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With no major holiday movies, DreamWorks Animation profit drops 65%

By Richard Verrier
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DreamWorks Animation SKG reported a 65% drop in profit in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago, a widely anticipated swing because the company did not have a major holiday release to power sales at the beginning of the year.

The Glendale-based computer animation studio reported that it earned $21.7 million, or 24 cents a share, on revenues of $162.1 million during three months ended March 31. That compares with a profit of $62 million, or 71 cents a share, from $263 million in sales during the first quarter of 2009.

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Nonetheless, the results exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 23 cents per share and revenue of $133 million.

‘2010 is off to a strong start, thanks in large part to the performance of ‘How to Train Your Dragon,’ DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg in a statement. He called the film the company’s next franchise and announced plans to release a sequel in 2013.
‘Dragon’ was released at the end of the first quarter, on March 26. The 3-D movie had a soft opening but has gained traction at the box office, garnering nearly $375 million in ticket sales to date.

-- Richard Verrier

Company Town Blog
Richard Verrier

Richard Verrier is investigations editor for Arts and Entertainment at the Los Angeles Times. He has been with The Times since 2001 and has run our Company Town since 2016. After stints at the St. Petersburg Times and the Orlando Sentinel in Florida, Verrier joined the paper as a reporter, and for many years covered all aspects of the entertainment industry before turning to editing. He oversees the Company Town coverage while working to guide and edit investigative and enterprise reporting across the entertainment team, collaborating with writers and editors from all departments. He is a native of Montreal and a graduate from the University of Toronto and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

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