DREAMWORKS - SHREK TO BATTLE SPIDER-MAN, PIRATES; WHO'LL WIN?

With three big sequels due out in May, the one that draws the most repeat business will come out on top, DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg told investors at a Bank of America conference in New York on Wednesday. His company's Shrek the Third will be competing against Sony-Columbia's Spider-Man 3 and Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. "Everyone is going to see Shrek. Everyone is going to see Pirates. Everyone is going to see Spider-Man," he said. "The difference is which one of those movies are going to get multiple viewings." Katzenberg also had a dim view of the prospects for the two competing high-definition DVD formats, Blu-ray and HD DVD, saying that for the average consumer the difference in quality between standard DVD and the hi-def models is too slight to make a difference. He also forecast that movie sales via Internet downloads over the next 18-24 months would be "negligible."

29/03/2007