Sequelitis

No grass is allowed to grow under the feet of successful properties.

DreamWorks Animation is moving ahead with a sequel to its prehistoric family comedy "The Croods," according to a spokeswoman at the Glendale studio.

Writers-directors Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders will return for the second installment, which does not yet have a release date. ...

I was over at DWA this afternoon and not a word of this was breathed to me. (Must have been an oversight. It was, after all, "Bring Your Kid to Work Day.")

As one DreamWorker in the Lakeside Building related to me:

Things are somewhat calmer around here now, but people are still worried ...

Another employee asked the perennial question: "Is it all going to India and China?"

And I gave my usual answer that some of it will and some of it won't, pointing out that there are still quality issues with offshoring the product, and that "Doing it cheap" mostly means "Getting puny box office."

Understand that I'm not saying some work won't go global, because some work will. But no high-grossing films have yet come out of Mumbai or Shanghai, and I believe there's a reason for this. Quality counts for something and sub-contracting studios don't have a lot of quality in their arsenals. (Sub-contractors' business models don't allow lingering over work to make it better, since "time is money." And ambitious, energetic employees at these studios soon leave for bigger and better opportunities.)

I've said all these things before, but it never hurts to say them again. Quality counts because

Quality = Box Office