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The studio reports a crushing fourth quarter loss. Story by Matt Cummings Apparently, not everyone loved DreamWorks Animation's Penguins of Madagascar and Mr. Peabody and Sherman as much as we at SJF did. Although both films made nearly $300 million each, it apparently wasn't enough to offset costs related to their production and distribution, prompting the company to take fairly drastic action to stay afloat. On Tuesday, DWA announced not only a fourth quarter loss of $247 million, but also plans to sell/lease their Glendale, CA office, lay off 500 employees, and make changes to their film release strategy. The writing seemed to be on the wall early in 2014, when Mr. Peabody and Sherman opened to lackluster numbers and reviews, something that surprised us but ultimately made some sense. With zero connection to younger audiences, Peabody seemed like a gamble that parents weren't willing to take, even though CinemaScore gave it a very favorable A. When

As Q3 comes to a close, we look back at several movie questions and make bold new predictions about the third quarter of 2014. As 2014 has unfolded, we've learned just how precarious the Hollywood film system is. Before summer arrived, we could see serious gaps in programming, especially once May ended. That did in fact happen, exposing a decent July (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Hercules, and The Purge: Anarchy) and a pretty awful August, with Guardians of the Galaxy being the only thing we could recommend. The year has delivered several memorable films ( Captain America: The Winter Solider and The LEGO Movie ), but what lessons have we learned about 2014 so far? Several questions we pondered back in January have finally had a chance to play out, so let's get to them. Has 2015 talk already eclipsed 2014? No, but there is some lingering concerns . 2014 has brought some amazing films like Godzilla , X-Men: Days of Future Past , Captain America: The Winter Soldier ,

Age of Extinction wipes out the competition. Transformers: Age of Extinction rolled out to an impressive $100 million opening in the U.S. and $301.3 million worldwide, becoming the top opening film of 2014. Its opening is not the highest of the series: that still belongs to Revenge of the Fallen ($108 million). Although the film cost an estimated $210 million, the film has already made most of that back, even if you add marketing to that total. The success of its opening week can be traced to two things: Director Michael Bay reloading the cast with the more fan/press-friendly Mark Wahlberg and better heavyweights Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer, and the Transformers name itself, which always guarantees large opening crowds and plenty of buzz. And while the film has gotten slammed on RottenTomatoes - with a measely 17% approval rate - it's faired better on other sites like CinemaScore, which was given an "A-" by fans. We weren't impressed at all with A

Albert Lawrence's experience at At DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon 2 exhibit, some innovative artists showed him there's more than one way to draw a dragon! Albert will be helping us from time to time when he has a free second. And we are looking forward to his coverage of the Echo To Earth Junket. Make sure to check out his site TALK OF FAME and follow him on Twitter . On this episode of Massive Movie Minute , Albert explores DreamWorks' ' How to Train Your Dragon 2 ' art exhibit at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California. From paper to pencil to paint, three artists show us there's more than one way to draw a dragon! Host: Albert Lawrence Camera: David Gaafar Please Leave A Comment-

As Q2 comes to a close, we look back at some movie questions and make bold new predictions about the second half of 2014. As we began 2014, the distinct feeling among SJF writers was that 2015 was about to seriously dominate any discussion about the coming year. But 2014 has stood its ground, delivering memorable films and enticing moviegoers to come along. You'll have to wait for our upcoming Quarter 2 financial report to see the specifics, but for now we've tackled several questions we pondered back in January and you'll surprised by some of our answers. Enjoy. Has 2015 talk already eclipsed 2014? No - 2014 has brought some amazing films like Godzilla , X-Men: Days of Future Past , Captain America: The Winter Soldier , and The LEGO Movie . Meanwhile,2015's Batman/Superman movie was postponed to 2016 and Fast 7 has been shrouded in mystery since Paul Walker's death. We've seen large crowds at the theaters (not just for our screenings) and the genui

Inside the Bucket is online! Revel in the digital mastery! On this Father's Day edition of  Inside the Bucket , John, Zak, and Matt go off on a number of worthless topics - no matter the lameness, the boys are up to the challenge!  They start the show by talking about several news items from our site  SANDWICHJOHNFILMS.COM , which are included at the bottom.  Then, they bitch and complain during the Rants and Raves segment, including a discussion of another Alien film and whether Scott Derrickson will fall to the Marvel Machine .   Finally, they review  22 JUMP STREET and  HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 .  Please check out all the links to the stories we covered in today's podcast. We hope you laugh as much as we do bringing the show to you.  As always, thanks to everyone for your continued support, and we'll see you at one of our screenings. Please make sure to check out our website  SANDWICHJOHNFILMS.COM   and make sure to like us on  Facebook   and foll

DreamWorks Animation hits animated paydirt with the very good How to Train Your Dragon 2 . DreamWorks Animation has hit a bit of a rough spot in the past three years. Although Mr. Peabody & Sherman ranks as one of the top animated films of 2014, the studio saw disappointing returns for 2013's Turbo and 2012's Rise of the Guardians . Granted, they do have the Madagascar series, but there's been the sense that DWA has been flailing in their search for a second franchise. Luckily, the very good How to Train Your Dragon 2 might just offer the studio exactly what it needs. Set five years after the original, Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) is grown up but not ready to take the reigns from his Viking father Stoick (voiced by Gerard Butler). To his dad, Hiccup is still a boy, content to soaring with Toothless the Dragon and hanging out with his girlfriend Astrid (voiced by America Ferrera). But soon, the two realize that rival kingdoms are gunning for their hom

The thinnest month for films so far in 2014 is upon us - welcome to our June On the Radar Preview! May was a terrific month for movies: from X-Men: Day of Future Past to Godzilla , we were certainly treated to big, enjoyable, and successful tentpoles. And while June has a few possibilities, there's seemingly a vacuum of guaranteed winners - our list includes only four, and two of them are being released in the same week! In fact, June looks to be the thinnest month for film since we began to write these. And while something is sure to surprise us, the immediate outlook is pretty bleak. Our list includes mega-sized robots (again), a return of criminal justice tomfoolery, and perhaps the most anticipated animated film of the year. To be clear, our list includes only wide-release films: Edge of Tomorrow (June 6th) We love us some Tom Cruise. Emily Blunt as Black Widow? It almost happened. This futuristic version of Groundhog Day sees Cruise repeating the events of

At WonderCon this past weekend, DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox brought out writer/director Dean DeBlois and actor Jay Baruchel to pimp How To Train Your Dragon 2 . But to even more excitement from the crowd, the pair unveiled a cut-down, five-minute version of the film’s opening, which the company has now put online via Yahoo. The second (of a planned trilogy) Dragon outing takes place five years after the original. The island Vikings of Berk have well and truly adapted to life with dragons. People and giant creatures share their world happily and even indulge in crazy sports like dragon racing. Watch the first 5 minutes after the Jump... Our hero Hiccup ( Baruchel ), meanwhile, has matured – a little – and become restless, exploring the world with best friend and loyal dragon Toothless, mapping as they go. It’s on one of his missions that Hiccup stumbles upon a potential new threat and an important part of his life… With most of the main cast returning for th

The first How To Train Your Dragon was an unexpectedly moving and rather wonderful story of a boy and his giant flying reptile, and we've been eagerly looking forward to the second instalment. Now a teaser has appeared online, offering a brief action sequence from the film that suggests all the lyricism of the first film is present and correct (even amid the gross-out gags and Viking pratfalls). The story this time sees a now-older Hiccup ( Jay Baruchel ) still partnered with dragon Toothless and exploring far beyond his home village of Berk, once a Viking outpost plagued by dragons and now one that's partnered with them. Says the official synopsis: "The thrilling second chapter of the epic How To Train Your Dragon trilogy brings back the fantastical world of Hiccup and Toothless five years later. While Astrid, Snoutlout and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to dragon races (the island’s new favorite contact sport), the now inseparable pair journey t