If you saw the Pixar vs. DreamWorks Animation cartoon last week, you probably thought it was making fun of the latter studio. For Wall Street, however, it might well have been an illustration of why DreamWorks is a better investment. All those movies about talking animals make for great merchandising opportunities. Toys, especially. And in addition to DreamWorks’ apparent ease in licensing its characters, the studios’ movies are, as the cartoon points out, simpler and obviously therefore more commercial.
The New York Times has an article by Brook Barnes in today’s Business section, in which Pixar’s latest film, Up, is said to be unpopular with both Wall Street and manufacturers because it follows Ratatouille and WALL-E in the studio’s supposed descent in commerciality. Sure, Up’s relative lack of licensing possibilities seems odd for Disney, which probably wouldn’t have been as successful had Walt and Roy never started the merchandization of Mickey Mouse 80 years ago, but wasn’t it enough that Pixar sold its soul with the very toy-friendly Cars (and Cars 2)? Besides, Up apparently does have talking animals, so there’s no reason for the money men to worry.
See what other blogs are saying about this story after the jump.
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As of this morning, DreamWorks and Universal’s engagement is off, and it’s being reported that the former may enter a relationship with Disney instead. How ironic will it be if DreamWorks’ distribution deal indeed ends up at Disney? And how pissed off will Jeff Katzenberg be? After all, he resigned from the Mouse House and then cofounded DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen and used the studio’s animation branch to parody and compete with Disney movies. Sure, DreamWorks Animation is now a separate entity from the main studio, so Katzenberg won’t have anything to do with Disney if the deal goes through. Well, except that his company will share a logo with a Disney-partnered production company. As much as Universal seemed an appropriate home for Spielberg and co., Disney seems completely inappropriate, in a way that’s like sleeping with your best friend’s ex.
Here’s what the rest of the blogosphere has to say about the potential partnership:
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It’s beginning to look a lot like 1991. A former Disney starlet is on track for a Best Actress nomination. One of cinema’s greatest villainous performances is a sure thing for an acting Oscar. And, due to a relatively disappointing crop of Academy Award contenders, an animated feature is being talked about for Best Picture. One major difference between now and 1991, however, is now there’s a separate Oscar category for Best Animated Feature. While that doesn’t mean Wall-E can’t be the first animated film nominated in the top category since Beauty and the Beast, it does potentially mean that it shouldn’t be.
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