STUNNER! Animated film studio makes LESS money when it doesn't have new animated film in marketplace!!!

In a 'no shit, Sherlock' development, Dreamworks Animation is reporting a 60% drop in profits for the first quarter of 2011, when compared to the first quarter of 2010. What could have caused this astonishing statistic? Dreamworks Animation was most burdened this quarter by the lackluster box office performance of... oh wait. That's right... Dreamworks Animation had a surprisingly strong first quarter of 2010 when they were feasting on the unexpectedly strong box office performance of How to Train Your Dragon, which grossed $494 million worldwide. And in the same quarter of 2009, Monsters vs. Aliens had a robust worldwide take of $381 million. But for the same quarter of this current year, Dreamworks saw softer-than-expected grosses from the theatrical release of... NOTHING!!! They didn't have an animated film out this quarter!! They haven't had a theatrical release since Megamind back in November of 2010. Los Angeles Times calls that one a 'misfire', which I suppose is what you call a $130 million picture than grosses $321 million worldwide (it was much cheaper than the other recent Dreamworks animated films, which all cost about $170 million). Point being, let's not sell off your Dreamworks stock and/or demand that the company be sold yet again. I'm sure once the theatrical animation film studio will be just fine once they actually have a theatrical animated film (such as Kung Fu Panda 2 opening in exactly one month) to offer.

Scott Mendelson