DreamWorks Announces Upcoming Animation Slate

DreamWorks Animation has gone 3-D wacky, announcing eight upcoming animated flicks in various stages of production.

Variety reports that CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg will show investors the DWA schedule in New York this week, as part of their new plan to release five new features every two years.

Considering that Monsters vs. Aliens was the company's only 2009 release, that's a pretty ambitious goal. And like fellow studios Pixar, Buena Vista, Fox, et al, DreamWorks is throwing all their money at 3-D features for the next few years.

The current DreamWorks Animation schedule is as follows:

How to Train Your Dragon (March 26, 2010) -- Based on the kids' book by British author Cressida Cowell, the comedy focuses on a young Viking lad named Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), son of chieftain Stoic the Vast (Gerard Butler), who must train a tiny, toothless dragon as a rite of passage. It also features Jonah Hill and America Ferrera.

Shrek Forever After (May 21, 2010) -- Hey look, another Shrek sequel. Well, you can't blame DWA for squeezing every penny from their most profitable franchise. The title appears to be inspired, in fact, by the "Shrek Ever After" toy line that came out in 2008, which isn't a great sign (it was originally titled Shrek Goes Fourth, and the very fact that it was clever obviously meant that it needed to be dumbed down.) Mike Myers returns as Shrek, who's been tricked by Rumpelstiltskin (Paul McCartney) into visiting a bizarro-Shrek world in which ogres are hunted, Rumpelstiltskin is king, and Shrek's never met Fiona. All -- and I mean all -- of the primary actors from the previous films return, making for one seriously crowded story.




Oobermind (November 5, 2010) -- Formerly titled Master Mind, this a not-so-timely satirical take on superhero movies hits theaters a full six years after Pixar's The Incredibles. Still, it has potential -- Robert Downey, Jr. voices a supervillain who becomes depressed after accidentally killing his arch-nemesis, the superhero Metro Man. Tina Fey and Ben Stiller are also on board.

Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom (June 3, 2011) -- DreamWorks story executive Jennifer Yuh Nelson is first-time director here, and Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman have confirmed that they'll be back.

The Guardians (November 4, 2011) -- The working title comes from an unpublished book ("The Guardians of Childhood") by kid author William Joyce, whose work was adapted by Disney for Meet the Robinsons and the "Rolie Polie Olie" cartoon. A teaser trailer -- really, a short called Man in the Moon, available here -- doesn't tell you much, but it's delightful anyway. It's also the only thing currently available on the title's website.

Puss In Boots (March 30, 2012) -- Finally, the solo Puss in Boots project we've all bee waiting for! (And no, I'm not being sarcastic. I love that character.) Antonio Banderas returns, with Salma Hayek -- Banderas' co-star in Desperado -- playing a love interest for the swashbuckling feline.

Also on the slate is an as-yet-untitled Madagascar sequel set for release on May 25, 2012, proving that even crappy animated features make enough money that they spawn sequel after sequel, and a November, 2012 release of one of three unnamed projects that are currently in production.

And did I mention that every single one of these will be in 3-D? Yeah. Every one.