SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2014 Katzenberg celebrates Dream Works’ 20th anniversary at Cannes

From left, director Dean Deblois, actor Jay Baruchel, actress America Ferrera, actress Cate (From left) actor Jay Baruchel, actress Cate Blanchett, director Dean Deblois, actress Blanchett, actor Kit Harington, actor Dijmon Hounsou and a person dressed as a dragon America Ferrera and actor Kit Harington during a press conference for How to Train character pose for photographers during a photo call for How to Train Your Dragon 2 at Your Dragon 2 at the 67th international film festival, Cannes, southern France yester- the 67th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, yesterday. day. —AP photos

itting on the terrace of the Carlton Hotel on where it’s going. artists to digitally render in greater detail. But the growth. That’s not a growth industry or a growth the Cannes coastline, Jeffery Katzenberg “It feels pretty surreal because I don’t feel like it’s rocky box-office for DreamWorks has perhaps con- business. But there are so many opportunities Sgazes out at the teeming Croisette. It’s familiar 20 years,” says Katzenberg. “We’re so much a work- tributed to Katzenberg looking elsewhere for rev- around movies - which was the other point I made. territory. “We roll big here,” he says. “We’ve been in-progress it doesn’t feel like a milestone, in a way. enue. He recently made headlines for remarking at a Movies have never been seen by more people doing this a long time.” Katzenberg has been a If anything, it feels like the end of act one in a three- Beverly Hills corporate conference that movies are around the globe than they are right now.” Cannes Film Festival regular for two decades. He’s act play. We right now, more than any time, have so not a growth business. He suggested that in five DreamWorks has looked to expand into other frequently premiered DreamWorks’ summer releas- much opportunity ahead of us.” It hasn’t been easy years, studio films might only play in theaters for media realms. Last year it acquired the YouTube es here, held stunts to capture the attention of the going of late for DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., three weekends, and would then be sold at various network AwesomenessTV and signed a pact with international media, and preached the gospel of 3- which Katzenberg co-founded with Steven prices according to screen size and time after release. Netflix to supply 300 hours of exclusive program- D ahead of its resurgence to the gathered movie Spielberg and David Geffen in 1994. All of the major ming based on DreamWorks Animation characters. industry. He has felt the adulation and the sting of studios now have robust cartoon franchises, taking Giant changes Earlier this month, it launched DreamWorksTV, a Cannes’ passionate audiences. up more of the family audience pie. Three of That Katzenberg’s remarks stirred consternation YouTube channel for kids. “I have had both,” says Katzenberg with a smile. DreamWorks’ last four releases have flopped: the in an industry struggling with the rise of digital DreamWorks is also developing theme parks “I’ve never had an animation film booed. I’ve had recent time-traveling “Peabody & Sherman,” the entertainment and television’s newfound cachet. and pushing aggressively into China. Katzenberg live-action.” Yesterday, the Cannes Film Festival cel- holiday release “Rise of the Guardians” and 2013’s But they were also challenged by people like Time says he still believes strongly in the power and prof- ebrated the 20th anniversary of DreamWorks snail tale “Turbo.” In “Dragon 2,” Katzenberg hopes Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, who pointed to interna- itability of the theatrical movie business, but “the Animation with the premiere of “How to Train Your he has a better chance after the Oscar-nominated tional box office as a big grower. “The movie busi- rest of the enterprise around movie watching is Dragon 2,” the upcoming 3-D sequel to the 2010 original grossed nearly $500 million worldwide. The ness is a very, very good business,” Katzenberg clari- going to go through giant, giant changes.” “The original about a Viking boy (Jay Baruchel) and his sequel, Katzenberg believes, benefits from what he fied. “The only point I was making is if you look at question is: What happens after movies leave the pet dragon, Toothless. In an interview, Katzenberg calls “a game-changer for animation” - a new, more the traditional side of movie theater and home movie theater?” he says. “We make our movies to reflected less on where DreamWorks has been, than intuitive animation tool dubbed Apollo that allows video, those businesses have been low single-digit be seen.” — AP Reynolds, Dawson paedophile ring thriller divides Cannes yan Reynolds and Rosario Dawson The paedophile network not only whole new class of freaks”. Dawson, who involved in her abduction. But she herself star in Cannes contender “The posts videos of the children’s abuse starred in “Sin City” and “Men in Black II”, becomes a target of the ring of well-con- RCaptive”, a Canadian thriller about a online, but also installs hidden cameras to plays the head of a police child victims nected sexual deviants, who want to stop powerful, technologically savvy pae- capture the suffering of their parents at unit trying to rescue Cassandra who long the investigation and exploit her own dophile ring which divided critics at the home, leading one cop to call them “a suspects her father may have been memories of childhood trauma. world’s top film festival yesterday. A keen- ly awaited press screening of the picture ‘Powerful territory’ by Atom Egoyan ahead of the red-carpet Egoyan, who was nominated for an premiere drew the first boos of the com- Oscar for his 1997 drama “The Sweet petition for what one critic called an “asi- Hereafter” about the impact of a tragic nine, risible plot”, but also a solid round of bus accident, also wrote the screenplay applause. for “The Captive”. He said the abduction “The Captive” stars Reynolds, best of a boy in his own hometown in Canada known for comic book hero roles in and the questions of responsibility it “Green Lantern”, “X-Men: Wolverine” and raised for everyone in the community had “Blade: Trinity”, as a father whose young given rise to the project “I put the viewer daughter is abducted and vanishes for into a place where you’re not sure how far eight years. The film, set in the frigid this goes, like how deep this goes, and expanses of rural Ontario, takes a page how implicated you are watching it as from the real-life ordeals of kidnap victims well,” he said. such as Natasha Kampusch and Jaycee “It’s a territory that I find really power- Lee Dugard held for years against their ful.” Reynolds said his own brother works will by sexual predators. Cassandra, now in a similar unit to the one Dawson leads seen in her teens, is held in a locked, win- (From left) Actress Rosario Dawson, director Atom Egoyan, actors Ryan in the film and was drawn to the script’s dowless cellar decorated as a little girl’s Reynolds, Scott Speedman, Mireille Enos and Kevin Durand pose for photog- examination of the pressures on those try- bedroom and forced by her captor to raphers during a photo call for Captives at the 67th international film festival, ing not to despair while confronting hor- appear in videos to lure fresh prey. Cannes, southern France yesterday. — AP rific crimes. —AFP