Jeff Bewkes Challenges Jeffrey Katzenberg’s View That Movies Aren’t A Growth Business

Ouch: “Maybe it is for him,” the Time Warner CEO said when asked in an analyst call to respond to the DreamWorks Animation chief’s comment this week that “movies are not a growth business.” This was an easy punch for Jeff Bewkes to make: Warner Bros had a record year domestically last year and just reported strong Q1 results helped by The Lego Movie and 300 — while DWA shares are down about 11% today after it took a $57M writedown for Mr Peabody & Sherman. Jeffrey Katzenberg’s company “doesn’t make many movies,” Bewkes says. “We’ve been doing fine in movies.” He predicts “continued growth overseas” for his studio’s event films. “We do have some tough comparisons given the great year we had last year.” Even so, “we do think we can grow the business over time. We don’t agree with (Katzenberg’s) view” although he acknowledged that “the business they’re in is quite different.”

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