DreamWorks Animation

DreamWorks Animation
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Animated films
Predecessor	Amblimation
Founded	October 12, 1994
Founders	Steven Spielberg Jeffrey Katzenberg David Geffen
Headquarters	1000 Flower Street, Glendale, California, United States
Number of locations	3 facilities
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Chris DeFaria (President, DreamWorks Feature Animation Group) Bonnie Arnold (President, Feature Animation) Margie Cohn (Head of Animation TV) Jeffrey Katzenberg (Chairman, DreamWorks New Media) Chris Meledandri (Senior Advisor)
Products	Theatrical animated feature films Television animated series
Owner	Comcast
Parent	DreamWorks SKG (1994–2004) Independent (2004–2016) Universal Studios (2016–present)
Divisions	DreamWorks Animation Television DreamWorksTV DreamWorks Press DreamWorks Live Theatrical Productions DreamWorks Channel DreamWorks New Media
Subsidiaries	DreamWorks Classics M-GO Oriental DreamWorks (45%) AwesomenessTV (51%)
Website	dreamworksanimation.com

DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (DWA, formerly DreamWorks Animation L.L.C.) is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California, that creates animated feature films, television programs and online virtual worlds. The studio has released a total of 35 feature films, including the franchises of Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Monsters vs. Aliens, "Turbo", and The Croods.

The studio was formed by the merger of the feature animation division of DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images (PDI). Originally formed under the banner of DreamWorks in 1997 by some of Amblin Entertainment's former animation branch Amblimation alumni, it was spun off into a separate public company in 2004. DreamWorks Animation currently maintains its Glendale campus, as well as satellite studios in India and China. On August 22, 2016, NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, making it a division of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group.

As of April 2016, its feature films have grossed $13.48 billion worldwide, with a $421.4 million average gross per film. Shrek 2 is among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and fourteen of the films are among the 50 highest-grossing animated films, with Shrek 2 being the eighth all-time highest. Although the studio also made traditionally animated films in the past, as well as a co-production with Aardman Animations, all of their films now use computer animation. The studio has so far received three Academy Awards, as well as 22 Emmy and numerous Annie Awards, as well as multiple Golden Globe & BAFTA nominations. In recent years, the animation studio has acquired and created new divisions in an effort to diversify beyond the high-risk movie business. Films produced by DreamWorks Animation were formerly distributed worldwide by the live-action DreamWorks studio, then by Paramount Pictures (who acquired the live-action DreamWorks studio in February 2006, and spun it off again in 2008). In early 2013, 20th Century Fox took over a theatrical distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation films starting in March 22, 2013 with The Croods and onwards and end in late 2017.

History

DreamWorks SKG era (1994-2004)

Entrance to DreamWorks Animation campus in Glendale

On October 12, 1994, a trio of entertainment players, director and producer Steven Spielberg, music executive David Geffen, and former Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, founded DreamWorks SKG. To build the talent base, Spielberg brought over artists from his London-based studio, Amblimation, while Katzenberg recruited some of the top animation staff from Disney. Some of Amblimation's artists came to DreamWorks in 1995, when the studio's last feature was completed, with the rest doing so following the studio's closure in 1997.

In 1995, DreamWorks signed a co-production deal with Pacific Data Images to form subsidiary PDI, LLC (PDI owned 60% of PDI, LLC, while DreamWorks SKG owned 40%). This new unit would produce computer-generated feature films, beginning with Antz in 1998. In the same year, DreamWorks SKG produced The Prince of Egypt, which used both CGI technology and traditional animation techniques.

In 1997, DreamWorks partnered with Aardman Animations, a British stop-motion animation studio, to co-produce and distribute Chicken Run, a stop-motion film already in pre-production. Two years later, they extended the deal for an additional four films. With Aardman doing stop-motion, they covered all three major styles, besides traditional and computer animation. This partnership had DreamWorks participating in the production of stop-motion films in Bristol, and also had Aardman participating in some of the CGI films made in the United States.

Three years later, DreamWorks SKG created DreamWorks Animation, a new business division that would regularly produce both types of animated feature films. The same year DW acquired majority interest (90%) in PDI, and reformed into PDI/DreamWorks, the Northern California branch of its new business division. In 2001, Shrek was released and went on to win the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Due to the success of CGI animated films, DWA decided to exit hand-drawn animation business after the next two of four hand-drawn films. Beginning with Shrek 2, all released films, other than some co-produced with Aardman, were expected to be produced with CGI. The releases of Shrek 2 and Shark Tale also made DWA the first studio to produce two CGI animated features in a single year.

Public corporation (2004-2016)

The animation division was spun off into a publicly traded company named DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. on October 27, 2004. Katzenberg headed the new division, while Spielberg and Geffen remained on board as investors and consultants. DWA also inherited interests in PDI/DreamWorks. They made an agreement with their former parent to distribute all of their films until they deliver twelve new films, or December 12, 2010, whichever came last.

On January 31, 2006, DWA entered into a distribution agreement with Paramount Pictures, which acquired DWA's former parent and distribution partner, DreamWorks SKG. The agreement granted Paramount the worldwide rights to distribute all animated films, including previously released films, until the delivery of 13 new animated feature films, or December 31, 2012, whichever came last.

DWA's partnership with with Aardman ended after the release of Flushed Away in November 2006, having only delivered three out of five films. The announcement was made before the film's release, on October 3, citing "creative differences". DWA retained the co-ownership of rights to all films co-produced with Aardman, with an exception for Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, for which they kept the worldwide distribution rights.

On March 13, 2007, DreamWorks Animation announced it would release all of its films, beginning with Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), in stereoscopic 3D. Together with Intel, they co-developed a new 3D film-making technology, InTru3D.

In 2008, DWA extended its production pipeline into Bangalore, India, where they established a special unit within Technicolor, named DreamWorks Dedicated Unit. This unit is owned by Technicolor, but DreamWorks hires and trains the animators, who then contribute to DreamWorks projects. DDU at first worked only on TV specials, such as Merry Madagascar and Scared Shrekless, and DVD projects. Eventually they started contributing to DreamWorks' feature films as well, beginning with animating part of Puss in Boots (2011).

Since 2009, the studio has been a regular guest on the list of Fortune Magazine's Top 100 Best Companies to Work For. As the only entertainment company on the list, they ranked 47th in 2009, 6th in 2010, 10th in 2011, 14th in 2012, and 12th in 2013. The company is praised by its employees for its openness, culture of collaboration, and a free breakfast and lunch, a perk not found at many other companies.

Beginning in 2010, the studio had planned to release five films over the course of every two years, but the next year the studio revisited their plans, "but beyond 2012, Katzenberg said the studio will play it by ear, even if that means abandoning his proclamation that DWA would try to release three pictures in a single year, every other year." In 2010, DWA became the first studio that released three feature-length CG-animated films in a year. The same year, the company purchased the film rights to the Trolls franchise.

Diversification and expansion (2012-2014)

In July 2012, DreamWorks Animation won a $155 million bid to acquire Classic Media, which has since been renamed DreamWorks Classics. In August 2012, DreamWorks Animation formed a joint venture with Chinese investment companies to establish a Shanghai-based entertainment company, named Oriental DreamWorks, to develop and produce original Chinese films and their derivatives.

According to a Los Angeles Times report, DreamWorks Animation was in talks with Sony Pictures to distribute its upcoming films, such as The Croods and Turbo. The report also mentioned a possibility where Sony would handle the United States distribution while 20th Century Fox would handle the international distribution. Renewal of the deal with Paramount was also open, but only with more favorable terms for Paramount. In August 2012, DreamWorks Animation signed a five-year distribution deal with 20th Century Fox for both domestic and international markets. However, the deal did not include the distribution rights of previously released films, which DWA acquired from Paramount later in 2014. Rise of the Guardians was the last DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by Paramount Pictures, and The Croods became the first DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox.

On April 11, 2013, DreamWorks Animation announced that it has acquired the intellectual property for the Trolls franchise from the Dam Family and Dam Things. DreamWorks Animation, which has "big plans for the franchise", has become the exclusive worldwide licensor of the merchandise rights, except for Scandinavia, where Dam Things remains the licensor. On May 1, Katzenberg and DWA announced their intent to purchase YouTube channel AwesomenessTV, which was finalized later in the month.

The next month, DWA announced a multi-year contract to provide 300 hours of exclusive original content to the video on demand Internet streaming media provider Netflix. Part of the intent of the deal was in part to establish a more reliable income for DWA to defray the financial risk of solely relying on the theatrical film market. The next day, DWA completed a five-year licensing agreement with Super RTL to start that September for the Classic Media library and the Netflix slate. With the Netflix and Super RTL deals in place for TV, DWA announced executive hiring for its new television group, DreamWorks Animation Television in late July. In September that same year, DreamWorks announced that it has acquired the TV library of London-based Chapman Entertainment with the programs to be distributed through DWA's UK-based TV distribution operation.

The next year, in February, DreamWorks announced the foundation of a new publishing division called DreamWorks Press, to publish books in print and digital form. In June, the rights to Felix the Cat were acquired by DreamWorks Animation from Felix the Cat Productions, owned by Don Oriolo. The same month, DreamWorksTV channel debuted on YouTube and operated by AwesomenessTV. DreamWorks Animation then purchased Paramount's distribution rights to the pre-2013 library in July, and since then, DreamWorks Animation's current distributor 20th Century Fox has assumed distribution rights to the library.

The studio was reported to be acquired two separate times at the end of 2014. First, in September it was reported that the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank was in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation for a price of $3.4 billion, but the next day, it was reported that SoftBank had withdrawn its offer. Next it was reported that Hasbro was in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation in November. The proposal reportedly calls for the combined company to take the name "DreamWorks-Hasbro" and for Jeffrey Katzenberg to become its chairman, but as a matter of policy, neither Hasbro nor DWA publicly comment on mergers or acquisitions. Two days later, the talks were reported to have fallen through.

DreamWorks Animation announced their launch into the television broadcasting business on December 9, 2014, by creating their own channel called The DreamWorks Channel. With HBO Asia handling affiliate sales, marketing and technical services, the network will launch in several Asian countries (except China and Japan) in the second half of 2015. The channel premiered in English on August 1, 2015, and a Thai-dubbed channel launched in September 2015. Also in December, DWA sold a 25% stake in AwesomenessTV for $81.25 million to the Hearst Corporation.

On January 5, 2015, DreamWorks Animation announced that Bonnie Arnold, producer of the How to Train Your Dragon series and Mireille Soria, producer of the Madagascar series were named co-presidents of the studio's feature animation division. At the same time, it was also announced that Bill Damaschke will step down from his position as Chief Creative Officer. So far, under Arnold and Soria's current tenure they signed Jason Reitman and Edgar Wright to work on their own animation debuts. Two weeks later, PDI/DreamWorks completely shut down as part of the parent company's larger restructuring efforts.

Universal Studios era (2016-present)

On April 26, 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported that Comcast was in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation for $3 billion; the company already has its own feature animation studio, Illumination Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal's Universal Pictures unit best known for the Despicable Me franchise. The Los Angeles Times noted that such an acquisition could help Comcast further expand into China due to DreamWorks' presence there, and give Universal presence in television animation. The Washington Post further noted that Universal could leverage DreamWorks' properties for attractions at Universal Parks & Resorts locations.

On April 28, 2016, NBCUniversal officially announced its intent to acquire DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, valuing the company at $41 per-share. Jeffrey Katzenberg is to remain involved in the company as head of DreamWorks New Media, but will cede control of the studio to Illumination Entertainment's CEO Chris Meledandri, who would oversee both. The sale was approved by board members, but is subject to regulatory approval.

Partnerships

DreamWorks Animation has an ongoing partnership with Hewlett-Packard, and the studio exclusively uses HP workstations and servers. In 2005, DWA partnered with HP to introduce HP Halo Telepresence Solutions, technologies that allow people in different locations to communicate in a face-to-face environment in real time.

In 2005, AMD signed a three-year deal to provide processors to the studio. This relationship ended in 2008, and DreamWorks announced that they will use Intel processors for future productions.

The DreamWorks Experience: Gaylord Hotels 2011-2015

See also: DreamWorks Experience

In April 2011, the DreamWorks Experience was announced for resorts owned by Gaylord Entertainment in Nashville, Orlando, Dallas, and Washington D.C. For a four-year contract ending January 1, 2015. After Gaylord was bought out by Marriott, Marriott owners did not renew contract.

Filmography

Feature films

Released films

Title	Release date	Budget	Gross	RT	MC
Antz	October 2, 1998	$105 million	$172 million	96%	72
The Prince of Egypt	December 18, 1998	$70 million	$219 million	79%	64
The Road to El Dorado	March 31, 2000	$95 million	$76 million	48%	51
Chicken Run	June 23, 2000	$45 million	$225 million	97%	88
Shrek	May 18, 2001	$60 million	$484 million	88%	84
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron	May 24, 2002	$80 million	$123 million	69%	52
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas	July 2, 2003	$60 million	$81 million	46%	48
Shrek 2	May 19, 2004	$150 million	$920 million	88%	75
Shark Tale	October 1, 2004	$75 million	$367 million	35%	48
Madagascar	May 27, 2005	$75 million	$533 million	55%	57
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit	October 7, 2005	$30 million	$193 million	95%	87
Over the Hedge	May 19, 2006	$80 million	$336 million	75%	67
Flushed Away	November 3, 2006	$149 million	$178 million	72%	74
Shrek the Third	May 18, 2007	$160 million	$799 million	40%	58
Bee Movie	November 2, 2007	$150 million	$288 million	51%	54
Kung Fu Panda	June 6, 2008	$130 million	$632 million	87%	73
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	November 7, 2008	$150 million	$604 million	64%	61
Monsters vs. Aliens	March 27, 2009	$175 million	$382 million	72%	56
How to Train Your Dragon	March 26, 2010	$165 million	$495 million	98%	74
Shrek Forever After	May 21, 2010	$165 million	$753 million	58%	58
Megamind	November 5, 2010	$130 million	$322 million	72%	63
Kung Fu Panda 2	May 26, 2011	$150 million	$665 million	81%	67
Puss in Boots	October 28, 2011	$130 million	$555 million	84%	65
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted	June 8, 2012	$145 million	$747 million	79%	60
Rise of the Guardians	November 21, 2012	$145 million	$307 million	74%	57
The Croods	March 22, 2013	$135 million	$587 million	70%	55
Turbo	July 17, 2013	$127 million	$283 million	67%	58
Mr. Peabody & Sherman	March 7, 2014	$145 million	$275 million	79%	60
How to Train Your Dragon 2	June 13, 2014	$145 million	$621 million	91%	76
Penguins of Madagascar	November 26, 2014	$132 million	$373 million	72%	53
Home	March 27, 2015	$135 million	$386 million	47%	55
Kung Fu Panda 3	January 29, 2016	$145 million	$519 million	87%	66
Trolls	November 4, 2016	$125 million	$344.8 million	74%	56
The Boss Baby	March 31, 2017	$125 million	$498.8 million	52%	50
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie	June 2, 2017	$38 million	$116.8 million	87%	69

Upcoming films

Title	Release date
The Sorcerer's Apprentices	June 15, 2018
Everest	September 27, 2019
Trolls 2	April 17, 2020
The Croods 2	September 18, 2020
The Boss Baby 2	March 26, 2021
Spooky Jack	September 17, 2021

Feature films in development

Title
Shrek 5
Turbo 2
The Wizard of Oz
Treasure Island
B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations
Mumbai Musical
Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives & 40 Thieves
Madagascar 4
Hot Stuff
Untitled Voltron film

Direct-to-video films

#	Title	Release date
1	Joseph: King of Dreams	November 7, 2000

TV specials

#	Title	Release date	Network
1	Shrek the Halls	November 28, 2007	ABC
2	Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space	October 28, 2009	NBC
3	Merry Madagascar	November 17, 2009
4	Scared Shrekless	October 28, 2010
5	Kung Fu Panda Holiday	November 24, 2010
6	Gift of the Night Fury	November 15, 2011	Direct-to-video
7	Madly Madagascar	January 29, 2013
8	Trolls Holiday	November 24, 2017	NBC

Short films

#	Title	Release date
1	Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party!	November 2, 2001
2	Shrek 4-D	May 23, 2003
3	Sinbad and the Cyclops Island	November 18, 2003
4	Far Far Away Idol	November 5, 2004
5	Club Oscar	February 8, 2005
6	The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper	October 7, 2005
7	First Flight	May 19, 2006
8	Hammy's Boomerang Adventure	October 17, 2006
9	Secrets of the Furious Five	November 9, 2008
10	B.O.B.'s Big Break	September 29, 2009
11	Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon	October 15, 2010
12	Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular	December 7, 2010
13	Megamind: The Button of Doom	February 25, 2011
14	Thriller Night	September 13, 2011
15	The Pig Who Cried Werewolf	October 4, 2011
16	Monsters vs. Aliens: Night of the Living Carrots	October 13, 2011
17	Book of Dragons	November 15, 2011
18	Secrets of the Masters	December 13, 2011
19	Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos	February 24, 2012
20	Almost Home	March 7, 2014
21	Rocky and Bullwinkle	October 14, 2014
22	Dawn of the Dragon Racers	November 11, 2014
23	Secrets of the Scroll	December 15, 2015
24	Panda Paws	May 16, 2016
25	The Boss Baby and Tim's Treasure Hunt Through Time	July 25, 2017
26	DreamWorks Theatre	2018

Television series

#	Title	Premiere date	End date	Network
1	Toonsylvania	February 7, 1998	January 18, 1999	Fox Kids
2	Invasion America	June 8, 1998	July 7, 1998	The WB/Kids' WB
3	Alienators: Evolution Continues	September 15, 2001	June 22, 2002	Fox Kids
4	Father of the Pride	August 31, 2004	May 27, 2005	NBC
5	The Penguins of Madagascar	November 29, 2008	December 19, 2015	Nickelodeon (2008–2012) Nicktoons (2013–2015)
6	Neighbors from Hell	June 7, 2010	July 26, 2010	TBS
7	Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness	September 19, 2011	June 29, 2016	Nickelodeon (2011-2014) Nicktoons (2016)
8	DreamWorks Dragons	August 7, 2012	present	Cartoon Network (2012-2014) Netflix (2015-present)
9	Monsters vs. Aliens	March 23, 2013	February 8, 2014	Nickelodeon
10	Turbo FAST	December 24, 2013	February 6, 2016	Netflix
11	VeggieTales in the House	November 26, 2014	September 23, 2016
12	All Hail King Julien	December 19, 2014	May 12, 2017
13	The Adventures of Puss in Boots	January 16, 2015	present
14	Dinotrux	August 14, 2015	present
15	The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show	October 9, 2015	present
16	Dawn of the Croods	December 24, 2015	present
17	Noddy, Toyland Detective	April 2, 2016	present	France 5 (France) Channel 5 (UK) Sprout (USA)
18	Voltron: Legendary Defender	June 10, 2016	present	Netflix
19	Home: Adventures with Tip and Oh	July 29, 2016	present
20	Trollhunters	December 23, 2016	present
21	VeggieTales in the City	February 24, 2017	September 15, 2017
22	Spirit Riding Free	May 5, 2017	present
23	Trolls: The Beat Goes On!	January 19, 2018
24	Harvey Street Kids	2018
26	Cow Boy	TBA		TBA
26	Felix the Cat	TBA		TBA

Distributors

• DreamWorks Pictures (1998-2005)
• Paramount Pictures (2006-2012)
• 20th Century Fox (2013-2017)
• Universal Studios (2019-present)

Trivia

• This company has only produced three G-rated films (which are Chicken Run, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit as well as the G-rated short The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper), as most of its feature-length films so far have been rated PG by the MPAA (as of the short film Rocky and Bullwinkle), due to stricter reasons, although Shark Tale has been rated G in certain countries.