DreamWorks Animation is now owned by Comcast
Shrek and the gang only cost $3.8 billion
Shrek and the gang only cost $3.8 billion
Less than four months afterComcast announced its $3.8 billion plan to pick up DreamWorks Animation SKG, thedeal is closed. The animation studio, which created franchises likeShrek, Kung Fu Panda, and How To Train Your Dragon, is now part of NBCUniversal’s Universal Filmed Entertainment Group — a movie-related catch-all that also includes Universal Pictures, ticketing site Fandango, and NBCU’s own Brand Development arm. The arrangement doesn’t impact DreamWorks Pictures, the sister live-action company, though it does currently has a distribution alliance with Universal Pictures.
DreamWorks began in 1994 as a collaboration between Steven Spielberg, former Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, and music mogul David Geffen. It was intended to become a rival to traditional Hollywood studios like Warner Bros. and Paramount, with the company eventually planning to build its own studio backlot on the outskirts of Los Angeles. But running a studio proved more tumultuous than anticipated, with those backlot plans eventually canceled due to financial concerns, and the animation side of the studio — which had been racking up hits with the first twoShrek films — spun off into its own Katzenberg-led unit in 2004.
The studio slayer that wasn't
Despite initial success, DreamWorks Animation also found itself struggling due to several films that underperformed at the box office, and both SoftBank and Hasbro reportedly explored acquisitions of the studio. Last year, DreamWorks Animation reduced its annual output by a third aspart of a massive restructuring that saw 500 employees laid off. (It underwent a similar round of layoffs in 2012.) Ironically, the moves happened while the studio was beginning to show sporadic signs of life, withHow to Train Your Dragon 2pulling in over $620 million worldwide, andKung Fu Panda 3 nearly hitting the $520 million mark earlier this year.
For its money, Comcast will be getting a studio with plenty of potential hits in the pipeline.A movie based on theTrolls line of dolls is scheduled for release later this year, with new entries in theCroods,Shrek, andHow to Train Your Dragon franchises currently in production.
Disclosure: Comcast Ventures and NBCUniversal are investors in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.
- Bryan Bishop
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