3 ms·

The writing on the wall is that DreamWorks is dead, which is not surprising considering the several high-profile flops of the last three years. This is basical

by searine 11y ago

The writing on the wall is that DreamWorks is dead, which is not surprising considering the several high-profile flops of the last three years. This is basically a wholesale buyout of DreamWorks IP which will be given to Illumination to turn into more Minions movies.

JTon 11y ago
What flops are you referring to? I only know Dreamworks by their feature films, and why they all didn't review highly, they all made money [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks_Animation#Feature_films https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks_Animation#Feature_f...
- josh_carterPDX 11y ago
  Agree. Comcast is gobbling up companies to be a major media company. They'll likely buy up something else, but I don't see Dreamworks being a studio that was making flops. They have a lot of solid movie brands that made a ton of money.
  - voltagex_ 11y ago
    Wonder if this is the end of Dreamworks Animation on Netflix.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- searine 11y ago
  >They all made money This is hollywood. Take the budget, double it, and add 50 million dollars and then you have an accurate idea of the true budget. To be "profitable" the reported boxoffice needs to be at least 3X the budget. For example, Sherman and Mr.Peabody had a budget of "150 million", made 300 million, but dreamworks still lost 57 million making the movie. Known flops of the last two years are : Home, Penguins of Madagascar, Sherman and Mr. Peabody, Turbo, Rise of the Guardians. Only The Croods and HTTYD were profitable.
  - tzs 11y ago
    How about Kung Fu Panda 3? It did very well in China, and I believe I read that since it was a joint production of DreamWorks Animation and Oriental DreamWorks they ended up getting much more of the Chinese revenue than they would have had it been an all-American production.
  - JustSomeNobody 11y ago
    Of course if you're the star paid a percentage bonus on profit, then take the profit, halve it, subtract 50 million, wash, rinse, repeat until profit is actually in the negative.
  - rhino369 11y ago
    The issue isn't that the budget is wrong (though it doesn't typically include marketing), it's that box office revenue isn't 100% the distributors. Around 60% goes to the distributor for US box office and as low 25-40% for foreign receipts. So 3X is probably right for a heavily marketed movie, but 2X might cover a less heavily marketed movie. Plus DVD rights, streaming, and broadcast rights do bring in some extra money too.
  - rjett 11y ago
    See Hollywood Accounting: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/HollywoodA...
    - superuser2 11y ago
      Doesn't that work in the opposite direction? The "true" breakeven point is much lower than what the studios claim, not higher.
      - messick 11y ago
        Yes. "Hollywood Accounting" means cooking the books to make a success look like a failure when to comes to paying people (like the IRS) who get a percentage of the profit.
- neuromancer2701 11y ago
  Remember this is just the Animation studio. Spielberg still controls the DreamWorks Pictures which has been rolled into Amblin Partners.
colinthompson 11y ago
This. One of the things that saddens me most about this deal is that there are likely many talented artists and engineers down in Glendale who will be let go as a result of this consolidation. I would love to be proven wrong, but that is my hunch. In addition, I get the impression that Comcast is interested in owning already existing IP more than nurturing the Dreamworks Animation team to generate NEW stories and content. If that is the case, it seems short sighted.
- cududa 11y ago
  That's pretty much been Jeffrey Katzenberg's MO since the 80's. First Paramount Pictures then Disney. He pushes his creative teams way too damn hard, burns them out, their new original content becomes crap, then they just creates a stream of derivative drivel.
- jaryd 11y ago
  On the flip side, there will now be lots of talented and creative people available to potentially work on more interesting projects.
tacos 11y ago
Ah, HN. Where BuzzFeed is considered an innovative company due to loose ties to the MIT Media Lab, but a nearly four billion dollar purchase of a company that averaged $400+ million dollars per release -- while being consistently ranked the top company to work for in a legendarily cutthroat town and industry -- gets this as top comment. Sold at >50% premium to Tuesday's close of its publicly-traded stock price. This is not "wholesale." And the human assets remain very much a key part of the company's value and values.
- carlivar 11y ago
  Are you saying DWA was innovative? I worked there 2 years, and they were the most resistant to change of any company I've worked for in my career.
- searine 11y ago
  >Sold at >50% premium to Tuesday's close of its publicly-traded stock price. And for less than half of what disney paid for pixar, despite having made more movies. >And the human assets remain very much a key part of the company's value and values. Illumination, who is taking the reigns, is the costco of animation. In the entire United States Illumination has 35 employees. If you don't think there is a bloodbath coming, then I have a bridge to sell you.
  - tacos 11y ago
    Tech workers wish they had the union protections and job security of animators in Burbank/Glendale. Most of these people have already worked for Disney at one time or another. This isn't Yahoo. And talent remains in huge demand. You seem to think this is going to turn DreamWorks into Hanna-Barbera. That's not the revenue maximizing approach so I think you're being quite shortsighted.
    - searine 11y ago
      >Tech workers wish they had the union protections and job security of animators in Burbank/Glendale Are... Are you trolling me? Dreamworks has already undergone several rounds of layoffs recently. http://bit.ly/1uzveR9 http://bit.ly/1uzveR9 Animation/VFX is already heavily outsourced, and it's not getting better. Dreamworks has already said they are outsourcing future work to canada. http://bit.ly/1P8FKX8 http://bit.ly/1P8FKX8 Illumination already outsources all their work to other countries (France in particular). Government subsidies from non-US countries has already gutted US VFX/animation, and pretty much ensures nothing but executive level positions remain at big studios. There is zero US job security, and those going into the industry only have three guarantee's : long hours, low pay, and frequent moves to keep steady work.

by searine 11y ago

JTon 11y ago

What flops are you referring to? I only know Dreamworks by their feature films, and why they all didn't review highly, they all made money [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks_Animation#Feature_films https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks_Animation#Feature_f...

josh_carterPDX 11y ago
Agree. Comcast is gobbling up companies to be a major media company. They'll likely buy up something else, but I don't see Dreamworks being a studio that was making flops. They have a lot of solid movie brands that made a ton of money.
- voltagex_ 11y ago
  Wonder if this is the end of Dreamworks Animation on Netflix.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
searine 11y ago
>They all made money This is hollywood. Take the budget, double it, and add 50 million dollars and then you have an accurate idea of the true budget. To be "profitable" the reported boxoffice needs to be at least 3X the budget. For example, Sherman and Mr.Peabody had a budget of "150 million", made 300 million, but dreamworks still lost 57 million making the movie. Known flops of the last two years are : Home, Penguins of Madagascar, Sherman and Mr. Peabody, Turbo, Rise of the Guardians. Only The Croods and HTTYD were profitable.
- tzs 11y ago
  How about Kung Fu Panda 3? It did very well in China, and I believe I read that since it was a joint production of DreamWorks Animation and Oriental DreamWorks they ended up getting much more of the Chinese revenue than they would have had it been an all-American production.
- JustSomeNobody 11y ago
  Of course if you're the star paid a percentage bonus on profit, then take the profit, halve it, subtract 50 million, wash, rinse, repeat until profit is actually in the negative.
- rhino369 11y ago
  The issue isn't that the budget is wrong (though it doesn't typically include marketing), it's that box office revenue isn't 100% the distributors. Around 60% goes to the distributor for US box office and as low 25-40% for foreign receipts. So 3X is probably right for a heavily marketed movie, but 2X might cover a less heavily marketed movie. Plus DVD rights, streaming, and broadcast rights do bring in some extra money too.
- rjett 11y ago
  See Hollywood Accounting: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/HollywoodA...
  - superuser2 11y ago
    Doesn't that work in the opposite direction? The "true" breakeven point is much lower than what the studios claim, not higher.
    - messick 11y ago
      Yes. "Hollywood Accounting" means cooking the books to make a success look like a failure when to comes to paying people (like the IRS) who get a percentage of the profit.
neuromancer2701 11y ago
Remember this is just the Animation studio. Spielberg still controls the DreamWorks Pictures which has been rolled into Amblin Partners.

colinthompson 11y ago

This. One of the things that saddens me most about this deal is that there are likely many talented artists and engineers down in Glendale who will be let go as a result of this consolidation. I would love to be proven wrong, but that is my hunch. In addition, I get the impression that Comcast is interested in owning already existing IP more than nurturing the Dreamworks Animation team to generate NEW stories and content. If that is the case, it seems short sighted.

cududa 11y ago
That's pretty much been Jeffrey Katzenberg's MO since the 80's. First Paramount Pictures then Disney. He pushes his creative teams way too damn hard, burns them out, their new original content becomes crap, then they just creates a stream of derivative drivel.
jaryd 11y ago
On the flip side, there will now be lots of talented and creative people available to potentially work on more interesting projects.

tacos 11y ago

Ah, HN. Where BuzzFeed is considered an innovative company due to loose ties to the MIT Media Lab, but a nearly four billion dollar purchase of a company that averaged $400+ million dollars per release -- while being consistently ranked the top company to work for in a legendarily cutthroat town and industry -- gets this as top comment. Sold at >50% premium to Tuesday's close of its publicly-traded stock price. This is not "wholesale." And the human assets remain very much a key part of the company's value and values.

carlivar 11y ago
Are you saying DWA was innovative? I worked there 2 years, and they were the most resistant to change of any company I've worked for in my career.
searine 11y ago
>Sold at >50% premium to Tuesday's close of its publicly-traded stock price. And for less than half of what disney paid for pixar, despite having made more movies. >And the human assets remain very much a key part of the company's value and values. Illumination, who is taking the reigns, is the costco of animation. In the entire United States Illumination has 35 employees. If you don't think there is a bloodbath coming, then I have a bridge to sell you.
- tacos 11y ago
  Tech workers wish they had the union protections and job security of animators in Burbank/Glendale. Most of these people have already worked for Disney at one time or another. This isn't Yahoo. And talent remains in huge demand. You seem to think this is going to turn DreamWorks into Hanna-Barbera. That's not the revenue maximizing approach so I think you're being quite shortsighted.
  - searine 11y ago
    >Tech workers wish they had the union protections and job security of animators in Burbank/Glendale Are... Are you trolling me? Dreamworks has already undergone several rounds of layoffs recently. http://bit.ly/1uzveR9 http://bit.ly/1uzveR9 Animation/VFX is already heavily outsourced, and it's not getting better. Dreamworks has already said they are outsourcing future work to canada. http://bit.ly/1P8FKX8 http://bit.ly/1P8FKX8 Illumination already outsources all their work to other countries (France in particular). Government subsidies from non-US countries has already gutted US VFX/animation, and pretty much ensures nothing but executive level positions remain at big studios. There is zero US job security, and those going into the industry only have three guarantee's : long hours, low pay, and frequent moves to keep steady work.