• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, July 12, 2005

Boom goes the glutted DVD market -- and with it goes DreamWorks SKG and Pixar Animation Studios. Is anything else in its wake?

You can blame too many perfect and less-than-perfect TV series of seasons gone by for some of these problems. The mass public has little interest in these efforts, but a niche audience might want to reminiscence or even buy them as gifts for family members. Anyone for "Cop Rock," "Sports Night," or "Central Park West"?

It doesn't matter. There are enough DVDs on shelves to stall an entertainment business or launch a business of expensive coasters. It all makes you want to Shrek.

DreamWorks has been public for less than a year. Analysts expected big things from the company, and not just in box office success of its animated movies such as "Shrek" and "Madagascar," but in the bigger and still growing pie of DVD sales.

Now DreamWorks says financials in the second quarter, and the full year as a whole, will be much grimmer than it originally thought. And it doesn't end there.

Early this month the seemingly impenetrable Pixar Animation Studios caught the DVD bug as well; the company said it would lower its earnings projections for the current quarter after home video sales of "The Incredibles" were weaker than expected.

It's not so much that consumers aren't interested in the animated wares of these companies. Consumers just can't cope -- and have hit the wall when it comes to lining their library shelves with high-priced DVDs.

They can't get through all the episodes of "The Job," watch live airings of "Dancing with the Stars," and also try to catch up with a "Shrek 2" DVD.

Bad timing in the market sinks all boats. And a mediocre summer at the theatrical box office doesn't help matters any.

What does this mean for the future? That the coaster under my glass says "Toy Story."