DreamWorks Animation SKG’s quarterly profit nearly doubled due largely to the worldwide success of its animated hit The Croods, sending its shares up 6 per cent after the bell.
The movie, which tracks a prehistoric family’s road trip and features the voices of Nicolas Cage and Ryan Reynolds, has raked in nearly US$584 million to become the fifth-highest grossing move of the year, DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said.
The Croods was released on March 22 and DreamWorks had said most of its share of the ticket sales would be recorded in the second quarter. More than two-thirds of box-office takings have come from outside the United States.
The movie’s success helped to reverse the poor box-office performance of DreamWorks’ previous release, Rise of the Guardians, which resulted in the company writing down US$165 million in a loss-making first quarter.
DreamWorks said on Wednesday that it expects its third-quarter results to be driven by worldwide pay television revenue for Rise of the Guardians and international free television for Kung Fu Panda 2.
The company had earlier said that third-quarter results would be driven by its latest animated feature film, Turbo.