Katzenburg has "mapped out" more and more sequels.

The Common Room Other Animation
#1

empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=29638

Please note I’m a Dreamworks biased person. The opinions expressed here are only my own.

Kung Fu Panda 2, Madagascar 3, and Dragons 2 are already in the works right now… but how about Kung Fu Panda 3, 4, 5, and 6? And Dragons 3 and 4? Madagascar 4?

Katzenburg’s not confirming anything here, other then the fact he wants to make these sequels. If one of the films flops, they’ll won’t make more. Now Kung Fu Panda 2, Madagascar 3, and Dragons 2 will do good at the box office, surely. But the steam train and hype will run out, and Dreamworks will have run these good films into the ground with that many sequels.

Well, if they think they’re gonna make six Kung Fu Panda’s, they’re crazy. Who knows, the Kung Fu Panda’s might start flopping after 2, so unless each film is a guarranteed success and makes up the budget and advertising and marketing, it ain’t gonna fly.

The first Kung Fu Panda was actually good, and How to Train Your Dragon is loads better then the other stuff they vomit, but I’d stick to a 2 for both of them and nothing more. If their sequels impresses me as much as the original, then by all means do a third if you can pull off a sequel. Madagascar 2 proved they aren’t completely incompetent with sequels. But they’re crazy if they think they’ll be able to get away with six Kung Fu Panda’s. The only good Dreamworks movies have been Shrek 1 and 2, Madagascar 2, Panda and Dragon, and that’s it.

Katzenburg’s not confirming anything, he’s just saying he wants to make these movies. Kung Fu Panda 2’s next year, Dragons 2 and Madagascar 3 are in production, and that’s it. They’re not gonna get far on sequels, look at how terrible Disney got with their legion of DTV sequels.

This IMO silly planning of theirs is yet another reason why Pixar always has my vote. Besides, you don’t see a “Dreamworks Planet” forum online, now do you?

Now if only the big wigs would work out another Wallace and Gromit movie with Aardman. THAT I could get behind!

#2

Biased for or against DW?

Anyway, I agree with you. Why on earth a band of talented creative and animation artists are under the direction of a money-grubbing baldie is beyond me. :stuck_out_tongue:

#3

No offense, but I thought a nearly identical thread was already here. pixarplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7719

Anyway as I had said in that thread, Dreamworks bias is sorta in style, but let’s not forget a few key points

-at the moment Dreamworks has more original/untapped IP adaptations in the pipeline then just about any studio. Including Pixar.

-Dreamworks has been attracting more and more creative types who’ve left their spots at companies where they felt underappreciated. Including Pixar.

-Dreamworks is in the top ten best places to work in America according to a survey done by Fortune/CNN. A feat that no other animation company has managed. Yes, including Pixar. money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/ … full_list/

Those are the facts as they stand. Now for my completely unbiased opinion.

With Dreamworks employing the likes of Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois, Guillermo Del Toro and Rodrigo Blaas among others along with having so many interesting things in the pipeline (Me and My Shadow, Trollhunters, Alma, etc) I’m currently more interested in what’s going on over at DWA than practically anything in the tubes at Pixar except Brave.

Sorry for the sloppy presentation.

#4

shakes head

I’m excited for the Dragons sequel, you never know it could be better than the original! But I’m not crazy for a 3rd or 4th one.

#5

As Katzenberg touches on creativity in the full interview, a few points emerge in that light:

“If we didn’t have genuine competition we wouldn’t be as driven to keep doing better work. Competition is really imperative. It’s not healthy, it’s imperative.”

Excellent point, but it seems that the idea of doing better work is constrained by the framework of sequels. Art can be born of constraint, but sooner or later the artist runs out of canvas and can only fill in so much detail before repetition and boredom set in. That doesn’t sound promising for cultivation of creativity.

Also, there’s an interesting question there about competition. Is the point to “own the wall” with a merchandising-saturation-cash-generating machine until there is no other competition (like the little CG studios)? If that’s the goal, it sounds less than healthy. But it might be imperative in the minds of some.

“…we make 3 movies a year now, or 2 next year, 3 the following year. We feel a high degree of ambition to have diversity in those ideas, so we actually think a lot about making sure that these things are different enough and unique enough from one another and from other things being done…”

Seems like that would be tough to pull off with all the sequels mentioned. Based on sheer numbers, a DreamWorks yearly release schedule might look like an original concept sandwiched between sequels. That contrasts with the 2010 releases, which formed a sequel (Shrek 4) sandwiched between originals HtTYD and Megamind. I’d argue that’s a quantifiable downward slope in diversity.

“We have an amazing creative community inside our company; it is truly the best place in the world to be able to go to work every day.”

This is the most intriguing Katzenberg statement, and I agree with aerostarmonk’s key points as posted. It could be that the Pixar company culture is Brain Trusts’ way or the highway, and some creative folks might not thrive in that environment. Which is not to argue with the proven success of that style. But it might be that DreamWorks is more appealing to some creative mavericks.

So it’s an interesting question, and answers might depend on how (and how much) creativity is constrained by executive/commercial considerations.

Cheers! Steve

#6

Personally, I’m really looking forward to the 2 Dragon sequels. And I find that Dreamwork’s first sequels are alot better than the first one. I liked Shrek 2 better than Shrek (and I simply adored that film. And, yes, they screwed up with the 3rd one but I kinda had a soft spot for it since I freakin’ loved the first 2. And I enjoyed the 4th movie very much). I found Madagascar 2 to be much, much, much, much better than the first Madagascar which was just dreadful. So, I’m looking forward to Dragons. it’s been about 9 months and I’m still obsessed with it.

As for KFP. I think it’s a really stupid idea. I mean, is anyone in the studio even protesting against this? If Katzenburg wants 3 movies, FINE! By all means, do it. But 7 movies is pretty much an overkill and a very cheap thing to do.