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According to the propaganda of DreamWorks Animation Studio, The Wanderings of the Rat Country is the crystallization of wisdom created by the strong behind-the-scenes production teams of Shrek and Madagascar, and will create a brand-new animation that has never been involved in the field of animation. forms of art.

The perfect combination of computer CG and clay animation!

In the words of Jeff Katzenberg, it not only has charming story ideas and rich emotional irrigation, but also has rich imagination and creativity, as well as top computer technology.

DreamWorks has big ambitions, and wants to turn Wanderings in the Rat Country into a new Shrek series, or at least a new Madagascar.

The film introduces a world made up almost entirely of rats, just like human society, only the rats walk there.

The overall plot still follows the consistent style of DreamWorks animation spoofing other movies, and the characters are exaggerated yet realistic.

But the Shrek series has made spoof to the extreme, and spoof is no longer a new element.

Moreover, DreamWorks introduced the British Aardman Studio as a partner in The Wanderings of the Rat Country. The banner of the promotion was computer animation, but in fact it was an animated feature film made of clay and computer.

Frankly speaking, claymation feature films are not enjoyable.

Ronan also couldn't understand, with Jeff Katzenberg's many years of experience in animation production, why did he make such a bad choice?

If The Wanderings of the Rat Country was a pure computer animation, it would definitely not look as awkward as it does on the big screen. Even if it is as rough as the first Shrek effect, the effect will be ten times better. .

It can only be said that Aardman Studios invested a lot of money in this project.

As we all know, the most critical part of DreamWorks Animation Studio's success today is cost control.

Dreamworks Animation Studio’s past animated feature film projects, especially the first non-sequel, had a production budget of around 60 to 70 million US dollars.

This can effectively reduce investment risks and reduce the difficulty of capital recovery.

But since the success of the Shrek series, Jeff Katzenberg inevitably wants to break his wrist with Pixar Studios, the recognized leader in the industry. Left and right animation big production.

This is also a major reason why Ronanken negotiated terms with DreamWorks and gave up DreamWorks Animation Studio's animation feature film distribution rights in advance.

If DreamWorks Animation insists on completing Jeff Katzenberg's big investment and big production plan, the next few years will be an extremely difficult time for DreamWorks Animation.

Frankly speaking, in terms of plot alone, The Wanderings in the Kingdom of Rats is no worse than Shrek 3, which was released by Embassy Pictures this summer, and was even better.

Similar to other animated feature films, the film is mainly inspirational and supplemented by humor. Although the story takes place in the rat country, it tries to make it as authentic and credible as possible.

The protagonist here is of course a mouse. This high-end pet mouse who used to live in the upper class is actually very lonely. He lives alone in a huge manor, representing the highest consumption level in this country. He once thought that what he lived was the so-called The Good Life.

But he has no family, no real friends, and has to talk or play with toys,

Like a poor old man living in a lonely castle.

Since he has never been to the outside world, the pet mouse has never been yearning. He lives in a beautiful and colorful bubble... However, when he is washed into the sewers of London, he is taken to a completely different world. In the world, I finally realized how boring my previous life was.

The story is set in a consistent Hollywood style.

It's a pity that the combination of clay and CG used in the film is really not very good for the audience.

On the first day of its release in North America, DreamWorks' ambitious The Wanderings of the Rat Country released a squib. It only earned $4.71 million in a single day. The Chain Saw 4 is under the pressure, and the latter received 6.71 million US dollars in a single daily.

This weekend, the market is relatively deserted, and the films that are really competing fiercely at the front end of the film market are The Wanderings of the Rat Country released in the first week and Chain Saw 4 released in the next weekend.

The former was boosted by the Saturday rest day, and the box office skyrocketed that day. With a score of 7.42 million US dollars, it grabbed the single-day box office champion from the latter.

But this is just a flash in the pan of The Wanderings in the Rat Country.

After the first weekend in November, The Wanderings of the Rat Country only got 17.81 million US dollars in 3890 theaters in North America. Compared with the production cost of 150 million US dollars, DreamWorks wants to return This is nowhere in sight.

This box office result can only make The Wanderings in the Kingdom of Rats fall to the second place in the box office rankings immediately after its opening.

Chain Saw 4 won the North American box office championship this weekend with US$18.91 million, and achieved the two consecutive North American box office championships of the Chain Saw series for the first time.

Including the harvest of the previous four working days, this bloody massacre horror film was released in North America for ten days, and the cumulative box office has reached 58.99 million US dollars.

Although it is very difficult for the North American box office to exceed 100 million in the end, it is still no problem to exceed 80 million US dollars.

And after another week of overseas screenings, the global box office of the film has exceeded 100 million US dollars.

Relying solely on the box office, Chain Saw 4 has achieved huge profits.

The days of The Wanderings of the Rat Country were not so easy. What DreamWorks needed to do most was to cut off the wrists of the strong men so that they could stop losses in time.

DreamWorks Animation Studio's first animated feature film after leaving Relativity Entertainment, although it has only been released in North America for one weekend, whether it is DreamWorks itself or other companies in the industry, it is very clear that The Wanderings in the Kingdom of Rats has Failed.

Why is this so?

Glendale, in the office of DreamWorks Industrial Park, Spielberg looked at Jeff Katzenberg, full of doubts: Isn't this an animated feature film based on the model of Shrek? ? And the investment is higher and the production is more sophisticated, why did it fail?

Jeff Katzenberg was silent for the time being. The Wanderings in the Rat Country hit him very hard. Since the establishment of DreamWorks Animation Studio, it was the first time that it involved a top-level production with a production scale of 150 million US dollars. But it ended in failure...

Spielberg sighed softly and didn't say anything more. He could see that Katzenberg was very remorseful.

After a while, Jeff Katzenberg said slowly: Steven, the responsibility for the failure of the project The Wanderings in the Rat Country lies with me. I made a wrong decision. I shouldn't have $10,000 investment into Aardman Studios to use their clay animation technology.”

Hearing these words, Spielberg still didn't mean to intervene. After all, he also agreed to introduce the funds of Aardman Studio.

In the original consideration, the cooperation with Aardman Studio can effectively reduce the risk and allow the animation feature film to integrate the two directors.

Jeff Katzenberg continued: I only considered reducing investment risk, ignoring market research. The results after the release of The Wanderings in the Rat Country very clearly show that the audience is quite resistant to the form of clay animation films. ...

Spielberg nodded slightly, and said: The form of clay animation is indeed not suitable for the market of large-scale animated films. What about the contract with Aardman Studio?

Jeff Katzenberg has enough determination: I have stopped all cooperation with Aardman Studios, DreamWorks Animation Studio will no longer cooperate with Aardman Studios, and the rest of the planned animated films project, completely abandoning clay animation technology.”

You are more professional than me in the field of animation production. Spielberg said sincerely: Jerry Fu, it is still up to you to make the decision.

Katzenberg said: Don't worry, Steven. I will never allow DreamWorks Animation to have a second failure like this.

Spielberg sighed softly, and said: I always believe in the strength of DreamWorks Animation Studio.

I don't know why, I'm kind of uneasy. Jeff Katzenberg said suddenly: Dreamworks Animation Studios has been working smoothly with Relativity Entertainment. The Shrek series, Shark Gang and Madagascar were both huge successes, but the first one was a flop after breaking away from Relativity Entertainment.

As soon as the words came out, Spielberg's face changed instantly, and he couldn't help thinking a little bit: Is Katzenberg accusing DreamWorks of having problems with its publicity and distribution capabilities?

Jeff Katzenberg saw the change in Spielberg's face, and immediately guessed that he had misunderstood what he meant, and quickly explained: Steven, I have no other meaning.

The balance of power between the two giants of DreamWorks is actually very fragile, and Katzenberg does not want to easily break this hard-won balance: I just think that Ronan Anderson is willing to end the cooperation with DreamWorks Animation Studio early. Isn't it because the next few animation projects have problems and risks that I don't understand?

Spielberg thought about it carefully for a while: Based on my 40 years of experience in the industry, no one, including investors, directors and producers, can clearly determine the prospects of most film projects. Maybe the work of DreamWorks Animation Studio projects do have risks, but which movie is less risky to make?

Jeff Katzenberg's confidence is built up with one successful animated feature film after another, among which there are too many famous works and films with too many celebrity film histories.

These words quickly made Jeff Katzenberg abandon his doubts. Now that the plan of DreamWorks Animation Studio has been formulated, it must be carried out unswervingly, and at most some appropriate adjustments should be made.

Both Spielberg and Katzenberg are people with sufficient execution, and they don't think there is a problem with the plan of DreamWorks Animation Studio. The failure of The Wanderings in the Rat Country is just a case.