thanks, Katzenberg! more sequels please!

THE GOOD: Coraline exceeded expectations and took in $16 million over the weekend



THE BAD: Jonas Brothers in 3-D opens soon and will consequently push Coraline out of theaters



THE GOOD: Pink Panther 2 is a certified bomb



THE BAD: Laika has yet to greenlight a stop motion feature to follow up Coraline

in fact, the company responsible for the loveable ball of lush production design laid off 65 workers in December right before Christmas and pulled the plug on one of their long-in-development CG features "Jack and Ben's Animated Adventure". it was a headed up by Barry Cook, the director of Disney's Mulan, but alas, it was not meant to be.

of course, i don't think Laika is going anywhere -- their commercial business is flourishing and Coraline will probably make enough money to justify another feature. one interesting project in development there;
Paranorman
Only a 13-year-old boy can keep the town from being overrun by zombies, but no one will listen to him.

Henry Selick is also reportedly working on a story involving the origins of ::no surprise:: Halloween. he's working with the producer of Open Season on the project.

that said, those who worked on Coraline will most likely be on the job market in the next few months unless something concrete comes out of Laika on their stop-motion slate.



Dreamworks Animation is very hit -- Shrek, Kung Fu Panda -- and miss -- about everything else. their upcoming Monsters Vs. Aliens looks rather...ugly. and the plot looks like if Pixar decided to Jeffrey Katzenbergize The Incredibles.



of their upcoming slate of films, i'm looking forward to about one:

* Monsters vs. Aliens (March 27, 2009)
* How to Train Your Dragon (March 26, 2010)
* Shrek Goes Fourth (May 21, 2010)
* Master Mind (November 5, 2010)
* Kung Fu Panda 2 (June 3, 2011
* Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer (2011)
* Crood Awakening (2011)
* Madagascar 3 (2012)
* Shrek 5 (2013)



i haven't seen any art from How to Train Your Dragon yet, but its at least got one thing going for it -- Chris Sanders, the director of Disney's Lilo & Stitch (though they kicked off a favorite writer/director of mine -- Peter Hastings -- who was responsible for the better episodes of Pinky & the Brain in the 90s). here's the story skinny:

"How to Train Your Dragon is the first book in the bestselling series by British author Cressida Cowell. The books follow the adventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, a teenage Viking who uses his brains to compensate for his lack of muscles. In order to pass his initiation, he must capture and train the biggest, deadliest dragon he can find. Unfortunately, he ends up with a small, ornery wyrm that has no teeth."