Don't Get Excited For Monsters vs. Aliens Rematch

It seems like only yesterday when the whole world was buying anything Jeffrey Katzenberg was selling. Alas, it was further back than you think. Not long after the LAT pointed out the unprecedented lag in overseas gross for a Dreamworks Animation product, Katzenberg got on the phone with reporters to acknowledge a hard truth for his franchise-milking operation: Monsters vs. Aliens underperformed to the point where it might not get a sequel.

A follow-up is "right on the bubble," Katzenberg confessed, adding: "Domestically it has performed at a level that would surely qualify it as a sequel, and internationally it did not." That would be about $198 million to $179 million to date -- the first time a DWA film has found more traction Stateside than abroad.

One source blames the impact of 3-D venues' higher ticket prices and their relative dearth in other countries; yet another points to the awkward spring-release-date strategy that placed Monsters outside the summer high-season. Which is a terrific point, and apparently one DWA is sticking with, slotting its next potential franchise starter How to Train Your Dragon into March 2010 and its Shrek spin-off Puss in Boots into March 2012. I can't imagine Katzenberg walking away from Monsters in its troubled infancy, but hey: The guy makes a dollar a year. If ever there were a "They don't pay me enough for this crap" moment forthcoming, this would probably be it.

· 'Monsters vs. Aliens' may get rematch [THR]