Katzenberg: Animated movies are only as good as their villains
Jeffrey Katzenberg · Jeffrey Katzenberg's $2.8 Billion Fund · Sourcery with Molly O'Shea · Dec 29, 2025 · at 46:34
Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of DreamWorks and WonderCo, explains a core storytelling principle he learned from studying Walt Disney's archives.
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“He said, my movies are only as good as their villains. So I would say to you, Ursula, Gaston, Scar, Farquaad, Tai Lung, like I can go on and just name virtually every movie I've ever made since then, animated movie. You don't have a great, you know, antagonist. There's nothing for the protagonist to do.”
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