Par Yves Grandmontagne
Source : http://www.silicon.fr/
Après Dreamworks, Wall Street sanctionne Pixar sur les résultats décevants des ventes des 'Indestructibles'. Décidément, la période d'euphorie de l'image de synthèse s'essouffle
Phénomène inquiétant chez les enfants chéris de l'animation: les ventes de DVD ne font plus autant recette. Même s'ils font suite aux "cartons" enregistrés dans les salles.
Ainsi, après Dreamworks qui a fortement trébuché sur les ventes décevantes du DVD de Shrek 2, pourtant un gros succès en salles, le studio Pixar vient d'annoncer que le DVD des 'Indestructibles' enregistrerait des ventes inférieures de 7% aux prévisions.
Les studios d'animation font face à un dilemme: le DVD est une source importante de revenus qui leur permet de viser l'équilibre entre deux longues périodes de sorties de films, mais le marché du DVD, s'il reste très dynamique, resserre les délais de distribution.
Ainsi, il n'est pas rare d'assister à la disparition d'un titre des rayons quelques mois après sa sortie, afin de laisser la place aux nouveautés. Les éditeurs tendent alors à grossir les stocks initiaux afin de pousser à l'achat d'impulsion, mais augmentent le risque de devoir gérer des retours d'invendus importants.
C'est ce qui arrive aujourd'hui à Pixar, malgré le succès planétaire des 'Indestructibles', et la machine marketing de Disney, son distributeur.
A Wall Street, le titre Pixar a chuté de plus de 10% vendredi, et ce n'est pas Monsieur Indestructible qui permettra de redresser la barre...
Info et réservations : ici
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
A popular ride at Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo remains closed today as park officials and state regulators try to determine why it left a 7-old-girl feeling nauseated and numb.
Investigators with Cal OSHA spent Monday testing and inspecting the park's Hammerhead Shark ride, which swings like a pendulum before sending riders on a 360-degree whirl, after shutting it down first thing Sunday morning.
Park spokesman Paul Garcia said park officials received a call from authorities at San Francisco General Hospital who said they were treating a girl who said she had a headache, nausea and numbness. The girl told doctors she'd spent Saturday at Six Flags, Garcia said, and the attraction she described riding matched the Hammerhead Shark.
"We voluntarily suspended operation of the ride and notified Cal OSHA," Garcia said.
Park officials inspected and tested the ride Sunday and found nothing wrong with it, but notified Cal OSHA -- as is standard procedure, Garcia said. The ride will remain closed until Cal OSHA approves reopening it, Garcia said.
Cal OSHA has not released its findings, and agency officials could not be reached for comment this morning.
The Hammerhead Shark was installed in 1996 and has had no history of problems, Garcia said.
Source : Site Officiel du parc
23 June 2005
CityPass, the company known for assembling North Americas most popular museum and attraction tickets in time and money-saving booklets, will expand its Southern California CityPass in 2006 to include Universal Studios Hollywood.
Universal Studios Hollywood will join Disneyland park and Disneys California Adventure park, SeaWorld Adventure Theme Park San Diego, and the San Diego Zoo in a new, thrill-packed Southern California CityPass on sale beginning April 1, 2006. Adult admission will be $199, a $291 value, and youth tickets for children age 3-9 will be $159, a $229 value.
The Southern California CityPass will continue to include an option ticket for the San Diego Zoo or San Diego Zoos Wild Animal Park. Also included will be a Disneyland 3-Day Park Hopper Bonus Ticket entitling Guests to admittance to both Disneyland Resort theme parks over a three-day period and admission for early entry into a designated theme park for one day. The Southern California CityPass is valid for 14 days from first use, leaving plenty of time to savor Southern Californias other sun-drenched pleasures in Orange County and San Diego. The addition of Universal Studios Hollywood to the Southern California CityPass will stretch smiles for miles for kids and their parents, said Mike Gallagher, President of CityPass.
The price of the new Southern California CityPass is offered at a savings of more than 30% over box office prices.
Tickets may be purchased in advance online at citypass.com, or at the first attraction visited. CityPass also offers two other time and money-saving attraction programs in California; the new Hollywood Walk of Fame CityPass and the San Francisco CityPass, including seven days of unlimited rides on cable cars and all MUNI transportation. CityPass is also available for Seattle, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, and Toronto, Ontario Canada. Each booklet reflects CityPass devotion to the travelers experience in the entire destination, with directions to use public transportation, tips for timing visits and other highlights.
The CityPass website offers downloadable brochures and maps, details and links to every museum and attraction, transportation options, and insiders tip on the best time to visit, and a pricing grid to compare savings in each city. For more information, visit citypass.com
Universal Studios says still in Singapore casino bid
By Sebastian Tong
Global entertainment giant Universal Studios said on June 23 it remained committed to a Malaysian-led consortium bidding for one of Singapore's two casino resorts, dismissing industry rumours that it had left the group.
"We are very much still partnering with Genting and are an integrated part of their proposal," Universal spokeswoman Cynthia Gordon told Reuters in an email.
Malaysian casino company Genting Bhd and cruise operator Star Cruises Ltd said in April that they had teamed up with the theme parks arm of Universal Studios, controlled by General Electric Co, for its proposal to develop a casino on Singapore's resort island of Sentosa.
Gordon said Universal would derive revenue from royalties on licensing if their bid was successful.
"Our energies are now focussed on Singapore. We're excited about our partnership with Genting to develop an integrated resort," she said.
The Singapore development would boost Universal's presence in Asia if the proposal is accepted.
The company, behind successful Hollywood movie franchises such as Jurassic Park and Jaws, already runs a theme park in Japan but its expansion plans for the region were hit last year when China withheld permission for a planned theme park in Shanghai.
"We are not moving forward in Shanghai. We worked for several years on a proposal for a tourist destination in Shanghai before the Chinese government pulled the plug on the projects as part of a redirection of resources in the past year as the country undergoes and unprecedented building boom," she said.
The Genting-led consortium is up against global gaming giants including Harrah's Entertainment Inc, MGM Mirage and Las Vegas Sands Corp to build what could be the world's most expensive casino developments at US$3.5-4 billion(RM13.3-15.2 billion).
Originally seen as a dark horse in the race, Genting -- which runs Malaysia's only casino on the hilltop resort of Genting -- was singled out in April by Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew as having the "most interesting" proposals among those he had seen.
Genting and Star Cruises, both controlled by Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong and his family, are also bidding for the other available site in Singapore's downtown Marina Bay.
Ahead of the official request for proposals in the third quarter, speculation is mounting that the 12 shortlisted bidding groups will further narrow.
"A lot of bidders are going to start falling off the process now. That's because it's very expensive (to run a casino) and you need a lot of resources," said Harrah's vice-president for Business Development Richard Mirman at a recent gaming conference in Singapore.
He declined to name any dropouts.
One of those shortlisted, South African hotel and casino company Peermont Global, said in May that its chances of winning the bid were "realistically" low.
In a report released in June, PriceWaterhouseCoopers said the fastest growth for the theme park industry would be in the Asia-Pacific. Spending in the region is set to rise 5.7% a year to US$8.1 billion in 2009, against annual average global growth of 4.5% over the same period. - Reuters
Design : Hitmaaan
