Media Money
- Facebook's Biggest-Ever Holiday Shopping Season
- Facebook's New Dual Class Structure - Slow Steps to an IPO
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- Twilight, Inc., A Worldwide Craze
- Oprah to Leave Syndication in 2011
- Sony's E-Reader Shortage and the Digital Book Battle
- Salesforce.com Brings Facebook and Twitter's Social Capabilities to Businesses
- Sumner Redstone's Companies Face Off Yet Again
- Can YouTube Revolutionize Citizen Journalism?
- What MGM's Sale Could Say About Value of Content
RSS FEED
MOST SHARED
- Kuoni CEO Sees Recovery in Travel Sector
- Dubai Struggles to Ease Debt Fears; Investors Rattled
- Gold Retreats from Record High as Dollar Rebounds
- US Markets Bracing for Selloff On Worries About Dubai's Debt
- China Unveils Carbon Target Ahead of Copenhagen
- UK's Darling to Downgrade 2009 Growth Forecast
- Hyundai-Kia Targets Rapid China Growth in 2010
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
- No Thanksgiving Rest for Retailers in Sales Race
- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
- US Markets Bracing for Selloff on Dubai Debt Worries
- US Dollar Falls to 14-Year Low Against the Yen
- No Thanksgiving Rest for Retailers in Sales Race
- UK's Darling to Downgrade 2009 Growth Forecast
- US Companies Already Moving on Curbing Emissions
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
- Investing in Good Karma – and Making a Profit
- Retailers Should Believe in Christmas Miracles
- Bankruptcies Jump, Hitting Highest Level in Four Years
Text Size 
CNBC Correspondent
 |
CNBC.com |
DreamWorks Animation [DWA
Loading...
()
] showed some "Monster" strength in the third quarter, beating Wall Street projections with better than expected DVD sales and the ongoing performance of "Monsters vs. Aliens."
The movie debuted the prior quarter, but it continued to show internationally, adding $33.4 million to this quarter's revenue.
Since the DVD's release about a month ago, it's sold 4.6 million units, an impressive start, while the studio's two 2008 films together contributed some $57 million in revenue, despite the fact that they've been sitting on shelves for months.
This is a welcome exception to the industry-wide decline in DVD sales.
(Kids movies tend to hold up much better than adult films, which is why Disney's DVDs [DIS
Loading...
()
] and movies like Warner Bros. [TWX
Loading...
()
] "Harry Potter" franchise are bucking the trend.)
DreamWorks Animation's bad news comes from Broadway: Shrek the Musical is ending its run on the great white way in January. The company says it still has plans to monetize the musical, saying "we are confident these will be profitable." Among them is the launch of the touring company next summer.
Results were down from last year, but better than Wall Street expected considering it only has one theatrical release this year, compared to two last year (it's planning to start releasing five movies every two years. In the most recent quarter revenues came in at $135 million, down from $151 million in the year-ago quarter while net income dropped to $19.6 million from $37.3 million.
DreamWorks Animation and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg are heavily invested in 3-D, committed to releasing every one of its films in the format, with three 3-D movies coming out next year. This Monday Morgan Stanley's Ben Swinburne released a 90-page report that (among other things) digs into the benefits of 3-D to the movie studios. He points out that when the number of 3-D films doubles in 2010 from its 2009 levels, that will be the real test for the roughly 45 percent higher ticket price for 3-D screenings.
Swinburne says that the studio profitability of 3-D is still in question, but that both theater chains (RGC, CNK, CKEC) and studios (DIS, VIA, TWX, SNE) benefit from converting theaters to digital, which is the first step in setting up 3-D projection. Digital is a win-win: exhibitors can make last-minute decisions about what movie to show in which theater based on consumer demand, and it saves studios $3.5 to $5 million in distribution costs for a wide-release movie. But he also says that 60 percent of a film's audience needs to be 3-D for a studio to recoup additional 3-D costs, but for the eight big 3-D movies this year only 55 percent of audiences picked 3-D.
Studios and theater operators are counting on 3-D to differentiate the pricier theatrical experience from home video — to keep the movie theater experience alive. Some good news from Swinburne: 3-D is increasing pricing power for certain content. Now the studios just need the 20 3-D films next year to prove the power of the extra dimension.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes