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In Hollywood, you always know when a film has the ethereal elixir called buzz. That's when the first thing your lunch companion wants to talk about is a hot film that some other studio is working on. So it was for me over lunch recently with Tom Sherak, a veteran film-distribution exec who's now one of Joe Roth's partners at Revolution Studios. Sherak was enthralled with Shrek, the computer-generated animation flick that Dreamworks plans to release on May 18. Shrek, he says, is "going to be big, very big."
Shrek, you say? I got a sneak peak at the film recently at Dreamworks' Glendale (Calif.) animation studio with my 11-year-old stepdaughter. She really liked it -- and so did I. A quick plot summary: The movie is named after its main character, a tall, green, ornery ogre whose heart melts when he rescues a princess from a castle. Comedian Mike Myers does the ogre's voice, while Eddie Murphy lends his vocal talents for a wisecracking donkey that joins Shrek on his adventure to save the princess. The flick has plenty of jokes that are very funny, even a running spate of flatulence jokes, and believe me, I'm not big on flatulence jokes as a rule.
LAST LAUGHS? The real jokes, however, come at the expense of the Disney, master of the animated fairy tale. Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the three Dreamworks founders, is the ex-Disney chief who took his former bosses to court and walked off with more than $250 million in compensation he claims that he was owed for films he helped greenlight for production. Shrek lampoons Disney at every turn. The movie takes jabs at Disneyland and Disney World, right down to the waiting lines to get into the evil prince Farquaad's castle, not unlike those at the theme parks. There's even a gift shop on the way in. And in the final scene, Cinderella's carriage whisks the two lead characters off while the Seven Dwarfs sing the old Monkees' song I'm a Believer. (The operative line: "I thought love was only true in fairy tales.")
The buzz surrounding Shrek has been building in Hollywood for weeks now. As those who have read these columns in the past can attest, I'm a big fan of Dreamworks' movie-making abilities. O.K., so the six-year-old company flopped in the interactive-game business, most of its TV shows have failed, and its music unit has had trouble getting on track. But look at Dreamworks' movies. From Oscar-winning Gladiator to $100 million blockbusters What Lies Beneath and Saving Private Ryan, all have been big sellers. And from what I've seen, Shrek may very well be the biggest of them all.
Katzenberg takes a rare credit on Shrek as a producer, no doubt showing his hand in the Disney spoof. I asked Katzenberg about his producer role, but he refused to get drawn into reviving old feuds, telling me "I'm not going there."
MORTAL COMBAT. Make no mistake: This is deadly serious stuff for Dreamworks. Shrek is going head-to-head with Disney's own animated offering Atlantis: The Lost Empire, which is scheduled for release on June 15. But this is a battle Disney may well lose. For starters, Disney's animated films have been trending downward of late. The $87 milion box-office take for its most recent one, The Emperor's New Groove, is a solid enough showing but nowhere near the regular string of $100 million performances to which the Mouse has been accustomed.
Moreover, unsettling vibes are floating around Disney that Atlantis, an animated action film that's aimed mostly at teenaged boys, will suffer the same fate as Titan AE, a Fox futuristic space adventure that did only $22.6 million when released last summer. Yes, Disney markets its films far better than Fox, or just about anyone else for that matter. So brace yourself. Pretty soon, you're going to be blasted by both Disney and Dreamworks with commercials, marketing tie-ins, the whole nine yards to make you aware that their films will soon hit a theater near you. This will be war.
Dreamworks already has major marketing deals with Burger King and Baskin-Robbins. Even Heinz is joining in, with Shrek plastered on its bottles to promote its new green catsup. Dreamworks also has its biggest toy deal ever and has linked with McFarlane Toys for a line of action figures and other playthings to peddle should the film become a big hit. One toy set even involves Shrek's outhouse, a central focus of this very odd film.
EARLY LEAD. Disney will have its usual array of marketing partners, including McDonalds and Coke. You'll know Atlantis is at a theater near you, too. But the two films have already squared off -- and Shrek came out the better. Last month, both were shown to theater-chain execs at the industry's annual ShoWest conference in Las Vegas. Disney put on its usual preview extravaganza, an invitation-only affair at the Bellagio, complete with a half-hour performance by the Cirque du Soleil troop. Michael J. Fox, who provides the voice for the lead Atlantis character, also stopped by to wave from the stage.
Fox got a standing ovation, but the crowd was far more smitten with Shrek, which was previewed down the street at Caesars Palace. That's where Tom Sherak saw the movie, and he was still chuckling over his pasta when I saw him nearly a month later. When this battle is over, remember what you read here first. I think Shrek is going to be big -- at the Mouse's expense.
Grover is Los Angeles bureau chief for BusinessWeek. Follow his weekly Power Lunch column, only on BW Online Edited by Douglas Harbrecht
Copyright 2001 , by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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