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DreamWorks Animation has usually been synonymous with the very thought of sequels. Think of this studio for quite a lot of seconds and titles like Shrek 2 or Kung Fu Panda 3 or Trolls World Tour will inevitably come to thoughts. If it’s doable to increase any of its films right into a long-running saga or Netflix cartoon, DreamWorks Animation has exploited each a kind of nooks and crannies. In truth, it’s extra peculiar to discover a title throughout the DreamWorks Animation library that hasn’t gotten a franchise extension of some variety. Even notorious money-losers like Turbo and Mr. Peabody and Sherman spawned animated TV exhibits!
A uncommon exception to this rampant franchising, although, may be present in one of many earliest DreamWorks Animation titles. Shark Tale was solely the fourth computer-animated movement image to be launched by this studio. Despite coming round early within the studio’s lifespan (again once they didn’t have a ton of stuff to endlessly exploit for sequels) and making a reasonably penny in its preliminary theatrical launch, there has by no means been a Shark Tale 2. What occurred? Why hasn’t Shark Tale 2 ever swam its method into film theaters?
‘Shark Tale 2’ Was Once Supposed to Happen
The strangest a part of Shark Tale 2 by no means current is that DreamWorks Animation initially deliberate to make this film. Back initially of 2004, earlier than Shrek 2 (the studio’s first sequel) premiered, DreamWorks Animation started work on the screenplay for Shrek the Third. Simultaneously, the studio was additionally engaged on getting issues collectively for a sequel to Shark Tale. The maneuver demonstrated a number of pre-release confidence in each of the 2004 titles DreamWorks Animation was planning to unleash on audiences. Plus, after the field workplace failure of Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas practically capsized all of DreamWorks, the promise of tons of sequels sooner or later might quell the issues of Wall Street and different outsiders fearful concerning the firm.
Once Shark Tale arrived in October 2004, its field workplace appeared to point that it could certainly be inspiring a franchise. It’s exhausting to recollect now, in an age the place Universal films often trounce animated Disney titles on the field workplace, however as late because the mid-2000s, it was nonetheless uncommon to see non-Disney animated films crack $150 million on the home field workplace. The first two Shrek installments and Ice Age have been the one animated options to hail exterior of the Mouse House to perform that feat earlier than Shark Tale got here alongside. Though the $160 million home haul of Shark Tale didn’t make it the subsequent Aladdin or The Lion King, it nonetheless drummed up lots of money. DreamWorks was doubtlessly going to be hankering for extra sequels starring Oscar and mates.
Of course, in a short time, it grew to become clear Shark Tale 2 wouldn’t change into a actuality. Whereas DreamWorks Animation was very fast to announce launch dates for numerous Shrek sequels and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, there have been by no means additional updates on a possible Shark Tale follow-up. Speaking of that different DreamWorks title, Madagascar would debut about seven months after Shark Tale and make considerably extra on the field workplace, significantly internationally. Among the primary post-Shrek computer-animated titles within the DreamWorks Animation canon, one with such international enchantment as Madagascar can be the plain precedence for turning right into a franchise.
By 2011, DreamWorks Was Shifting Away From Movies Like ‘Shark Tale’
Let’s transfer ahead a bit to May 2011. DreamWorks Animation founder Jeffrey Katzenberg is speaking to stockholders about what sort of films the studio shall be producing within the close to future. Katzenberg referenced Shark Tale for instance of the sort of movement image DreamWorks would not be specializing in for now, particularly citing it alongside Monsters vs. Aliens and Megamind as examples of style film parodies that simply did not translate nicely internationally. While DreamWorks acquired launched to the subsequent stage of stardom by skewering fairy tales with Shrek, doing different parodies like Shark Tale was not on the playing cards for the corporate.
This shift away from style film pastiches didn’t assist the probabilities of Shark Tale 2 from ever current, however this sequel was additional prevented from current by one other computer-animated fish film from the early 2000s. Finding Nemo loomed giant over popular culture even when Shark Tale got here out (simply 17 months after Nemo first premiered), however Nemo’s enduring fanbase and presence in popular culture solely helped to push Shark Tale additional and additional away from the highlight. The eventual sequel, Finding Dory, simply bolstered how powerfully distinguished Finding Nemo was within the international consciousness. Any potential Shark Tale 2 was going to have an enormously tough time grappling with Finding Nemo spending a number of many years being an inescapable phenomenon.
Getting the Cast of ‘Shark Tale’ Back Together Would Have Been a Major Challenge
Even the star-studded solid of Shark Tale, initially a ploy to get adults to come back and see a brand new animated film, probably prohibited Shark Tale 2 from current. For starters, doing a sequel would inevitably imply greater paydays for all of the voice actors. Did DreamWorks Animation wish to pony up a lot money to make sure the ensemble solid of the unique Shark Tale was nonetheless round? Additionally, simply 4 years after Shark Tale debuted, its main man, Will Smith, launched his last movie (Seven Pounds) earlier than happening a four-year-long hiatus from appearing. While different DreamWorks Animation franchises often launched new installments each three years or so, Smith’s eventual relaxation from the grind of film appearing would’ve made turning Shark Tale into an ongoing saga a problem.
But extra essential than anything is the truth that Shark Tale, regardless of inspiring some memorable memes, simply isn’t that beloved of a film. Even as a contemporary nostalgia sequel, a follow-up would inevitably be catering to a really small fanbase and wouldn’t have that a lot to supply newcomers. It’d simply be perceived as one other CG fish film within the mildew of Finding Nemo. Shark Tale got here out at simply the suitable second in time, when CG-animated options have been nonetheless contemporary sufficient to make each new title made on this know-how (save for the occasional Valiant), an occasion. A sequel many years later would simply really feel like some relic from 2007 that acquired misplaced for many years. There are loads of the explanation why Shark Tale followers haven’t returned to Southside Reef, however it additionally merely boils all the way down to the unique film not being sufficient of a beloved movement image to justify one or a number of follow-ups.
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