DreamWorks Has a New Owner

Update: Typo in the teaser—it is of course 3.8 billion. Sorry!

DreamWorks will thus now become part of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, which includes Universal Pictures, Fandango and NBC Universal Brand Development. DreamWorks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg will remain responsible for the company until the end of the year, when all transactions are expected to be completed. After that, he is to become chairman of DreamWorks New Media and work as a consultant for NBCUniversal.

According to NBC chief Steve Burk, Chris Meledandri will take over management of DreamWorks Animation; he is also responsible for the company’s other animation brand, Illumination Entertainment. Illumination Entertainment became known together with the acquired studio Mac Guff through the “Despicable Me” films and the Minions appearing in them.

Comcast made this move to buy DreamWork in order to be able to compete with Disney on an equal footing in the family-entertainment sector. According to Katzenberg, the sale was not necessary for DreamWorks, but was something he had hoped would happen so that the animation studio could continue to realise its full potential in the future. Dreamworks and Illumination Entertainment are to operate seperately under Meledandri’s leadership, similar to how Disney and Pixar do it with John Lasseter and Ed Catmull.

Next, DreamWorks, which has had animated hits such as “Kung Fu Panda” and “Shrek” in the past, will release “Trolls”. The release schedule is well filled through 2018, including part 3 of “How to train your dragon”, “The Croods 2” and “Captain Underpants”.

More at: www.dreamworksanimation.com

Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 30, 2016. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.