Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for DreamWorks, the studio's officials do something colossally stupid — something that only makes the financially struggling studio look worse than it already did.
According to trade-paper reports, those in charge of DreamWorks' animation division have decided to part ways with Aardman Animation, the British firm that produced "Chicken Run" in 2000, "Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" in 2005, and last year's "Flushed Away."
DreamWorks pointed to the disappointing box-office performances of those films, which weren't exactly blockbusters. Of the three, only "Chicken Run" managed to break the $100 million mark. And the production budget for "Flushed Away" was considerably more than that.
Of course, DreamWorks hasn't exactly had a stellar scorecard for most of its other animated efforts, either. The "Shrek" franchise and the 2005 comedy "Madagascar" did well, but "The Prince of Egypt" (1998), "The Road to El Dorado" (2000) and "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" (2002) didn't exactly set the box office on fire.
On the other hand, the well-reviewed Aardman features brought some prestige to DreamWorks, especially when the "Wallace & Gromit" film won the best animated-feature Oscar.
But there's been bad blood between the studio and the animation firm after DreamWorks officials scrapped an in-development Aardman project, "The Tortoise and the Hare." Speculation has been that Aardman reluctantly rushed the CGI-animated "Flushed Away" into production to appease DreamWorks (other Aardman efforts were done with clay animation).
Aardman spokesman Arthur Sheriff insisted in an interview that the split was "amicable," telling Daily Variety that it occurred because "the business model of DreamWorks no longer suits Aardman and vice versa."
Hopefully, this means the Aardman folks can forge a new relationship with Pixar officials, who are pretty much running Disney's animated division these days. Pixar/Disney appears to have a much more creative and nourishing environment than DreamWorks.
Meanwhile, the news could affect one project Aardman already has in development — "Crood Awakening," a prehistoric comedy that was written by Monty Python veteran John Cleese.
As for DreamWorks, the studio recently joined forces with Paramount Pictures, which basically took it over — although DreamWorks Animation is supposedly a separate entity from the live-action division.
There is some speculation that the deal with Paramount likely means that DreamWorks Animation's upcoming slate will be filled with in-progress Paramount productions.
The studio has been relying on film spinoffs from the Nickelodeon cable network, such as the "Rugrats" movies, and isn't exactly considered to have a state-of-the-art or award-winning animation arm. On the other hand, Nickelodeon films don't cost much to make and have all turned a profit so far.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com