Dreamworks Say No Way To Monsters Vs. Aliens 2

Despite reasonable success in homeland theatres theaters and on shiny little discs, Monsters vs. Aliens has apparently underperformed internationally and, as a result, Jeffey Katzenberg has nixed any notion of a sequel. Nice to know that we're being listened to, Mr. K. Or, at least, that our little foreign wallets are.

Katzenberg was speaking on a conference call with various 'analysts', who asked him why there'd be no more B.O.B or big tall Susan. Here's his reply:

I'd like to tell you there's a perfectly rational, clear and easy answer as to why not, but there isn't. There was enough of a consensus from our distribution and marketing folks in certain parts of the world that we would be pushing a boulder up a hill.

Whoops. There goes Katzenberg being irrational again.

For what it's worth, I quite enjoyed Monsters vs. Aliens. I'd give it 4 out of 10, behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs with 6 and Up with 6.5, going on 7 if you twist my arm.

Dreamworks Animation's third quarter profits are down 48%, which the LA Times suggest is a better showing than was predicted by the crystal ball bearers of Wall Street. I'd suggest the culprit was their release pattern for this year, with just one movie hitting the big screen. I thought the Dreamworks strategy always was to keep throwing and throwing and throwing and to hell with, you know, aiming their shots. What kept them from having a second picture this year? It couldn't be quality control, surely?

There's more talk in the Times' story about slowing DVD markets, before a raft of figures that seem to suggest Dreamworks DVDs are actually doing just fine, really. Monsters has sold over four and a half million units since September 29th, Madagascar 2 has now reached 11.3 million and Kung Fu Panda has topped 16 million during this quarter. That's not really so horrible, is it? Encouraging to see the best film shifting the most units too – though there's probably a time factor to be considered there as well.

The final word is that Dreamworks are expecting their year round figure to match or be slightly up on last year. I'll never be an economist, because I just can't figure out if that's good news or not. Should we have been expecting growth for some reason?

I bet there is a Monsters vs. Aliens sequel someday, if only straight-to-download. Let's see what this Halloween special on TV manages to score.