DreamWorks' SHREK

[ohmahaaha]

It's more just a curiousity issue and I don't want to sit through the movie wondering IF they are going to make an appearance, I'd rather knmow upfront that there is no chance that person will appear.

If you're sitting there for 90 minutes wondering if such & such is going to appear, then the movie makers have failed ... you should just like sit & enjoy regardless.

[eddievalient]

Just got home from seeing this and I loved it. This is what the third film should have been. However, I still think Shrek 2 is the best Dreamworks film, if only because it has, IMO, one of the best climaxes in cinema history (starting with the line "We're going to need flour. Lots and lots of flour").

Dreamworks has now done four good movies in a row (Kung Fu Panda, Monsters VS Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon and this) and Megamind looks great. I hope their streak continues for a long time. I know they can do good work and it frustrates me when they don't.

[EricJ]

Might want to prepare for frustration--MM still looks like they're selectively showing us the "good half" before the plot kicks in.

[Bill1978]

Thanks for that Lotso. And ohmahaaha, I'm sure I can sitt through this thing and potentially enjoy it, but just like with any other sequel it sits in the back of my mind if someone is going to pop up. It's kinda like when a T V series ends, will some past character make a cameo appearance. Doesn't mean the story is boring, it just means I would like to see them again.

[Ben]

And the final "It ain't Ogre..." release poster still says TFC--

Nope, actually, it still said "Forever After". You need to read the contractual credit small print (as I keep saying). On ALL the posters, that's never changed!

Anyway, we know now...and surprise, surprise...it's "Shrek Forever After". I stand vindicated!

[American_dog_2008]

I just read the fourth movie did not do well at the Box Office.

[Locall]

Article by BoxOfficeMojo

Shrek Forever After debuted far, far below the mighty starts of some of its predecessors, grossing an estimated $71.3 million on approximately 9,500 screens at 4,359 locations, which was the broadest launch ever for an animated movie.

Shrek the Third still holds the record for highest-grossing animated opening with $121.6 million, followed by Shrek 2 at $108 million and The Simpsons Movie at $74 million. Shrek Forever After ranks fourth on that list, although, in terms of estimated attendance, it would barely make the Top 20.

Audience erosion was to be expected for Shrek Forever After, given the historic difficulty in maintaining attention for a blockbuster franchise over time combined with the mixed reception for Shrek the Third. However, opening 41 percent lower than last movie despite the 3D ticket price boost was alarmingly severe. In terms of attendance, the slip was even more extreme: down 59 percent.

Shrek Forever After played at a record number of 3D sites (2,373), which accounted for 61 percent of business. Included in that was a record IMAX site count (194), and IMAX made up seven percent of the gross. The 3D and IMAX ticket price premiums added around $13 million. That means Forever After may have had the least-attended opening yet for a Shrek movie. Though the first movie's debut was the lowest-grossing at $42.3 million, that was the equivalent of an estimated 7.5 million tickets or more than Forever After's estimate.

Though redubbed "The Final Chapter" by its marketing, Shrek Forever After came off as just another Shrek to moviegoers. Pushing an alternate version of the characters amounted to a fantasia on the franchise, but it didn't appear to move the story forward, appealing mostly to the core audience and few else. The campaign banked on 3D to give the movie extra kick, but 3D is not a draw in and of itself. It's shown to be mostly a revenue enhancer, and the movies themselves are the real attractions. If a movie doesn't seem special like Forever After, the 3D price premium may even be a deterrent.

Distributor Paramount Pictures' exit polling indicated that 59 percent of Shrek Forever After's audience was female and 56 percent was under 25 years old.

[LotsoA113]

Interesting. But that's what you get when you have a bad third chapter AND try to milk things too far.

Oh, Ben. Maybe you haven't seen the film yet..but if you have, give us ONE word to describe the film. For me it would be Better

[Ben]

I'll catch Shrek at somepoint. I still need to see Dragon!

I've kind of given up going to the movies except for stuff I'm really, really keen on seeing. I just can't be bothered with the eating, the talking, the cell phone lights, the cell phones going off, more talking (on cell phones), rude people, other people translating entire scenes to other people, soft focus, wrong framing, bad prints, 20+minutes of commercials and trailers (and then not the trailers you were hoping to see), and the prices (now inflating again because of 3D screens, which I don't really even like).

So...rather than spend a lot of money on parking, tickets, food, I'm finding that I'm waiting just a couple of months longer to watch a better defined Blu-ray Disc on my home theater set-up, without those distractions and in the company of friends who are as interested in watching the movie as I am.

But I may well try and get out to see Shrek 4ever After (I can't believe Katz & Co didn't play that title trick after Madagascar) before it vanishes.

From what I've heard, though, "better" does seem to be the word.

[droosan]

I'll catch Shrek at somepoint. I still need to see Dragon!

Shrek Forever After was #1 in the U.S. box office last weekend, while How to Train Your Dragon (in its 8th week of release!) was #9.

That's right: Dreamworks Animation has two animated features in the top-ten box-office, at the same time!

There have been other occasions with two animated features in the top ten .. but never before have both come from the same studio. Congrats to everyone at DreamWorks!

-----------

I enjoyed Shrek Forever After quite a bit .. it was a much better movie than The Third .. and a satisfying 'Final Chapter' to the franchise (assuming it remains such).

[GeorgeC]

Ben pretty much echoes my sentiments, too.

What's the point of bothering with the theater experience most of the time?

It's expensive, inconvenient to many people, and in the end you can enjoy things more cozily and cheaper at home, too!

The films that have been coming out lately.... not so good.

I'm really not looking forward to more sequels and the summer looks like a yawn-fest so far.

Most of the noteworthy big-tent films have come out already. I haven't even seen Iron Man 2 yet, let alone many of the films that were released earlier in the year.

(Probably will catch Tales of Undersea in August. Not much else has captured my interest.)

I really don't know that I'm going to bother with Toy Story 3 to be honest. 2 was enough for me.

I even skipped the Toy Story BDs because the last 2 DVD releases (and especially the Ultimate Story Toy Box!) were far superior...

The good news is really coming on the home video front with releases of The Man With No Name Trilogy on Blu ray and a couple of other goodies later in the year.

[Jake]

Nothing can replace the theatre experience for me... I love going opening night when there's usually a big crowd in attendance. I have had a few bad experiences (a midnight viewing of "The Crazies" drew a teenage audience of chronic texters), but otherwise, the more the merrier. I love when audiences are engaged: laughing together, screaming together, etc. I'm usually disappointed if there are only a few people in the theatre. I saw "How To Train Your Dragon" five times and I enjoyed it the most when it was sold-out or kid-ridden. The younger set paid extremely close attention to that film, and their comments were often enlightened, if not hilarious.

[Whippet Angel]

Yup, that's what I like about going to the theater too. I've had a bad experience here and there, but it hasn't been enough to completely deter me from going.

Note: If you happen to be close to an offender, you can always ask them (nicely) to stop whatever it is they're doing. I've learned that it usually pays to be polite. "When I saw How to Train Your Dragon", there was a group of teenagers directly behind us that would NOT stop talking. They were really loud, and about 20 minutes into the film I'd had enough, and was about to turn around and say something rude to them (my temper gets the best of me in these situations ). Before I had a chance my boyfriend turned around and politely asked them if they could please stop talking, as they were disrupting the film. They quickly complied, and were quiet for the rest of the film. I'm very glad he said something first, because they probably wouldn't have if it had been me.

[Ben]

Oh, don't get me wrong...I've said in the past that I love the basic communal expericnce of watching a movie in a packed house with the audience totally engaged.

Comedies and adventure films seem to be best, with big laughs or big gasps of excitement filling the air at appropriate intervals, and nights out like those are priceless. I don't really even mind kids shows, since if the film is any good, they'll be as enrapt as I am!

But these experiences are becoming more few and far apart, and it's just started feeling like a bit of a waste of time to go and see anything that I'm not that jazzed up about. I mean, films on the whole these days are lousy, and if it's going to be something good I'm likely to pick up the disc release anyhoo.

So it's the really big anticipated movies I save my money for seeing, where the communal experience comes in. But so often that means putting up with texting phones and people like Whippet mentions that it's just got to the point where I'm more likely to wait for the disc. I just don't get how people pay their ticket prices and then disrupt the movie for themselves and others around them.

Whippet, you're lucky your boyfriend said something to those kids first...they'd sadly have likely told you where to go if you'd tried to say something - but why should you have to say something in the first place? And that's what I meant by "rude people" in my post above: during Casino Royale, I got told to "f-off" by some teenagers who were simply shouting through the whole first half, and I've actually been pelted by popcorn after, politely, "shushing" a loud crowd as another movie's opening was playing, since they didn't seem to have any intention of shutting up.

Various other things are just not as good as going to the movies used to be either: presentation has gone downhill, and even though we now have digital prints, they often only offered in 3D, which is a format I'm just not that interested in as I don't think it works on "flat", average sized movie screens. Giant, Imax 3D? Yeah, sure, it's an event, and the presentation and audiences seem to get that. But I can't trek across London and pay upwards of $40 every time I want to see one of those!

So...while I do love the right kind of movie crowds and prefer to sit in a big audience watching a new film, I just find the general disrespect in people to be something I don't have to put up with at home, where pin-sharp Blu-ray offers better picture, and friends provide better company.

But...if others still enjoy it, I'm very happy. Seeing a movie on a big screen with big sound is how they are meant to be enjoyed!

[James]

Better late than never!

http://animatedviews.com/2010/shrek-forever-after-film/

(Sorry for the delay. Shrek 4 came out the day I left for Disney World, and I just got back earlier this week.)