DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (DWA) 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 30 feature films, including the franchises of Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods. As of November 2014, its feature films have made $12.5 billion worldwide, with its $417 million average gross surpassing all other animation studios excluding Pixar ($616 million) and Disney ($443 million). Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third are among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and fifteen 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 & 22 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 (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, plus satellite studios in India and China.
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.
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 (PDI owned 60% of PDI, LLC, while DreamWorks SKG owned 40%). 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 (90%) 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 (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. 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 (2011), 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 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, 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. In July 2014, DreamWorks Animation purchased Paramount's distribution rights to the pre-2013 library, and since then, DreamWorks Animation's current distributor 20th Century Fox has assumed distribution rights to the library.
On September 28, 2014, 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.
On November 12, 2014, it was reported that Hasbro was in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation. 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 and acquisitions. Two days later, the talks were reported to have fallen through.
On December 9, 2014, DreamWorks Animation announced their launch into the television broadcasting business, 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. Also in December, DWA sold a 25% stake in AwesomenessTV for $81.25 million to the Hearst Corporation.
On January 5, 2015, DreamWorks Animation has announced that Bonnie Arnold, producer of the How to Train Your Dragon series and Mireille Soria, producer of the Madagascar series have been 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.
On January 22, 2015 it was announced that PDI/DreamWorks would be shut down as part of its parent company's larger restructuring efforts.
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
- Mellody Hobson, chairman of the board of directors
- Lewis Coleman, vice chairman
- Ann Daly, president
- 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
