CALIFORNIA: Hollywood studio DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc said it expected revenue in its feature film business to decline in the mid-teen percent range as it had only one theatrical release planned for 2015.
Shares of the studio, which said in January that it would produce only two features a year, fell 8 percent in extended trading.
The studio’s lone theatrical release of the year, “Home“, is set to release this March. The movie is about aliens taking over Earth as they search for a new home, and features Rihanna and Jim Parsons.
The studio, which made the popular “Shrek” and “Kung Fu Panda” series, has had a few misses at the box office in 2014.
In the quarter ended December, the company took impairment charges of US$57.1 million related to the performance of “The Penguins of Madagascar” and “Mr. Peabody and Sherman“, as well as certain other titles and investments.
“We expect Fox will recoup their costs related to Penguin sometime during the second quarter of 2015,” Chief Financial Officer Fazal Merchant said on a conference call.
The company said in January it would cut about 500 jobs and close its Northern California studio. It also said it would produce two feature films per year, not three.
The restructuring charge includes US$155.5 million related to write-offs of production costs of unreleased projects, including “B.O.O.” and “Monkeys of Mumbai.”
DreamWorks has faced increasing competition for family audiences as other studios have turned out hit animated films, such as the “Despicable Me” franchise from Universal Pictures and “The Lego Movie” from Warner Bros.
Net loss attributable to DreamWorks Animation was US$263.2 million, or US$3.08 per share, for the quarter ended Dec 31, compared with a profit of US$17.2 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 14.7 percent to US$234.2 million.
Analysts had expected a loss of US$3.01 per share on revenue of US$246.2 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
DreamWorks’ shares, which closed at US$21.13 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, were trading at US$19.45 after the bell. --REUTERS