Penguins of Madagascar, Mr Peabody & Sherman Box Office News: DreamWorks Posts $250 Million Loss Due to Flops

DreamWorks Animation Inc. posted a massive fourth-quarter loss amounting to $247.7 million due to the weak performance of "The Penguins of Madagascar" and "Mr. Peabody and Sherman."

The Hollywood animation studio attributed the loss to its recent restructuring plans, the closure of its Northern California studio, as well as the changes in its film release strategies.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive officer of Dreamworks, posted a loss of $263.2 million, or $3.08 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2014. That was more than $3.01 loss per share that analysts had earlier predicted.

In the same period last year, DreamWorks earned a profit of $17.2 million, or 20 cents per share.

The company also posted sales of $234.2 million, a gain of 14.7 percent over the rear-earlier quarter that ended on Dec. 31, adjusting the company's operating loss to $37.6 million and net loss to $64.1 million, according to Variety.

"The adjusted financial results exclude a $210.1 million pre-tax charge associated with the company's restructuring plan announced on Jan. 22, 2015," Variety reported.

Shares of DreamWorks rose 2 percent to $21.13 on Tuesday, but dropped 9 percent in the after-hours session after Wall Street got a look at the fourth-quarter results, The Hollywood Reporter said.

"Although 2014 was a challenging year for our company, I am confident that our recent announcement to restructure our feature film business will enable us to deliver great films and better box office results, while improving the overall financial performance of our business," Katzenberg said.

"And while 2015 will be a transitional year for us, I couldn't be more confident for the future. We have a set of strategic imperatives in place designed to ensure sustainable and profitable growth over the long term," he added during a call with Wall Street analysts.

Last month, the animation studio said "Penguins of Madagascar" would likely result in a write-down of approximately $55 million.

It made the assessment at the same time that the studio also announced a restructuring that included 500 layoffs and a charge of about $290 million.

On Tuesday, the studio said restructuring charges were $210.1 million, with $54.6 million attributable to employee termination costs and $155.5 million due to production costs of unreleased projects like "B.O.O." and "Monkeys of Mumbai."

Released in November 2014, "The Penguins of Madagascar" earned $358 million worldwide but Twentieth Century Fox, which distributes DWA's films, did not report any revenue to DWA in the quarter for the film since it has not yet recouped its marketing and distribution costs, the studio said.

That's expected to happen during the second quarter, DWA said.