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THR: Japan's SoftBank in Talks to Buy DreamWorks Animation




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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6255
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 5:57 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, I got this as breaking news from Wall Street Journal from Twitter yesterday, I was surprised to read about this, but I'm not sure what to say about this. Confused
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13556
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 7:05 pm Reply with quote
For dog lovers, SoftBank is noted for their commercials that has a white Hokkaido/Ainu dog.
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chronos02



Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 267
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 7:18 pm Reply with quote
Don't remind us of Lily Bergamo T-T.

On topic, maybe this will approach Japanese Animation to the western market's Cinemas a bit? I can always hope...
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KH91



Joined: 17 May 2013
Posts: 6176
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 8:18 pm Reply with quote
Oh.

Tiger & Bunny ads are serving a purpose now.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 8:53 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Dreamworks Animation founder and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg would allegedly sign a contract to stay with the company for five years.


Goodbye, Softbank... Razz

(Seriously, it is reflecting the current state of the animation industry that only foreign countries WANT Dreamworks anymore.
It's only overseas ticket sales that keep those danged Madagascar sequels going anyway, like the French with Jerry Lewis.)
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14761
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 10:29 pm Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:

For dog lovers, SoftBank is noted for their commercials that has a white Hokkaido/Ainu dog.


"White family" - Meet Japan's Most Popular Ad Family Through 6 years and 130+ spots, 'The Whites' remain No. 1 with viewers

Besides the white dog father, stars Aya Ueto and made a household name out of emigrant African American actor Dante Carver ("in 2008, Carver was voted the most popular male actor in a TV commercial in Japan, beating Takuya Kimura, who had previously held the top position for eight consecutive years").




And of course, their maid:



And since Softbank now owns Sprint, Sprint has its own weird family.


EricJ2 wrote:
Quote:
Dreamworks Animation founder and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg would allegedly sign a contract to stay with the company for five years.


Goodbye, Softbank... Razz

(Seriously, it is reflecting the current state of the animation industry that only foreign countries WANT Dreamworks anymore.
It's only overseas ticket sales that keep those danged Madagascar sequels going anyway, like the French with Jerry Lewis.)


Dreamworks still earn money. How to Train Your Dragon 2 pulled in $611 million this summer, and even the underperforming Mr. Peabody & Sherman grossed $273 million worldwide.

It's just that Softbank is a maverick - it's not a typical Japanese company. Follows after its maverick founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who has ambitions going beyond Japan and taking on the world and even mandates English to be the company common language (especially in order to rise up its executive ranks).
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 10:53 pm Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
EricJ2 wrote:
Seriously, it is reflecting the current state of the animation industry that only foreign countries WANT Dreamworks anymore.
It's only overseas ticket sales that keep those danged Madagascar sequels going anyway, like the French with Jerry Lewis.)


Dreamworks still earn money. How to Train Your Dragon 2 pulled in $611 million this summer, and even the underperforming Mr. Peabody & Sherman grossed $273 million worldwide.


And, as more increasingly of late, we emphasize "Worldwide"--
Domestically, MP&S only earned $111M--ie. less than half--of that, and inspired its stockholders to riot. (Which generally happens with most underperforming once-trendy companies, but particularly those living in denial.)

Well, they said they wanted an "Asian market", just a surprise they got a Japanese one instead of the Chinese one they were aiming for.
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Lycosyncer



Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Posts: 526
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 7:23 pm Reply with quote
With DreamWorks Animation having plenty of underperformers under their belt in recent years, it's not surprising to hear news of a buyout actually happening.

It's such a shame too because I really am a fan of the How to Train Your Dragon series.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14761
PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 12:28 am Reply with quote
EricJ2 wrote:

And, as more increasingly of late, we emphasize "Worldwide"--


It is for any Hollywood film these days --movie budgets not going down, then the Great Recession only slowly recovering, yet multiplex cinemas exploding in other countries-- so there's where room for money to be made.


EricJ2 wrote:

Well, they said they wanted an "Asian market", just a surprise they got a Japanese one instead of the Chinese one they were aiming for.


Then Japan has to make Kung Fu Panda for China.
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