Supporting Players Move Their Date

It's not just The Penguins of Madagascar, those well-known second bananas of DreamWorks Animation, who are getting a new release window. It's also happening to supporting players at Universal-Illumination Entertainment.

The Minions Movie release date has been moved from the original Dec. 19, 2014 to July 10, 2015 as announced on Friday. Universal's decision to move the movie means that it'll have no animated film to release this year, a first since 2009. ...

Someone close to the company revealed ... that Universal is determined in repeating its success with "Despicable Me" and "Despicable Me 2," both were released on July. ...

DreamWorks Animation, it turns out, is going to have the 2014 calendar pretty much all to itself.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 rolls out within weeks, and its Madagascar spin-off comes out in the Fall, (like Minions moved from its original play date.) Between those two DWA features, only Disney Toons has a cartoon release scheduled, the second feature in its Planes franchise.