Downdraft

Now with multi-media Add On.

Second place finishes don't excite New York stock brokers.

“How to Train Your Dragon 2″ didn’t prove to be enough of a box office fire-breather for Wall Street, sending the share price of DreamWorks Animation sliding more than 12% on Monday.

The animated sequel opened to $50 million domestically and picked up in an additional $24.8 million from 26 international territories. However, going into the weekend some analysts had predicted that the film would open to north of $60 million. ...

As it happens, I was wandering around DWA's Glendale studio this afternoon. Nobody seems distraught over a fifty million dollar movie opening.

I still think a $200 million U.S./Canadian box office is a realistic number. There aren't going to be any significant animated features in the marketplace until mid-July, and Dragons 2 is a good movie (with gags and plot points that pay off!)

I would be surprised if HTTYD2 doesn't tick up against $650-$700 million in worldwide grosses -- with a 70% international/30% domestic split.

Add On: DreamWorks Animation continues its evolution toward the 1950s Disney model, expanding into projects that aren't animated.

Oriental DreamWorks, the joint venture between DreamWorks Animation and a trio of Chinese companies, has unveiled a diversified live-action and animation development slate of third-party content.

The Shanghai-based company has struck development deals with a trio of local Chinese companies, spanning five feature film projects.

This is a significant departure from the company’s previous mission, which was originally focused on in-house developed animated features, such as the now in production “Kung Fu Panda 3.” The change of tack was first signalled by Variety in September last year.