Around DreamWorks Animation

I spent the morning at the Glendale campus, along the banks of the L.A. River. While there are empty cubicles, more were filled than a month ago ...

One artist had just returned from a months long hiatus, and a supervisor told me:

"There are a lot of projects lined up to go. They haven't all gotten greenlights, but we've been hiring because we've got to get ready."

Some experimental animation is happening on How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Guardians is reaching its production mid-point, and Madagascar 3 is going full tilt. (There's also The Croods and probably some others I'm forgetting.)

An animator speculated that, with the returning staff and new hires, the campus is "Maybe 10% under its peak?"

An educated guess.

Meantime ...

Shares of DreamWorks Animation Receive a Boost, Up 3.3% ...

Maybe the latest release has something to do with it.

Puss in Boots ... had a strong $9.4 million opening in France (a noteworthy improvement over Kung Fu Panda 2) and also got off to a solid start in Mexico ($3.7 million). The movie's impressive total in Russia passed $50 million, and it should wind up as the third highest-grossing movie ever ...

Domestically, the feature is bumping against $140 million. As one of the PiB crew members said: "I hope it keeps doing well." Maybe we'll see some bonus money."

Add On Factoid: Puss in Boots is the first Spanish language feature that Spanish speakers Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas have made together.

Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas have made six movies together. Not one has been in their native tongue, Spanish. ... "This is our Spanish language film we've done together!" Hayek screams. ... "We both dubbed it in Spanish. It's actually the first time we've both been in a film in Spanish, and it's odd that we were cats." ...

Pretty strange.