News and Tidbits

I have't been updating this blog as much as I originally intended. Not to make excuses, but things have been extra busy the last couple of weeks. Enough complaining already... I woke up this morning thinking about this blog and was wondering whom I could verbally attack next.

Tidbit topics:

• DreamWorks IPO
• Shark Tale BO
• The Incredibles - DBO Prediction
  
• CritterPix’ “Ollie the Otter”
  

So far, I've been trying to hold back and watch my words. Maybe as I warm up to this whole idea of a blog, I will get more vicious and really take people to task like I wanted too, to begin with.

Since I don’t really have a subject for this entry, I will just start typing and see what happens. Maybe that is what makes a blog so wonderful; it doesn’t really have to be scripted.


DreamWorks Animation had its IPO today. It opened at $39.50 a share. Last I checked it dropped to $36.80. Even with the drop, that is a nice jump from where it was priced yesterday ($28). At its offering price, it will raise $812 million for DW. They will still be in debt, but at least take a nice chunk out of that.

Shark Tale is doing nicely. It isn’t a hit on the scale of Finding Nemo or Shrek 1&2, but it is doing very well. Last check shows $138 domestic and $88 overseas for around a $227 million total. Production budget is listed at $75 mln and P&A is unknown. However, if I were to guess, it would be another $50 mln.

The Incredibles will be coming out next week. I will give my box office prediction that it will make $56 mln in the first weekend. I don’t feel very confident about my guess. I just do not have a good read on it. I’ve seen the movie and know it is a good one. But at the same time, I just don’t know. For the record, I was within $2 million of guessing Shark Tales opening weekend box office. Unfortunately, the blog wasn’t around at the time to prove it.

I found out more information about CritterPix in the San Francisco Bay area and their plans for their movie “Ollie The Otter”. If you remember, this studio and film was listed in part 2 of “The CG Features Come Marching In”. I don’t want to say too much at this time, I’ll save it for a full-on blog entry. Nevertheless, I will say that I haven’t changed my opinion on how I think it will do. Although they do have distribution in a certain theatre chain, I don’t feel confident in their abilities. The lead personnel are unproven in their positions and the producers have never worked in animation before. Even their choice in directors are cause for concern. And frankly, they picked a technically difficult story to tell for their first feature (budget under $30 million).

That’s it for today. I need to get back to work. I will try to write something again very soon.