Chapter 970： Put off a dumb gun

According to the propaganda of DreamWorks Animation Studio, "Wandering Mouse Country" is the crystallization of wisdom created by the strong team behind the production of "Shrek" and "Madagascar", and will create a new kind of animation that has never been involved in the field. forms of art.

The perfect combination of computer CG and clay animation!

In the words of Jeff Katzenberg, he has not only charming story ideas and rich emotional watering, but also rich imagination and creativity, as well as top computer technology.

DreamWorks is ambitious and wants to make "The Wandering Mouse Country" into a new "Shrek" series. No matter how bad it is, a new "Madagascar".

The film introduces a world made up almost entirely of mice, just like a human society, except that mice are walking there.

The overall plot still follows the usual style of DreamWorks animation spoofing other movies, and the characters are exaggerated and true.

But the "Shrek" series has taken the spoof to the extreme, and the spoof is no longer a new element.

Moreover, DreamWorks introduced the British Adman Studio as a partner in "The Wandering Rat Country". The banner of the promotion was computer animation, but in fact it was an animated feature film made of clay and computer.

Frankly speaking, the clay animation feature film is not likable.

Ronan also wondered why, with Jeff Katzenberg’s years of experience in animation production, why he made such a bad choice?

If "Mouse Country Wanderers" is a purely computer animation, it will definitely not look as awkward as it appears on the big screen, even if the effect is as rough as the first part of "Shrek", the effect will be ten times better. .

I can only say that Adelman Studio invested a lot of money in this project.

As we all know, the most critical part of DreamWorks Animation Studio's success today is cost control.

DreamWorks Animation Studio’s past animated feature film projects, especially the first non-sequel, have a production budget of around 60 to 70 million US dollars.

This can effectively reduce investment risks and reduce the difficulty of fund recovery.

But since the success of the "Shrek" series, Jeff Kasenberg has inevitably wanted to break hands with the recognized leader in the industry, Pixar Studios, and later set up multiple investments in 150 million US dollars. Animation production around.

This is also one of the main reasons why Ronanken negotiated terms with DreamWorks and gave up the distribution rights of DreamWorks Animation Studios' animated feature films in advance.

If DreamWorks Animation Studio insists on completing the big investment and production plan of Jeremy Katzenberg, the next few years will be an extremely difficult time for DreamWorks Animation Studio.

Frankly speaking, the story of "Wandering Mouse Country" alone is not worse than "Shrek 3", which was released by Embassy Pictures this summer, or even better.

The film is similar to other animated feature films. It is mainly inspirational, supplemented by humor and funny. Although the story takes place in "Mouse Country", try to make it true and believable.

The protagonist here is of course a mouse. This high-end pet mouse that used to live in the upper class is actually very lonely. He lives alone in a huge manor, which represents the highest level of consumption in this country. He once thought that what he had lived was the so-called The "good life".

But he has no family, no real friends, and has to talk or play games with toys, just like a poor old man living in a lonely castle.

Since he has never been to the outside world, the pet rat never yearns for it. He lives in a beautiful and colorful bubble... However, when he was rushed into the sewers of London, he was taken to a completely different In the world, I finally realized how boring life was before.

The story sets a consistent Hollywood style.

It is a pity that the combination of clay and CG used in the movie is not very good for audiences.

On the first day of its release in North America, DreamWorks’ many ambitions of "The Wandering Mouse Country" was put off. It only earned $4.71 million in a single day. Not only did it fail to win the North American box office chart that day, it was also released for the second week. "Chain Saw 4" was under pressure, and the latter received $6.71 million in a single day.

This weekend, the market was relatively deserted, and the movies that really competed fiercely at the front end of the film market were also "Mouse Country Wanderers" released the first week and "Chain Saw 4" released the following weekend.

The former received a bonus on Saturday’s rest day, and the box office skyrocketed that day, with a result of 7.42 million US dollars, grabbing the single-day box office champion from the latter.

But this is just a flash in the pan in "The Wandering Mouse Country"

After the first weekend in November, "Mouse Country Wanderers" received only US$17.81 million in 3890 theaters in North America. Compared with the production cost of US$150 million, DreamWorks wants to get back This is nowhere in sight.

This box office result can only make "The Wandering Mouse Country" the second place on the box office rankings when it opened.

"Saw Cry 4" won the North American box office list this weekend for $18.91 million, and for the first time achieved two consecutive North American box office titles in the "Chasaw Cry" series.

With the gains of the previous four working days, this **** killing horror film was released in North America for ten days, and the box office has reached 58.99 million US dollars.

Although it is very difficult for the North American box office to exceed 100 million in the end, it is not a problem to exceed 80 million US dollars.

After another week of screenings overseas, the current global box office of the film has exceeded 100 million US dollars.

Relying only on the box office, "Chain Saw 4" has achieved huge profits.

The days of "The Wandering Mouse Country" are not so easy. What DreamWorks needs to do most is to break the arm of the strong man in order to stop the loss in time.

DreamWorks Animation Studios left the first animated feature film of Relativity Entertainment. Although it has only been released in North America for a weekend, both DreamWorks itself and other companies in the industry are very clear that "Mouse Country Wanderers" has been Failed.

"Why is this so?"

Glendale, in the office of the DreamWorks Industrial Park, Spielberg looked at Jeff Katzenberg, full of doubts: "Isn't this a feature-length animated film created in the mode of "Shrek" ? And the investment is higher, the production is more sophisticated, why did it fail?"

Jeff Katzenberg was silent for the time being. "The Wandering Mouse Country" hit him very hard. For the first time since the establishment of DreamWorks Animation Studios, it involved a top-level production of 150 million US dollars. It ended in failure...

Spielberg sighed softly and said nothing more, he could see that Katzenberg was very blaming himself.

After a while, Jeff Kasenberg spoke slowly: "Steven, the responsibility for the failure of the "Wandering Rat" project lies with me. I made the wrong decision. I should not save 7000. Ten thousand dollars of investment was introduced to Adman Studio and used their clay animation technology."

Hearing these words, Spielberg still didn't mean to interrupt. After all, he agreed with the introduction of the funds from the Adman studio.

The original consideration, cooperating with Adelman Studio, can effectively reduce the risk and allow the animation feature film to merge the two directors.

Jeff Kasenberg continued: "I only considered reducing investment risks and ignored market research. The results after the release of "The Wandering Rat Country" clearly showed that the audience was quite resistant to this form of clay animation film. ..."

Spielberg nodded slightly, and said: "Clay animation is really not suitable for the large-scale animation film market. Later, the contract with Adman Studios?"

Jeff Katzenberg is determined enough: "I have stopped all cooperation with Adman Studios. DreamWorks Animation Studios will no longer cooperate with Adman Studios. The rest of the planned animation films Project, completely abandon the clay animation technology."

"You are more professional than me in the field of animation production." Spielberg said sincerely: "Jerifer, it is up to you to decide in this respect."

Kasenberg said, "Don't worry, Steven. I will never allow DreamWorks Animation Studios to appear for a second time with such a failure."

Spielberg sighed slightly and said: "I always believe in the strength of DreamWorks Animation Studio."

"I don't know why, I'm kind of uneasy." Jeff Katzenberg said suddenly: "DreamWorks Animation Studios and Relativity Entertainment have been working smoothly, "Shrek" series, "Shark Gang" And "Madagascar" have achieved great success, but after leaving the relativity entertainment the first film failed."

As soon as these words came out, Spielberg's face instantly changed, and he couldn't help but think a little bit: Is Katzenberg accusing DreamWorks of problems with its propaganda and distribution capabilities?

Jeff Katzenberg saw the change in Spielberg's face, and immediately guessed that he had misunderstood his meaning, and quickly explained: "Steven, I have no other meaning."

The balance of power between the two giants of DreamWorks is actually very fragile. Katzenberg doesn’t want to easily break this hard-won balance: “I just think Ronan Anderson is willing to end the cooperation with DreamWorks Animation Studio early. Isn't it because the next few animation projects have problems and risks that I don't understand?"

Spielberg carefully considered for a while: "With my 40 years of experience in the industry, no one, including investors, directors and producers, can clearly determine the prospects of most film projects. Maybe DreamWorks Animation work The studio’s project is indeed risky, but which movie will be less risky?"

Jeff Katzenberg’s confidence is built from one successful animated feature film after another. There are too many famous works and too many celebrity movies.

These words quickly let Jerevor Katzenberg abandon that doubt. Now that the DreamWorks Animation Studio's plan has been formulated, it must be executed unswervingly and at most appropriate adjustments.

Both Spielberg and Katzenberg are characters who have enough execution. They don't think DreamWorks Animation Studio's plan is a problem. The failure of "Mouse Country Wanderers" is just a case.