Word: katzenberg
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Disney has deposed Spielberg and Geffen, hoping to force them to take the witness stand, perhaps to discuss DreamWorks and Katzenberg's performance, including a purported loss of more than $20 million on the studio's maiden picture, The Peacemaker...
Meanwhile Eisner's team says that if juries are not predisposed to dislike Katzenberg, it is only because they don't know him well enough. The Disney side threatened to make the introductions. A Disney source suggested that Katzenberg would suffer when the company highlights his poor record in live-action movies--a $56 million loss on Billy Bathgate, for instance. The company has also suggested that Katzenberg grabbed too much credit for animation successes...
Given the stakes, a settlement makes sense, though it would be awkward for Eisner to pay Katzenberg a vast sum in the wake of shareholder anger over the $130 million or so that Disney dealt to Michael Ovitz after firing him as president last December. Conversely, the Ovitz settlement ensures that Katzenberg's sights are set high: Why should Katzenberg take less for 10 successful years than Ovitz got for 14 unimpressive months? If a deal is made, three things seem certain. One: the terms will be sealed. Two: the amount will be leaked to the press--by both sides...
...brand name for animation. Its chief rivals in the '40s and '50s, Warner Bros. and MGM, which were besting Disney in the quality and appeal of their animated shorts, never produced a feature-length cartoon. Only in the mid-'80s, when the studio taken over by Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg had yet to hint at a renaissance, did Disney lose its animation pre-eminence. An American Tail, produced in 1986 by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, took in $47 million at the North American box office, equal to the grosses of both the previous Disney effort, The Black Cauldron...
...Under Katzenberg, Disney animation flourished with a new visual and musical verve. Nearly every film, from Oliver & Company (1988) to The Lion King (1994), outgrossed its predecessor by 40% to 50%. The Lion King, which Daly calls "the Star Wars of animation," earned about the same in domestic theaters as Forrest Gump did the same year. But that's chump change for animation. Toss in the video market, the merchandise and CD sales, and The Lion King has so far generated an estimated $1 billion--in profits...