Only One Solution

More Shrek.

... [DreamWorks Animation] got into the computer-animation game early and captivated audiences with a series of four "Shrek" films between 2001 and 2010. All of those films were blockbusters, delivering more than $200 million in domestic box office sales each—sufficient to earn profits even with monster-sized budgets.

Unfortunately, even the best film franchises don't last forever and DreamWorks hasn't been able to find a replacement. Not one of the studio's films has topped the domestic box office gross of $239 million attained by "Shrek Forever After" in 2010, according to industry research firm Rentrak. ...

So why does the franchise have to end? I'm being serious here. Pixar is doing Toy Story 4 after announcing that #3 "completed the tale" and was, really and truly, The End. Completion. Finito.

Yeah, hm hm.

When a feature pulls down over a billion dollars, whether it's The End or not, a way will be found to keep the ball rolling down the magic highway lined with gold. And some flapdoodle will be released about how "Hey now! We just found a new and really compelling story that just has to be told! So we're doing another one!"

Of course they're doing another one. There's one point two billion reasons (with George Washington on them) that one more movie should be produced (and why, as an aside, I confidently predict that there's a Frozen II in everyone's future). So my advice to Jeffrey K.? Get a couple of development crews humping on new ideas for another Shrek feature. Let four or five of your best board artists and directors gin up a half-dozen fresh plots. Let them draw up some beat boards.

Then choose the storyline that grabs you, and call up Mike Meyers, Carmen Diaz and Eddie Murphy. Let them know the old team is back in business. This isn't art we're talking about here, but commerce. DreamWorks needs a hit, a big hit. And if Diz Co. can reignite a forty-year-old chestnut like Star Wars, can pump new life into Toy Story twenty years further on, then Shrek can be brought back to life.

I mean, you want to hike DWA's stock price up thirty percent, or don't you? What are you waiting for?