'Boots' bow kicks DWA stock cost

'Puss in Boots'Life can be hard for any stand-alone studio. Shares of DreamWorks Animation skidded lower Monday after "Puss in Boots" completed $34 million its opening weekend, topping the domestic box office but falling lacking anticipation and fueling a trickle of discontent on Wall Street. Shares fell 7.8% to shut at $18.55. Experts who follow the organization were searching for a mid-to-high $40 million showing for that "Shrek" spinoff along with a couple of trimmed their 2011 earnings estimations. " 'Puss in Boots' will require an extended tail," stated Anthony DiClemente of Barclay's Capital, who now figures the pic will gross $145 million -- $20 million under he'd anticipated. "Puss" was DreamWorks Animation's cheapest opening since "Flushed Away" in 2006 at $19 million. DWA capped Jeffrey Katzenberg stated a week ago the hope was for "Puss" to top the present $33.six million opening weekend record for Halloween. "Anything beyond that adopts the win column," Katzenberg stated then. The pic just squashed by. DreamWorks Animation creates films about every six several weeks -- "Kung Fu Panda 2" was out last May, next is "Madagascar 3" in June -- and in contrast to other galleries which are relatively small areas of giant media conlgoms, DWA does not produce other companies to defend it, making its stock prone to the B.O. takings of every release. Traders in Viacom, News Corp., Time Warner and Disney tend to pay attention to cable systems. Merely a truly massive dud around the downside, or perhaps a "Titanic" around the upside, can move the stock. Viacom shares, for instance, barely budged the Monday after Paramount's blazing success with low-budget "Paranormal Activity 3." A freak snow storm within the Northeast might have damped the "Puss" opening. If that's the case, DiClemente stated, good person to person could push the pic to higher-than-expected ticket sales. But he's also expecting "Madagascar 3" to drag in under the 2nd pic did ($590 worldwide), because of competive demands within the CGI market and slowing down three dimensional trends. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com