Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Dreamworks Dumps Wallace and Gromit

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the just-need-some-space dept.

Tiger4 writes "Aardman Animation and Dreamworks are splitting their relationship. Apparently Dreamworks feels they lost money on 'Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit' and 'Flushed Away.' So off to their separate ways they go. Aardman is going back to stop motion and clay, Dreamworks will be staying with their CGI ways." In addition, Aardman Animation announced that a new Wallace and Gromit film is in the works.

11 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. I say by MadUndergrad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    good riddance to CG where it's neither needed nor wanted.

    1. Re:I say by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Informative

      Quite a bit actually. Mostly just effects, but IMDB says "The movie contains a considerable amount of CGI of all kinds, from drifting fog through to the bunny rabbits in the Bun-Vac. In all, there are over 700 shots that contain some kind of digital effects work.". But spiritted away had a lot of computer generated backgrounds. This is when CGI is used properly - when you don't really notice it.

  2. Gromit by blowdog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh well Gromit lets have a cup of tea and a nice bit of cheese. The UK still loves you Ardman

  3. Dreamworks... by VAY · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...when winning an Oscar just isn't enough.

    --
    What luck for rulers that men do not think. - Adolf Hitler
    1. Re:Dreamworks... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oscars don't come with cheques
      No, but they used to come with a nice gift-bag, though.

      I've had it with this cheap-ass movie industry. If Dreamworks doesn't apologized to Wallace and Gromit, I'm going to strap some blinking cartoon characters around my body and go to the next Academy Awards ceremony.
      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  4. As Wallace might've said... by clickety6 · · Score: 5, Funny


    "...everybody knows Hollywood's made of cheese".

    "They're crackers! We've forgotten they're crackers!"

    "No more Americans -- more trouble than they're worth! I could just fancy some cheese, Gromit. What do you say? Cheddar?... All's well that ends well, that's what I say. Uhmm... I do like a bit of gorgonzola..."

    "It's the wrong company Gromit. And they've gone wrong"

    Plus raised eyebrows and a pained look from Gromit of course!

    --
    ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
  5. Smart Move? by FeldBum · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The best two animated films Dreamworks put out since Toy Story and they're dropping the production company? I guess we can look forward Shark Tale 2: Out of Water, Farther Over the Hedge and Madagascar II: Kung Fu Panda (one of those is actually the real name for a planned sequel). Didn't Were Rabbit win a freakin' Oscar?

  6. Re:How bad was it? by Knuckles · · Score: 5, Informative

    Exactly how unprofitable was it?

    Very, very unprofitable:

    Production Budget: $30,000,000
    Worldwide Gross: $185,724,838

    --
    "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
  7. Re:How bad was it? by gbobeck · · Score: 5, Funny
    So, lets do the math...

    30,000,000
    - 185,724,838
    ------------
    - 155,724,838
    This movie suffered a whopping $-155,724,838 loss.
    --
    Navicula hydraulica plena anguilarum est. Omnes castelli tuus nostri sunt. Ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta.
  8. Re:How bad was it? by Sexy+Bern · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wish I were that unsuccessful.

  9. Praise the Lord! by leptonhead · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wallace and Gromit and Aardman's other work are such uniquely funny creations (notably, with the exception of the horrid Flushed Away) that I am very happy to see them separate from the marketing machine of Dreamworks. Hopefully this means we will be getting more of that subtle, relaxed British humor as opposed to try-hard material based on focus-group approval ratings that you can expect from a U.S. behemoth like Dreamworks. Not to say that the latter doesn't have its place in the entertainment industry, because it does - as has been proven by the many excellent achievements of this company - but coupled together with Aardman, there is no synergy, just mutual deprecation.