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Type Public (NASDAQ: DWA)
Founded 1994 (founding of DreamWorks SKG)
2004 (spin-off of DreamWorks Animation)
Headquarters Glendale, California
Redwood City, California,
United States
Key people Jeffrey Katzenberg, Chief Executive Officer
Roger Enrico, Chairman
Lew Coleman, President
Industry Animated films
Website dreamworksanimation.com

DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (NASDAQ: DWA) is an American animation studio which primarily produce a series of commercially successful computer animated films, including Shrek, Shark Tale, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs Aliens, and How to Train Your Dragon. Although the studio had made traditionally animated films about serious subjects, most of their computer-generated films and television series have now gained the studio a reputation for being more centered around popular culture and satire in their storylines. 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 SKG, it was spun off into a separate public company in 2004.

They are currently distributed only through Paramount Pictures (in turn owned by Viacom), who acquired the rest of DreamWorks SKG in February 2006. DreamWorks Animation maintains two studios: the original DreamWorks feature animation studio in Glendale, California and the PDI studio in Redwood City, California.

History

1994–2003

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. 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%). Pacific Data Images was founded by Carl Rosendahl in 1980 with a small loan from his father. In 1982, he was joined by Richard Chuang and Glenn Entis, who wrote the foundation of the in-house computer animation software that was to be used for the next two decades. During the 1980s, PDI created many animated logos and commercials for television for companies like NBC and Sky Movies. They shifted into motion picture visual effects beginning in 1991 with a contribution to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. 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 using traditional animation techniques.

In 2000, DreamWorks SKG created a new business division, DreamWorks Animation, that would regularly produce both types of animated feature films. All four traditionally animated feature films were produced by the division's Southern California branch. DreamWorks SKG acquired majority interest (90%) in PDI, reforming it into PDI/DreamWorks, the Northern California branch of its new business division. The business division separated from its parent in 2004, forming DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. and purchasing the remaining interest in PDI as well as its subsidiary PDI, LLC.

2004–2008

From 2004 to 2008, the studio is dedicated solely to producing CG animated films in-house and has committed itself to make 2 computer-animated feature films a year. No more traditional 2D animation is expected.

DreamWorks Animation also had a partnership with Aardman Animations, a stop-motion animation company in Bristol, England. This partnership had DreamWorks participating in the production of stop-motion films in Bristol, and also had Aardman participating in some of the CG films made in the US. This partnership 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" as the reason.[1]

The logo, adapted from the parent studio's logo, consists of a boy fishing on the moon, against a backdrop of the daytime sky albeit with more colorful lettering. The soundtrack of this logo was originally an adaptation of the DreamWorks theme; however, following the global success of Shrek in 2001, this became a shortened adaptation of True Love's First Kiss (the Love Theme from the Shrek soundtrack), composed by John Powell.

Employees at DreamWorks get to enjoy breakfast and lunch for free, a perk not found at many other companies.[2] In 2009, the studio made the list of Fortune Magazine's best 100 companies to work for, at number 47. This is its first year on the list.[2][3]

2009–present

Since 2009, DreamWorks Animation is now making 3-D animated films, with the help of InTru3D.

On May 22, 2009, the studio announced that 8 feature films will be released over the next 3 years:

Partnerships

DreamWorks Animation has an on-going partnership with HP, and the studio exclusively uses HP workstations and servers. In 2005, AMD signed a 3 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.[4]

Board of Directors

The PDI/DreamWorks Studio in Redwood City, California

The following executives[5] are on the DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. Board of Directors:

Films

Film Release Date Budget Worldwide Gross Rotten Tomatoes score
Antz October 2, 1998 $60,000,000 $171,757,863 95%
The Prince of Egypt December 18, 1998 $70,000,000 $218,613,188 79%
The Road to El Dorado March 31, 2000 $95,000,000 $76,432,727 49%
Chicken Run June 23, 2000 $45,000,000 $224,834,564 98%
Joseph: King of Dreams November 7, 2000 N/A (direct-to-video) N/A
Shrek May 18, 2001 $60,000,000 $484,409,218 89%
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron May 25, 2002 $80,000,000 $122,563,539 69%
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas July 2, 2003 $60,000,000 $80,767,884 46%
Shrek 2 May 19, 2004 $150,000,000 $919,838,758 89%
Shark Tale October 1, 2004 $75,000,000 $367,275,019 34%
Madagascar May 27, 2005 $78,000,000 $532,680,671 55%
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit October 7, 2005 $30,000,000 $192,610,372 95%
Over the Hedge May 19, 2006 $100,000,000 $335,206,062 74%
Flushed Away
November 3, 2006 $149,000,000 $175,319,242 72%
Shrek the Third May 18, 2007 $160,000,000 $794,561,223 41%
Bee Movie November 2, 2007 $150,000,000 $366,171,818 51%
Kung Fu Panda June 6, 2008 $130,000,000 $631,908,951 89%
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa November 7, 2008 $150,000,000 $602,308,178 64%
Monsters vs. Aliens March 27, 2009 $175,000,000 $379,882,019 72%
How to Train Your Dragon March 26, 2010 N/A N/A N/A
Shrek Forever After May 21, 2010 N/A N/A N/A
MegaMind November 5, 2010 N/A N/A N/A
Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom June 3, 2011 N/A N/A N/A
Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer November 4, 2011 N/A N/A N/A
The Croods March 30, 2012 N/A N/A N/A
Madagascar 3 May 25, 2012 N/A N/A N/A
The Guardians of Childhood November 2, 2012 N/A N/A N/A

TV specials

Short films

Television series

Sources

References

  1. ^ "Splitsville for DreamWorks and Aardman?"; Ryan Ball (October 03, 2006) - Animation Magazine
  2. ^ a b "100 Best Companies to Work For"; (February 2, 2009) - Fortune
  3. ^ "A new No. 1 best employer"; Christopher Tkaczyk (January 22, 2009) - Fortune
  4. ^ "Intel replaces AMD as DreamWorks Animation supplier"; (July 09, 2008) - Los Angeles Times.
  5. ^ DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Board of Directors - BuisnessWeek
  6. ^ http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/movies/story/1495969.html
  7. ^ Kung Fu Panda: The Series Coming to Nickelodeon
  8. ^ Nickelodeon Orders Monsters vs. Aliens Television Pilot

External links

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