Aaron Lazar and Norm Lewis to Lead Reading of Stephen Schwartz's THE PRINCE OF EGYPT

Now that 'Home' has helped Dreamworks Animation rebound a little bit, it makes sense for the company to pursue some other forms of entertainment again. This is the most logical choice for them since it is of course a musical film. I cannot wait to hear about the further development of this project.

I'm super interested in seeing how this develops. I love When You Believe and Deliver Us and I think this could actually transfer well to the stage.

I loathe those who are going. Why only Act 1 though?

While it's obviously too early to see if this makes it to the stage I am not sure if Miller would be able to continue with this project due to her schedule with Madam Secretary. If this musical debuts in a couple of years and her show is still on the air, then it would be difficult for her to find time to do this.

"Now that 'Home' has helped Dreamworks Animation rebound a little bit, it makes sense for the company to pursue some other forms of entertainment again.
Rebound from what? It made less than Penguins of Madagascar and it was How to Train Your Dragon 2 that not only did very well at the box office, but was a huge critical hit."

I think that as long as Home has broke even or made some kind of a profit, then that counts as some kind of rebound. Here in North America it has made nearly $175 million, which is more than its production budget of $135 million. I am not sure if this is quite an accurate comparison but 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful made $493 million against a budget of $215 million. While its international box office results were underwhelming, it still made a profit of $36.4 million. It broke even with a gross of $234 million domestically. I believe that the result of Penguins of Madagascar causing a write-down resulted from the under-performance of its domestic totals. ($83 million against a budget of $132 million)

Updated On: 6/24/15 at 05:29 PM

"Theaterfan, where have you read that Dreamworks has reported the film made a profit of 36.4 million?"

Here is the report from last year that Disney's Oz the Great and Powerful made a profit.

"The profit participation payout on Oz is much lower than the near $100 million for Hobbit 2, but this one isn’t even close. Oz generated $36.4 million in profit, while Hobbit 2 generated $134.1 million profit."

2013 Most Valuable Blockbuster – #5 ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ Vs. #12 ‘World War Z'; #4 ‘Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug’ Vs. #13 ‘Oz The Great And Powerful

And here is the report of Penguins of Madagascar's performance resulting in a write-down.

DreamWorks Animation Takes $57M Write-Down on 'Penguins of Madagascar'

The benefit reading had a great cast, and Richard Kind hosted the gala. I so wish I could have attended. What a shame about the aforementioned "licensing" statement. THE PRINCE OF EGYPT is by far my favorite non-Disney animated work, and the music is some of Schwartz's best. I love Norm Lewis, but I do wonder why they didn't get Brian Stokes Mitchell involved since he was the singing voice of Jethro in the film. Oh well. We shall see through heaven's eyes.