DreamWorks Animation

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DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.
TypePublic (NYSE: DWA)
Founded1997
HeadquartersGlendale, California
Redwood City, California,
United States
Key peopleJeffrey Katzenberg, Chief Executive Officer
Roger Enrico, Chairman
Lew Coleman, President
IndustryAnimated films
Websitedreamworksanimation.com

DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (NYSE: DWA) is an independent American animation studio, producing primarily feature animated films. It was formed by the merger of the feature animation division of DreamWorks SKG and Pacific Data Images (PDI). Originally formed under the banner of DreamWorks SKG, it was spun-off into a separate public company in 2004.

Some of its most known films include Shrek, Shark Tale, Madagascar and Over the Hedge.

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

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Early years

In 1980, Pacific Data Images was founded by Carl Rosendahl 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.

In 1997, 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 PDI 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 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.

The 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.

[edit] Today

Since 2004, DreamWorks Animation is dedicated solely to producing CG animated films in-house. 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 produciton 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]

Also since 2004, the company has committed itself to make two computer-animated feature films a year.

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.

[edit] Board of Directors

Image:Dreamworksanimation.jpg
The PDI/DreamWorks Studio in Redwood City, California

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

  • Roger Enrico, Chairman of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.
  • Jeffrey Katzenberg, Chief Executive Officer of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.
  • Paul Allen, Chairman of Vulcan Inc.
  • David Geffen, Co-Founder of DreamWorks
  • Lew Coleman, President of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.
  • Mellody Hobson, President of Ariel Capital Management
  • Nathan Myhrvold, Chief Executive Officer of Intellectual Ventures
  • Howard Schultz, Chairman and Chief Global Strategist of Starbucks Corporation
  • Meg Whitman, President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay, Inc.
  • Judson Green, President and Chief Executive Officer of NAVTEQ
  • Michael Montgomery, President of Montgomery & Co.
  • Karl von der Heyden, retired Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of Pepsico, Inc.

[edit] Films and series

[edit] Traditionally-animated films

Note: All traditionally animated films were made at the Glendale studio.

[edit] Stop-motion films

Note: All stop-motion films were produced by Aardman.

FilmYear[Worldwide Gross]MetacriticRotten TomatoesIMDb
Chicken Run
2000
$224,834,564
88
97
7.4
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
2005
$192,610,372
87
95
7.9
Flushed Away (computer-animated film co-produced by Aardman)
2006
$176,301,623
74
75
7.1

[edit] Computer-animated films

FilmYearWorldwide GrossMetacriticRotten TomatoesIMDb
Antz
1998
$171,757,863
72
97
6.9
Shrek
2001
$484,409,218
84
89
8.0
Shrek 2
2004
$919,838,758
75
88
7.6
Shark Tale
2004
$367,275,019
48
34
5.9
Madagascar
2005
$532,680,671
57
55
6.5
Over the Hedge
2006
$335,206,062
67
74
7.1
Shrek the Third
2007
$794,561,223
58
42
6.3
Bee Movie
2007
$202,276,570
54
51
6.5

[edit] Upcoming computer animated films

This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

[edit] TV Specials

[edit] Short films

[edit] Traditionally-animated television series

[edit] Computer-animated television series

[edit] Sources

[edit] History

[edit] External links

v • d • e
DreamWorks Animation
Traditionally animated filmsThe Prince of Egypt (1998) • The Road to El Dorado (2000) • Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) • Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
Films produced with
Aardman Animations		Chicken Run (2000) • Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) • Flushed Away (2006)
Computer-animated filmsAntz (1998) • Shrek (2001) • Shrek 2 (2004) • Shark Tale (2004) • Madagascar (2005) • Over the Hedge (2006) • Shrek the Third (2007) • Bee Movie (2007)
Future filmsKung Fu Panda (2008) • Madagascar 2: The Crate Escape (2008) • Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) • How to Train Your Dragon (2009) • Shrek Goes Fourth (2010) • Master Mind (2010) • Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer (2011) • Shrek 5 (2013)
Direct-to-videoJoseph: King of Dreams (2000)
ShortsFar Far Away (2004) • The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (2005) • Hammy's Boomerang Adventure (2006) • First Flight (2006)
v • d • e
Cinema of the United States
Image:United States film.png
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