DreamWorks Animation will wait to release the 3D flick HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON until March 26, 2010, a less crowded date, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
DRAGON was previously scheduled to open on Nov. 20, 2009, where it would have been competing with A CHRISTMAS CAROL with Jim Carrey and James Cameron's AVATAR, both in 3D.
"The combination of a jam-up domestically and the very limited 3-D capacity internationally just didn't make sense," CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg told THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. "There will not be anywhere near the number of screens needed to accommodate two releases internationally."
DreamWorks will still open MONSTERS VS. ALIENS in 2009.
DRAGON, SHREK GOES FOURTH (May 21) and MASTER MIND (Nov. 5) are all slated for 2010.
DreamWorks also released their 2007 financial results Wednesday.
In the fourth quarter, they reported total revenue of $290.2 million and net income of $94.1 million, or $0.98 per share on a fully diluted basis.
These results bring the full year reported revenue for 2007 to a total of $767.2 million and net income of $218.4 million, or $2.17 per share on a fully diluted basis
SHREK THE THIRD contributed $179.4 million of revenue in the fourth quarter and was the second-highest grossing U.S. film in 2007.
DreamWorks' next two releases, KUNG FU PANDA (June 6) and MADAGASCAR: THE CRATE ESCAPE (Nov. 7) are in 2D, but all films subsequent will open in both 2D and stereoscopic 3D.
Currently, around 1,000 theaters worldwide can show 3D films, but Katzenberg said he expects that number to increase to 3,000-5,000 by the time MONSTERS VS. ALIENS is released on March 27, 2009.
