Jeffrey Katzenberg on Shrek 3
DreamWorks CEO thinks animated movie will get repeat viewers
Shrek the Third, Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 3 are all opening in a 3-week period. But Jeffrey Katzenberg thinks Shrek the Third will win, and why.
(Source: www.yahoo.com)
May, as always, is a busy month for movies and this year promises to be no different. Sony is unleashing their live-action Spider-Man 3 on May 4th, DreamWorks Animation releases Shrek the Third on May 18th, and Disney brings Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End to theatres on May 25th. These are all tentpole flicks that have made over a billion dollars for their respective companies. With such a tight release schedule for three such important movies, it's obvious that there will be winners and losers this summer.
But DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg claims not to be worried by the tight release schedule. He thinks the box office winner will be the movie that gets the repeat business.
"Everyone is going to see Shrek. Everyone is going to see Pirates. Everyone is going to see Spider-Man," Katzenberg told investors at a Bank of America conference. "The difference is which one of those movies are going to get multiple viewings."
So why does Katzenberg think that Shrek the Third will take the top honours in this clash of the franchise titans?
"We are the only family film, the only PG-rated movie and we are 81 minutes long," he says. "That pretty much means we are going to tend to get one-and-a-half to two shows for every one of theirs because they are longer films."
The Shrek franchise has made $1.4 billion dollars in worldwide ticket sales for DreamWorks Animation. On the other hand, the Spider-Man series has made $1.6 billion for Sony, while Pirates of the Caribbean has earned $1.7 billion for Disney.
In other Shrek news, Rotten Tomatoes has an interview with Amy Poehler, who voices the role of Snow White in Shrek the Third.
"I'm playing her very bossy," Poehler says. "I thought the take on it for me would be that Snow White seems to have a lot of people under her that she's in charge of, so I thought she would be a little Type A. She kinda tells it like it is and she bosses everybody around."
Snow White is one of four paramilitary princesses, Rapunzel (Maya Rudolph), Cinderella (Amy Sedaris), and Sleeping Beauty (Cheri Oteri) who team up with Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) to fight off an attempted coup d'etat plotted by the evil Prince Charming (Rupert Everett).
Poehler believes that, despite her character's seeming second-string status to the stars of Shrek the Third, her character is an important part of the movie.
"There are no minor roles, are there?" she says. "I'm going to say not only is it a major role, it's . . . what's higher than a major role? General? It's a four star general role."
You can read the entire interview over here.
