them.

... "If we have storylines that at script-stage feel too U.S.-centric, especially with big action or science-fiction movies, we try to come up with solutions that will make the movie feel more global," says Tomas Jegeus, co-president of 20th Century Fox International Theatrical. ...

Pixar Animation will be following that formula to a degree this summer, localizing "Cars 2" in six countries by subbing in a different car for a scene that takes place at a Tokyo party.

"Pixar is taking a lot of care to make the movie as specific to these countries as possible," "Cars 2" producer Denise Ream says. ...

Overseas markets make up the bull-gorilla's share of theatrical grosses these days. And when you have an America-centric animated feature (can we say Monsters Vs. Aliens?) the foreign box office grosses go into a swoon.

DreamWorks has two non-American features coming out in 2011, both filled with fuzzy animals in exotic locales. DWA clearly doesn't want to make the same mistake -- humans in large, domestic metropolitan areas -- during back-to-back years.