Manor Lords doesn't have mod support "yet," says developer Slavic Magic on , but the studio's reaction to a community creation featuring a particu🎃lar green ogre is making us hopeful for the future. It all started with a clip, shared by Twitter user , depicting their unofficial mod at work. In it, Dreamworks' resident crotchety ogre Shrek runs rampant🎀 through a Manor Lords township. "This is what happens when you don't get out of my swamp," reads the caption.

In a quote reply, the Manor Lords creator shows apparent delight for the ingenuity of ProudBavaria's mod. It makes use of the game's Visitor tool, still a work-in-progress as well as quite a few other Manor Lords systems as it stands now in Early Access. Instead of strolling about the settlement as a visiting noble, tho💎ugh, ProudBavaria's mod shows villagers running sc൩reaming from Shrek as he barrels through the burgage plots.

"This made my day today," reads the reply from the official Manor Lords Twitter account. In an addendum, the creator notes that "modding isn't officially supported yet but you can't deny the potential after seeing this". The operative word for me here is yet. For all we know, this could be an indication that full mod support might beꦍ on th💫e way in a future update – or at the very least, the idea has now been planted in the creator's mind, much like my dismal 16% fertility yield of wheat. 

Manor Lords is available now in Early Access via Steam and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Xbox Game Pass for PC.

Check out some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best city builders to play next, from Cities: Skylines to Before We Leave.

The result is dazzling adventure 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, the story of an awkward teenager (Coꩲndor) who finds out that she is the descendant of a warrior kraken queen (Jane Fonda), a discovery that naturally throws Ruby's world into chaos. As Condor mentions, it&💮apos;s not based on any pre-existing material, therefore presenting something completely new amidst the sea of countless sequels, spin-offs, and remakes. 

This was also part of the draw for director Kirk DeMicco who admits that he may be addicted to making original stories. "I might be crazy as I have made three of them in ten years [this follows 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Croods and Vivo], but I love discovery!" he laughs. "Original films are so important f𒁏or animation studios as by the time these movies are done, over 400-500 people would have worked on them. For every artist working on the film, there is the opportunity to pour their imagination into it. We didn't know what a giant kraken would look like or what the music would sound like, and those mysteries are exci🐲ting to uncover with your crew."

The DreamWorks tradition

Whilst Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken may be a new IP, it follows in the footsteps of other DreamWorks films, putting a fun twist on a well-known myth. Flipping the script, this time around the krakens are the 🌃ocean's sworn and kind protectors, whilst the mermaids are power-hungry, cackling villains. As DeMicco emphasises, it's clear this tale comes from the same studio who showed us that ogres can have hearts of gold: "It's in the tradition of DreamWorks to subvert tropes and expectations, so we took this monster that throughout history, since Scandinavian folklore, has only been portrayed as one thing only – the ender of ends. Adding in the mermaids too, we could look at both mythologies – the sirens who were not to be messed with and the krakens who have been the victim of a very bad PR crisis, we couldn't find one image of them that was attractive. But they could be ꧒beautiful and strong here."

Not only does 🍨the film follow this DreamWorks tradition, but like with the movies before it, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken has its own distinct visual identity. Unlike with other animation studios, there is no ho💦use style at DreamWorks which presents the filmmakers with the chance to let their imaginations really run wild. DeMicco explains: "As artists we are always looking to try out different things and this film gave people the chance to flex muscles they couldn't use on other movies. And because the krakens are octopus-like, we could do really fluid, bendy animation which was really fun. We did push it and it's more stylized than other DreamWorks films, but we needed to sell this beautiful depiction of elegant krakens. It's very balletic and that all came from the team being able to develop an animation style unique to this picture and story. Throughout we always said 'listen to the story, everything needs to be true to it,' and that's what allowed this style to evolve."

Finding yourself

Whilst the film does explore the world of mythological sea creatures, at the heart it is a very human story about trying to find a sense of belonging and who you really are. It's something that we can all connect to, with Condor adding this is true for all ages, not just teenagers: "I think the journey of self-discovery lasts a lifetime – I don't know if I will ever fully know exactly who I am, I'm different today to who I was yeste🌸rday. But through life experience, taking risks, going out of my comfort zone, that has only enriched me – which is a major theme in Ruby's story, she occupies space she never thought she would. It's exciting to see her grow in the film, step into her truer self, embrace her power, and whilst she makes mistakes we learn the most from that."

Condor's co-star Annie Murphy (who recently appeared in Black♐ Mirror) agrees, telling GamesRadar+: "Reading the script I was delighted by how much of my little, growing up self I saw in Ruby. When I was that age I didn't feel comfortable in my skin and didn't fit in anywhere, which is a very universal experience. There are lots of people like Ruby out there who will grow into themselves, learn to love themselves – I hope this movie shows kids going through it that they are not alone in this."

Toil and trouble

Although Murphy may relate to Ruby, in the film she is the voice of the villainous Chelsea, a mermaid who is as sinister as she is alluring. Positioned as Ruby's polar opposite, Chelsea easily charms her way into people's lives, but underneath the glamour are malicious intentions. As Murphy states, Chelsea is "fully straight up evil" mea🐓ning the actor couldn't wait to embrace her wicked ✃side! 

And now that she's had a taste, Murphy wants more, adding: "I loved playing Chelsea as I haven't played an evil character before and it felt really good. I had a lot of fun leaning into the nast𓆉iness, mಌaybe too much fun, it felt very therapeutic. I really would love to play a non-animated villain one day as I've played a lot of nice characters, which I've loved doing, but I want to see how evil feels on. Working on an animated project is so different to live-action as even if you are in a comedy, you have to be grounded and natural to a certain degree. But here, I went into a voice booth in my pyjamas with no make-up, giving it 195% right out of the gate – all over the top, big, and weird. Instead of the directors being like 'what have we done' they asked for more, it was a good space to try things out." 

Chelsea may indeed be the villain of the piece but upon first impressions she doesn't appear that way, instead strutting in with confident energy that really reminded me of Murphy's beloved Schitt's Creek character Alexis. The actor laughs when I mention that I was ready for Chelsea to start singing her own version of the absolute banger that is 'A Little Bit Alexis', explaining that she too sees the parallels between the two characters: "I owe Schitt's Creek a big thank you for getting me this job. There is certainly an overlap as like with Alexis, Chelsea has this effortless confidence and is immediately likeable. But, there isn't a drop of ⭕evil in Alexis which is where they part ways."

A bright future

In fact, Murphy's despicable mermaid is so evil Ruby has to draw on the support of her fellow krakens, including Grandmamah (Fonda) and mum Agatha (Toni Collette), who join her in battle. We therefore see three generations of women fighting alongside each other in the film which is still rare to see on-screen, especially in anim💮ation as Condor points out: "I was just told recently that this is the first DreamWorks film where the titular character is female, which is so crazy and a pinch me moment. I really loved the multigenerational aspect too as I feel we give a very realistic version of mother-daughter relationships. In ani🤪mation they are mostly either perfect or really bad, never in-between even though that's real. Ruby and her mum love each other but they also fight, which is totally normal – I appreciated the honesty there and it's the same with Agatha and Grandmamah."

Of course this is just the start of Ruby's journey as having just discovered her roots and powers, there is still much for the young kraken to learn. Director DeMicco responds enthusiastically when we ask him about plans for a sequel, stating that he already has ideas: "I hope t🐬hat the family message resonates in a way that audiences will want to see further installments of Ruby's story, as well as that of her family and friends. We created lots of monsters for her to fight so hopefully one day she will wrestle a leviathan!" Condor is also keen to reprise her role, concluding that Ruby has plenty of room to grow: "We leave her in her most confident state but we are just scratching the surface of what she is capable of, I'd love to see Ruby really exercise her power. I hope that this is just the start and it becomes a classic in the way Shrek etc. did – that people of all shapes, sizes, ages, and identities can see themselves in this film. Don't be afraid to be yourself and go big, take risks!"

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is out in cinemas now. For more 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:great animated movies, check out our top 25 recommendations.

As per , Mason Thames (The Black Phone) will play franchise leadಌ Hiccup, a Viking teenager who befriends a dragon named Toothless – despite wanting to become a dragon slayer himself.

Nico Parker will star alongside him as Hiccup’s classmate Astrid. She previously appeared as Joel’s daughter Sarah in a memorable turn during 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Last of Us premiere.

How to Train Your Dragon is set to fly into cinemas on March 14, 2025. It will be based on the wildly-popular D🅠reamWorks franchise – which spawned a billion-dollar trilogy, encompassing video games, stage shows, and a TV series. Dean DeBlois, who co-directed and co-wrote the original 2010 screenplay, will be back to helm the project and pen the script.

It follows on from a recent trend – mostly led by Disney – of animated classics being given the remake treatment. 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Little Mermaid has proved a success at the box office, with Moana and Lilo & Stitch making the leap from animation to live-action in cinemas. Other Disney movies, such as 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Beauty and the Beast and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Lion King, have also been given 2ﷺ1st Century makeovers that have♓ proved wildly successful.

On the animation side of things, DreamWorks still has multiple projects in the works – including Kung Fu Panda 4, Madagascar 4, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:a fifth Shrek movie.

For more on what’s coming your way, check out our guide to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming movies and the 2023 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:movie release dates calendar.

The teaser begins in the ocean as Jane Fonda's voiceover warns us to forget everything we know about the feared sea monster, the Kraken. They're not the evil beasts feared by many, but are actually brave and honorable creatures, and, as it turns out, one is hiding as a teenage girl called Ruby, too. Voiced by To All The Boys I'💧ve Loved Before star Lana Condor, Ruby just wants to blend in and live a normal high school life, but when evil mermaid Chelsea (Annie Murphy) warns her she knows her secret, it seems she may have to confront who she really is.

Toꦬtal Film sat down with director Kirk DeMicco and producer Kelly Cooney Cilella to chat through the new trailer. We cover everything from the specific look they wanted to create with the new DreamWorks animation, wanting to tell a female-led coming-of-age story, and working with Fonda, Toni Collette, and the rest of the 𝕴voice cast. For that and plenty more besides, here’s our conversation with the filmmakers, edited for length and clarity.

The trailer opens with a voiceover emphasizing how the ocean is a mysterious world. Why did you decide to open it like this, and what did you want to achieve when creating the look of the movie's underwater world?

Kirk DeMicco: Well, the one that we start with in the trailer was really was part of the idea that our production designer, Pierre-Olivier Vincent, had from the very beginning, which was to show this world that wa🦩s very much inspired shape-wise by the octopus and the curviness of the octopus. The curviness of all of our design, whether it's characters or if it's plants, or if it's the real-world buildings of Oceanside, and the Kraken Kingdom, was to have this opportunity that felt like we were taking the audience and transporting them somewhere. 

So the idea of going through a thing that we see and we recognize is jellyfish, but making♎ a very, very different sort of presentation on how they're moving and how they're sweeping through the ocean to pull the audience in, ไit was a really amazing thing to see.

I think the trick o🌟f our movie is that we feel underwater so we have the stakes. This movie is about a girl who is discovering these incredible powers, these almost superhero-like powers, and she's fighting to save her world and the underwater kingdom. So we had to keep it cons✱tantly feeling like we would understand those stakes in the physics of how we move through the water and how fish moved through the water. We're playful with it when you meet the Kraken and all that, but the idea is that at first blush that the world you see is something you should recognize. 

This underwater world is contrasted with that of Oceanside, which is where Ruby lives outside of the water. Ruby looks very different in this world and like she's trying to make herself smaller in this brightly colored town. How important was it to introduce those visual differences between those two?

Kelly Cooney Cilella : Yeah, I think that's e🌠xactly right, I think you completely hit on the contrast between the two. When she's under the water and she can be free to be who she really is, it's expansive and it's transformative for her. Whereas on land she has to struggle to fit in, she has to hide that kind of tubular bendiness that she has being a cephalopod. And so, both in the design and in the animation style, we worked really hard to push that and really make sure that we were always keeping that contrast in mind. 

When she's with the other teenagers at high school, a lot of them are very solid and very kind of rooted to the ground. So their style is diff🐈e꧅rent than hers, which is just kind of more lithe and bendy. We're always trying to push that but also still keep it within believability that she could blend in in high school. 

I think the other thing we tried to do with the character design of the teenagers is that we really wanted them to look like the teenagers we see now right? They have different colored hair and they dress in funky outfits. So I think that helped us create aꩵ world in which you could be🥀lieve that this character that is blue could potentially blend in.

You've got such an amazing voice cast for the movie, did these actors bring anything to these characters that you weren't expecting?

Kelly Cooney Cilella : Yeah, definitely, starting with Lana Condor who does the voice for Ru🐠by. I mostly knew her from the To All The Boys series of films on Netflix. I just think that she was so charming in those films, and I loved how she was the hero but she also was quirky at the same time. And so, you know, when she started recording with us, she brought that part of herself to the character and so we were able to write more for her and play into kind of that awkwardness. She was just a great collaborator in terms of defining that character. Then the same with Annie Murphy, who plays Chelsea the villain. Annie has that same kind of effervescent quality about her that Chelsea has where you are just drawn to her.

Kirk DeMicco: You're drawn to her until she turns and then you're scared and then you want to run out of the room, she is so good at it. Like she just dug into the wicked evil side of this villain at the end. She transforms into this villain, it's really amazing acting, especially with 𒉰vocal performance because it has such a range.

Kelly Cooney: And then just to speak to a couple of the other leads in the movie. Toni Collette plays Ruby's mom, Agatha. With Agatha, she's a very overprotective mom, as many moms are, but she is doing it in a way that it's because it's what she thinks is best for her family and that it's at its core it's about her love for her family. I think Toni is such a skilled actress that she can play that vulnerability and that sensitivity while still being a force to be reckoned with. So this mother gave up her life under the sea and moved her family to land to protect them. And then on top of that, you have Jane Foꦍnda playing the grandmama, so you have a third generation of powerful females.

It was great to see Ruby surrounded by these powerful women, each in their own right, who have the best of intentions, and at times might be slightly misguided and they're sort of forcing her into following whatever direction they think is best for her, but that ultimately Ruby has to choose for herself. What is her path forward and who is she at her core? I think that's what's to me is the thing that is most appealing, having a young daughter myself, is being able to deliver the story that's a coming-of-age story where Ruby reꦛally becomes the hero and she really embraces who she is at her core. She is able to end the movie in a completely self-actualized way where she's taken little bits from all of these strong women in her life, but she has sort of synthesized them into her own point of view, which I think is a really powerful message for girls right now.

The Kraken is quite a unique part of mythology that doesn't really get adapted very much. How was it delving into that, and also flipping expectations by making mermaids the antagonists?

Kelly Cooney Cilella : Yeah, I🍒 think it's something that DreamWorks has a long history of doing, subverting the expectations of characters that you think you know and showing them a side potentially that you didn't know could exist. So that was definitely one🌳 of the things that was really appealing to us. How can you take this mythical mighty Kraken, sinker of ships, drowner of sailors, and turn it into something that is aspirational and powerful? You know, perhaps history has gotten it wrong, and they've just been the victims of really bad PR.

Then on the flip side with the mermaid, it's an opportunity to take what you think is just this beautiful shiny thing, but underneath it is sort of an evil underbelly. Taking that kind of high school trope of a mean girl, and the♐ wars that girls sometimes have in ꦏhigh school, and being able to show that on a grand scale and this epic way was just really exciting for us.

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Based on Cressida Cowell's book 🅷series, the films released across the 2010s and centered on Hiccup, an awkward young Viking who nurses in🎐jured dragon Toothless, who just so happens to be a feared Night Fury, back to health. Subsequently, he forms an unbreakable bond with the creature, and stands up against his village's tradition of slaying the winged beasts. 

All three installments boast a star-studded voice cast, with Jay Baruchel bringing Hiccup to life, Gerard Butler playing his strict chieftain father Stoick, and America Ferrera voicing Hiccup's love interest Astrid. Craig Ferguson, Ashley Jensen, Jonah Hill, T. J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, Christopher Mintz-Pla𓆉sse, David Tennant, and Cate Blanchett also feature. According to , casting for the live-action flick is already u൩nderway.

It's hardly surprising that Universal wants to build out the DreamWorks franchise considering the animated trilogy's success, and how well the likes of Disney do when reimagining its cartoon classics on the big screen. Collectively How to Train Your Dragon, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:How to Train Your Dragon 2, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:How to Train Your Dragon: The Hiꩲdden World made $1.6 billioꦦn at the box office, and all three earned Academy Award nominations for best animated film in their respective years of release. So it's safe to say, they're a hit.

While production on the new How to Train Your Dragon movie has yet to start, Universal has carved out March 15, 2025 as its official release date. In the meantime, check out our list of the most exciting 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming movies coming our way throughout 2023 and beyond. 

Dreamworks Animation is reportedly mulling over the possibility of making two more films in the series, according to comments made by composer John Powell.

The series had initially been conceived as a trilogy, but the wild popularity of the first film, plus a batch of positive early reviews for its follow-up has apparently got the studio looking further down the track…

"I saw Dean [ DeBlois, the film's director ] in Cannes," says Powell. "We had a premiere of the film there, and he was very merry and a bit drunk and I think it was mentioned to him by Jeffrey [ Katzenberg, head of Dreamworks Animation ] that maybe they would do four."

"It might be good because he’s got a lot of story left to tell," continues Powell, "so maybe splitting it into two will work, but I just don’t know about that yet. I’m supposing that at the moment, Dean has an idea for the third one and he isn’t telling any of us."

Directed by DeBlois and co-staring the vocal talents of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler and Cate Blanchett, How To Train Your Dragon 2 will open in the UK on 27 June 2014.

DreamWorks Animation have unveiled your first look at their new animated comedy, Home .

The CG creative geniuses behind family classics like How To Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and 💛more are t💯ackling an alien invasion tale - with a twist.

Adapted from Adam Rex's book The True Meaning of Smekday, the story finds Captain Smek (voiced by Steve Martin) successfully conquering Earth with his alien race The Boov, and booting the majoriꩵty of the human populace off-world.

But one valiant human girl (voiced by Rihanna) could change everything, and꧋ teams up 𝐆with a banished Boov called Oh (Jim Parsons) to save the day.

Other celebrity voices along fo𓄧r the rid𒈔e include Jennifer Lopez and Matt Jones.

Watch your first sneak peek -🌜 titled, amusingly enough, Almost Home - below, and then let us know what you think in the comments.

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Home opens in the US on November 26 and in the UK December 5 2014.

Despite grossing a series low of $239 million at the domestic box office back in 2010, it looks as though DreamWorks is planning to dust off the jolly green giant for another go-around.

DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has been discussing the prospect of another film, and sounds unequivocal on the issue of reviving the studio’s marquee character.

“We like to let them have a little bit of time to rest," says Katzenberg. “But I think you can be confident that we’ll have another chapter in the Shrek series. We’re not finished, and more importantly, neither is he.”

Given that the franchise’s total box office take currently sits tantalizingly on $2.9 billion, it’s not difficult to see where Katzenberg is coming from, even considering the apparent tail-off in interest for the last movie.

Whether or not Shrek’s next appearance takes the form of a TV special or a fully-fledged movie remains to be seen, but don’t be surprised if the lure of breaking the $3 billion barrier sways that decision towaওrds the latter…

Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has revealed he offered to commission three additional episodes of Breaking Bad , for a staggering fee of $75 million.

Katzenberg’s plan was for the episodes to continue where the final season left off, with the new content to be broadcast ꦯon-demand in sꩵix-minute chunks online.

“I had this crazy idea,” explains Katzenberg. “I was nuts for the s𝔉how. I had no idea where this season was going.”

“I said [ to them ], ‘I’m going to create the greatest pay-per-view television event for scrip𝓡ted programming anybody’s ever done.’”

As it was, the writing team had a very definite idea of how to finish the series, but Katzenberg was certainly read𓆏y to put his 🐼money where his mouth is…

"The last series cost about $3.5 million an episode,” he continues. “So they would make more profit from these three shows than they made from five years of the entire series.” Turns out money ca෴n't buy you everything...

The Croods , the caveman CG-animation from DreamWorks has revealed a new trailer online (via ).

Set to hit cinemas next year, the Flintstones -esque fable documents the lives of a cave-family who never wander far from their abode under the stern of advice of their patriarch, Grug (Nicolas Cage, working the laidback surfer-dude vibe).

When ‘free-spirited’ daughter Eep (Emma Stone), sets off on her own little adventure, the Croods discover that there’s a world beyond their musty hovel.

Taking place circa… honestly, we’ve got know idea when this is set. It seems to be taking a leaf out of the history books (and don’t expect to find the beasts they encounter in any encyclopedia).

Watch the first trailer for The Croods below now:

The first poster for The Croods has also been unveiled:

The Croods opens in the UK on 22 March 2013.

DreamWorks Animation has unveiled their full slate of upcoming releases - with some 12 CG-animated movies set for release between now and summer 2016.

The announcement came off the back of a new distribution deal with 20th Century Fox.

Among the sequels to some of DreamWorks’ biggest hits ( Kung Fu Panda 3 , How To Train Your Dragon 2 AND 3 ) there are some new titles, including the previously announced caveman comedy The Croods and supersnail flick Turbo .

Also on the list are Mr. Peabody And Sherman (based on the classic cartoon), Me And My Shadow , Happy Smekday! , spin-off The Penguins Of Madagascar , Trolls , Mumbai Musical and B.O.O.: Bureau Of Otherworldly Operations .

That’s quite a slate, and DreamWorks are showing no signs of jettisoning the star names that have always been a fixture of their animated films: Ryan Reynolds voices Turbo, and he also joins Nicolas Cage and Emma Stone in The Croods .

Happy Smekday! features Jim Parsons ( The Big Bang Theory ’s Sheldon) and Rihanna, while Seth Rogen will lend his guttural growl to an underachieving ghost in B.O.O.

It's nice to see some variety on the list: while we'd welcome any follow-ups to Dragon and Panda that could maintain the quality of the originals, all bases seem to be covered: comedy, (kid-friendly) horror, talking animals, and aliens. Even Bollywood gets a look in.

The Croods will be t🏅he first film y🌠ou’ll see out of this bunch, and that arrives on 22 March 2013.

Yes, at first glance this appears to be lunacy.

Pixar are the infallible artists behind an unprecedented run of hits which has defied Hollywood logic by combining big box-office with intelligence and emotional storytelling.

They make huge profits and classic movies.

DreamWorks makes . Worse than that, DreamWorks makes and , and as many Shreks as are needed in between to stop it all falling apart.

Its films are smirking shadows of its rival’s, bringing a plastic proficiency to the same insect hives and underwater worlds into which Pixar has breathed bustling, beautiful life.

Or at least, it used to be that way.

In 2006, Pixar released , a film which never sat right with its earlier films. Maybe because the idea of a world populated by vehicles with giant-eyeball windscreens is unsettling on an eerily existential level.

Or maybe because the film ditched the formula of small communities having adventures in our normal world (toys coming to life when no one’s looking, monsters coming out at night) which had brought so much success.

Things were never quite the same.

was more familiar territory, but also beset by creative difficulties – Brad Bird replaced original director Jan Pinkava when story development floundered, and the views of Paris can only distract so long from the fact that a rat controlling a man by pulling his hair is whimsical at best, weird at worst.

was a rallying cry for Pixar’s return to soaring artistry that delivered... for about 30 minutes, before becoming a patronising reminder for humanity not to devolve into beachballs.

It’s harder to argue against the pleasures of : the way Carl and Ellie’s life is condensed into montage is masterful. But many of its ideas are recycled – a comedy bird, a talking dog.

Meanwhile, the same year (2009), DreamWorks was putting away its own box of tattered ideas – talking animals, concepts Pixar had already used, Will Smith as a fish – and making .

If the studio’s earlier and had shown an unexpected wit and taste for fresh ideas, then Dragon was the first DreamWorks film to come up with the whole package – the dazzling looks and stays-with-you emotional smarts that are usually Pixar’s hallmark.

Co-directed by an ex-Disney man (Chris Sanders) who’d been reportedly removed from , you could even say it should’ve been a Pixar project.

Since then DreamWorks has made , and , while Pixar has made an (admittedly timeless) second sequel in and, crucially, , which fails John Lasseter’s self-imposed rule that Pixar sequels would only happen if they had a good enough story.

Cars 2 , which celebrates stupidity and tarnishes Pixar’s record of subtlety and wit. Cars 2 which, most worryingly of all, seems more focused on repeating the first film’s trick of selling toys than telling a story.

And while Pixar trades since🐲rity for cynicism, DreamWorks seems to have discovered the secret to making films filled with warmth and wonder. Or is it just me?

The first rumors of a Need for Speed movie popped up way back in April, but today👍 we're getting thethat a movie deal is underway between Dreamworks and EA.

Many details about the project are sti⛦ll unknown, but we know that EA along with John Gatins and Mark Sourianmad will be producing the picture, while Scott Woagh will be the director. Woagh previously co-directed the critically panned .

They've 🐻said the film will be “a fast-paced, high-octane film rooted in the tradition of the🦹 great car culture films of the 70s." No actors have yet been announced, but we'd be pretty surprised if Vin Diesel didn't show up in there somewhere.

Time to place your bets on how many slow-motion shots of Lamb🌳orghinis busting through police🌱 barricades there will be. We're putting the over/under at 7.

Above: By the end of this article, you will know the answer to the question no one ever asked: Whose games are better, Pixar or Dreamworks?

With next week’s release of Toy Story 3 (SQUEEE!), Pixar and Dreamwork♚s are poised for more than a battle at the box office. We’ve done our damnedest to pit the most comparable movie games from both companies head-to-side-grinning-head using their highest ranking game. And only the first game to stem from the movie. No spin-offs, sideshoots, and most importantly, no Game Boy Color games! That sad sort of shit has been thankfully relegated to the iPhone App Store.

WARNING: POTENTIAL BIAS! While I carry a deep affection for almost every Pixar film, I consider every Dreamworks Animation movie that isn’t Kung Fu Panda to be a derivative puddle of pop culture-spewing, donkey piss. However, the games were not ಌselected so as to rig the contes🦄t in either company’s favor.

Toy Story vsShrek

For the most part we’ll be looking at movies/games that came out within the same time period, but how could I not kick things off with these two heavyweights? Shrek is to Dreamworks what Woody is to Pixar. Each icon is synonymous with the st♓udios’ most recognizable films, and their successful execution would pave the way subsequent theatrical CGI would be realized in terms of tone, style and production. The toys take the win here, but obviously, there are several years between the two games. And to be fair, Toy Story for Genesis came out during a time when mascot platformers were still all the rage, whereas Shrek didn’t have that luxury while being developed by a company known primarily for manufacturing blank cassette tapes. The playing field from here on out will get much more balanced…

Ah, and thus we see the emergence of a notorious rivalry. Did Dreamworks rip off Pixar, or was it just a case of parallel thought? Neither, actually. Jeffery Katzenberg left Disney well aware A Bug’s Life was in development at Pixar, but greenlit Antz anyway soon after creating Dreamworks, as it had been in varying stages of development for some time and character textures on insects (as opposed to animal fur or human skin) seemed far more doable given the current stage of CG technology. Both movies were different enough to enjoy success, but the fact that Antz was rushed through production, seemingly with the sole purpose of beating A Bug’s Life to the box office, remained a point of contention between the two animation companies. Oh, the games? Tꦐhey’re both utter dog shiᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚt barely worth revisiting.

Having almost cleared Dreamworks of plagiarism charges above, here we find them at their most rippy-offest! Antz proved that they can crank shit out faster than Pixar (Fact: Dreamworks has already produced mor🔯e theatrical films than Pixar did with a three year lead!) but the similarities here start to get… Christ, I’m really trying not to say “fishy” because that would imply it wasn’t outright theft. As if the aquatic copycatting weren’t enough to have Pixar fans throwing poisoned McDonalds glasses over the gates of Dreamworks HQ, kindly note this tidbit: The Shark Tale game scored higher than Finding Nemo on all platforms! Attentive readers may already know why…

I hope I haven’t made it a secret that I prefer Pixar films, because this match-up takes me back to an instance where Dreamworks went out of its way to piss fanboys off. Shrek 2 had done very well over the summer of 2004. Not only did it break the box office record set by Finding Nemo the previous year (for a domestically re🐬leased animated film,) Dreamworks decided to move the home video release event date from Tuesday to an unprecedented Friday. Why? To steal as much thunder from The Incredibles opening weekend as possible.

The fact that Shrek 2 didn’t do it for me is personal thing, as is the fact that Incredibles is my favorite of the Pixar films. But Dreamworks forcing families to choose one or the other, as if making half a billion dollars entitled it to eliminate animation coexistence, was such a deliberately underhཧanded maneuver that I’ve only just recently stopped caring about…. Oh God, the games! Right, this is about the game🌟s... Both are insipid platformers hastily cobbled together to dupe children out of money and remain an insult to the medium. Happy?

Another mediocre win for the House of Shrek! Maybe I should just congratulate Dreamworks so we can move the hell on… So kudos, I guess. You’re pathetic, shitty-by-any-other-standard-but-your-own action game ✅featuring guns, ꧒goliaths and extraterrestrials beat out an unadaptable licensed game starring an 80-year-old protagonist and a talking dog. Hope it feels good, DW!

Which brings us to this… Right back to where we started, with both animation houses’ golden franchises competing head-to-head, presumably for the last time. Shrek’s final chapter is doing well at the box office, yet we all know that’ll be forgotten by the time Toy Story 3 comes out next weekend. But Jesus, that game score? From the looks of the wickedly customizable Toy Box mode, I thought the Toy Story 3 game looked infinitely more promising… but I’m not sure it’ll be able to match the generous scores bestowed by the handful of outlets who still bother to review movie licensed games. Not only is Shrek Foreve𝓀r After on the Xbox 360 the ogre’s best reviewed game to date, it has the highest meta-score of any game on this entire list.

Dreamworks? Serio🦹usly?! A sad day for Pixar fans, as The House of Shrek tallied out to a 5 to 3 win according to our list and the data provided Metacritic and Game Rankings. Even if Toy Story 3 can manage to outscore Shrek Forever After in the final hour it wouldn’t even result in a tie. Dreamworks may produce far more movies and games, but their titles based directly off films, pound for pound, result in higher quality. Now, what’s of slight interest is the reason why…

Let’s take a look at some Pixar games that didn’t meet the criteria of our list, yet fared much better with critics

Dated though they may be, those meta-scores are higher than all but one Pixar game on our entire list.꧒ Okay, now can anybody see what they have in common? Take a look at the incredibly weird call out on the N64 version of A Bug’s Life.

Above: “Sold” by Activison?

Whatever the hell that means, you’ll notice above that Activision jumped ship to work on all of Dream⛄work’s games right around Shark Tale, and that’s when they began critically surpassing Pixar games. You could say that THQ is responsible for the downward spiral of quality in Pixar’s ga🤪mes, but it’s much more fun and sensational to declare that Dreamworks gaming dominance is due to an unholy alliance between two companies the internet loves to hate! Activision and Dreamworks: A Forgettable Game Factory!

Jun 10, 2010

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