All right, I don’t know much about the economy or stocks, but let me break down DreamWorks’ fourth quarter (which ended on December 31st, 2012) for you:
- DreamWorks reported a total revenue of $246.7 million.
- DreamWorks reported a net loss of $82.7 million.
- Ouch.
This loss in finances means that every DreamWorks stock dropped $0.98 per share. Overall for the year, DreamWorks stocks dropped $0.43 per share. This isn’t too horrible, especially as the recent recession has made almost all stocks drop, but with massive layoffs coming to the company, and with Me and My Shadow getting pushed back into development, it looks as though DreamWorks might be facing tough times.
“While Rise of the Guardians did not achieve the level of box office success that we have come to expect from a DreamWorks Animation film, we have made several changes to our future slate that we believe will position us well for the next two years,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, Chief Executive Officer of DreamWorks Animation. “We are now looking ahead to our next release — and our first under our new distribution agreement with Twentieth Century Fox — The Croods on March 22, 2013.”
DreamWorks continues to blame the relatively unsuccessful Rise of the Guardians for this loss in revenue, which was not the expected blockbuster hit.
Personally, I had to be dragged to this movie. Something about the storyline seemed very unappealing. I mean, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus in the same movie? I thought it was some obnoxious marketing ploy so they could feature the movie all year long. However, the storyline turned out to be surprisingly gripping. I was quickly engaged and I ended up loving the movie (dare I say it?) perhaps even more than Brave. Jack Frost is so cool. Rather than blaming the movie, I honestly think that DreamWorks marketing dropped the ball on this one.
Well, hopefully Katzenberg is right. DreamWorks films might be unusual, but so many of them are enjoyable. If anything were to happen to the company, I know that I along with many others would be quite depressed at the loss of their wonderfully quirky films.
At the moment, DreamWorks in banking on The Croods and Turbo to help pull them out of this hole that they have buried themselves in. Respectively, the movies will be released March 22nd and July 19th of this year. The Croods recently received a great reception at the Berlin Film Festival, so hopefully things will start getting a little better for the company this year.
For all of 2012, DreamWorks reported a revenue of $749.8 million and a net loss of $36.4 million.
Source: Animation World News
