Feature: The End of Dreamworks?
Founded 11 years ago by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, and David Geffen, Dreamworks was the first studio founded in as long as anyone could remember. They tore onto scene with quite a few hits, Meet the Parents, Gladiator, American Beauty, and of course, Spielberg's films, Catch Me if You Can, Minority Report...but what happened?
Founding Dreamworks SKG was a brave move by all three heavy hitters, you had three serious players, with quite a bit of credibility. Steven Spielberg is (without argument) one of the most successful directors in the entire history of Hollywood.
NBC Universal acquiring Dreamworks and its asset's, is this a good thing? Spielberg got his start at the lot back in the late 60s and early 70s, starting in television. It was there that Spielberg in the summer of 1975 invented the summer blockbuster with Jaws. The film did for the ocean what Psycho did to the shower in 1960. But Universal, itself recently acquired by NBC, whose parent company is GE has become another part of a long list of conglomerates.
What did Dreamworks SKG in? Some blame recent box office flops, The Island being on the top of that list with a $130 million dollar budget, and a $12.5 million dollar gross opening weekend. If you read my review earlier in this blog, you'll see that I felt the film was great, but unfortunately, its failure was in its poor marketing, your hardly saw a trailer or ad anywhere.
The trio SKG tried, and I wouldn't say completely failed, but its hard to keep a sinking boat afloat, no matter how great it is. What could happen to Dreamworks if its acquired, it could just become a specialty leg of the giant monster that is NBC Universal.
Founding Dreamworks SKG was a brave move by all three heavy hitters, you had three serious players, with quite a bit of credibility. Steven Spielberg is (without argument) one of the most successful directors in the entire history of Hollywood.
NBC Universal acquiring Dreamworks and its asset's, is this a good thing? Spielberg got his start at the lot back in the late 60s and early 70s, starting in television. It was there that Spielberg in the summer of 1975 invented the summer blockbuster with Jaws. The film did for the ocean what Psycho did to the shower in 1960. But Universal, itself recently acquired by NBC, whose parent company is GE has become another part of a long list of conglomerates.
What did Dreamworks SKG in? Some blame recent box office flops, The Island being on the top of that list with a $130 million dollar budget, and a $12.5 million dollar gross opening weekend. If you read my review earlier in this blog, you'll see that I felt the film was great, but unfortunately, its failure was in its poor marketing, your hardly saw a trailer or ad anywhere.
The trio SKG tried, and I wouldn't say completely failed, but its hard to keep a sinking boat afloat, no matter how great it is. What could happen to Dreamworks if its acquired, it could just become a specialty leg of the giant monster that is NBC Universal.
posted by Vatche at 12:47 AM
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