Hollywood studio DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc said it expected revenue in its feature film business to decline in the mid-teen per cent range as it had only one theatrical release planned for 2015.
Shares of the studio, which said in January that it would produce only two features a year, fell eight per cent in extended trading.
The studio’s lone theatrical release of the year, Home, is set to release this March. The movie is about aliens taking over Earth as they search for a new home, and features Rihanna and Jim Parsons.
The studio, which made the popular Shrek and Kung Fu Panda series, has had a few misses at the box office in 2014.
In the quarter ending in December, the company took impairment charges of $57.1 million (Dh209.7 million) related to the performance of The Penguins of Madagascar and Mr. Peabody and Sherman, as well as certain other titles and investments.
“We expect Fox will recoup their costs related to Penguin sometime during the second quarter of 2015,” chief financial officer Fazal Merchant said on a conference call.
The company said in January it would cut about 500 jobs and close its Northern California studio. It also said it would produce two feature films per year, not three.
The restructuring charge includes $155.5 million related to write-offs of production costs of unreleased projects, including B.O.O. and Monkeys of Mumbai.
DreamWorks has faced increasing competition for family audiences as other studios have turned out hit animated films, such as the Despicable Me franchise from Universal Pictures and The Lego Movie from Warner Bros.
