DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California,
that creates animated feature films, television programs, and online virtual worlds. They
have released a total of 29 feature films, including the franchises of Shrek, Madagascar,
Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, and How to Train Your Dragon. As of June 2013, its
feature films have made $11 billion worldwide, with its $430 million average gross surpassing
all other studios besides Pixar. Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third are 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 sixth all-time highest. Even though the studio also made
traditionally animated films earlier, 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 along with numerous Annie & Emmy 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. The studio was formed by the merger of the
feature animation division of DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images. 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 two campuses: the original DreamWorks feature animation
studio in Glendale and the PDI studio in Redwood City.
Films produced by DreamWorks Animation were formerly distributed worldwide by the live-action
DreamWorks studio, then by Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Viacom, who acquired the live-action
DreamWorks studio in February 2006, spinning it off again in 2008. In 2013, 20th Century
Fox, a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, took over distribution of DreamWorks Animation
films for a five-year deal that will last until 2018. It's the world's sixth oldest
mini-major film studio.
History DreamWorks SKG
On October 12, 1994, DreamWorks SKG was formed and founded by a trio of entertainment players,
director and producer Steven Spielberg, music executive David Geffen, and former Disney
executive Jeffrey Katzenberg. The new studio has attracted many artists
from Spielberg's animation studio Amblimation. They first joined in 1995, when the last feature
was completed, and the rest came in 1997, when the studio had shut down.
In 1995, DreamWorks signed a co-production deal with Pacific Data Images to form subsidiary
PDI, LLC. The 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 CG 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, beside 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.
In 2000, DreamWorks SKG created a new business division, DreamWorks Animation, that would
regularly produce both types of animated feature films. The same year DW acquired majority
interest in PDI, reforming it into PDI/DreamWorks, the Northern California branch of its new
business division. Next year, 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
the same year to exit hand-drawn animation business after the next two of total four
hand-drawn films. Beginning with Shrek 2, all released films, other than some co-produced
with Aardman, were expected to be produced in CGI. Release of Shrek 2 and Shark Tale
also made DWA the first studio to produce two CG animated features in a single year.
Public corporation The animation division was spun-off on October
27, 2004 into a publicly traded company named DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. and headed
by Katzenberg. 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, whatever comes 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 until the delivery of 13 new animated feature films
or December 31, 2012, whatever comes last. Delivering three out five films, the partnership
with Aardman ended after the release of Flushed Away in November 2006. 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 only kept rights for worldwide
distribution. On March 13, 2007, DreamWorks Animation announced
it would release all of its films, beginning with Monsters vs. Aliens, 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. The 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. With animating part of Puss in Boots, they also started contributing to
DreamWorks' feature films as well. Since 2009, the studio has been a regular
guest on the list of Fortune Magazine's 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.
With 2010, the studio had planned to release five feature 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 company purchased the film rights to Trolls franchise in 2010.
Diversification and expansion 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. In July 2012, DreamWorks Animation won a $155 million bid to acquire Classic
Media, which has since been renamed to DreamWorks Classics.
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. But in August 2012, DreamWorks
Animation signed a five-year distribution deal with 20th Century Fox for both domestic
and international markets. However, the deal does not include the distribution rights of
previously released films. 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, expected to be finalized later in the month.
On June 17, 2013, DWA announced a multi-year content deal 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. DWA on June 18 completed a five
year licensing agreement with Super RTL that starts in 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.
On September 17, 2013, DreamWorks has announced that it has acquired the TV library of London-based
Chapman Entertainment with the programs to distributed through DWA’s UK-based TV distribution
operation. On February 9, 2014, DreamWorks announced
the foundation of a new publishing division called "DreamWorks Press", which will 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. On June
16, DreamWorksTV channel debuted on YouTube and operated by AwesomenessTV.
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
The DreamWorks Experience is a package of character interactions and experiences, including
shows, meet and greets, and character dining, featuring Shrek, Po the Panda, Alex the Lion,
The Penguins, and other DreamWorks Animation characters. The DreamWorks Experience was
announced for Royal Caribbean cruise ships, including ships of the Freedom and Oasis class,
in June 2010. In April 2011, the DreamWorks Experience was announced for resorts owned
by Gaylord Entertainment in Nashville, Orlando, Dallas, and Washington, D.C.
Board of directors The following executives are on the DreamWorks
Animation SKG, Inc.'s board of directors: Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder, chief executive
officer and director Lewis Coleman, president and chief financial
officer Mellody Hobson, chairman of the board of directors
Michael J. Montgomery, director Thomas E. Freston, director
Harry M. Brittenham, director Lucian Grainge, director
Jason Kilar, director Productions
Feature films
Upcoming feature films Feature films in development
Direct-to-video films Specials
Short films Television series
Awards and nominations Edwin R. Leonard, CTO of DreamWorks Animation,
won a special achievement award at the 2008 Annies for driving their innovative work with
Open Source Software and Linux. Academy Awards
Golden Globes See also
References
External links Official website
DreamWorks Animation at the Internet Movie Database
DreamWorks Animation at the Big Cartoon DataBase 's channel on YouTube