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DreamWorks Pictures

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This article is about the film studio. For the company previously known as DreamWorks Interactive, see EA Los Angeles.
DreamWorks, SKG
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryMotion pictures
FoundedGlendale, California, USA (1994)
Headquarters
Glendale, California
,
United States
Key people
David Geffen, Principal
Jeffrey Katzenberg, Principal
Steven Spielberg, Principal
Productsmotion pictures, television programs
RevenueIncrease$2.8 billion USD (2006)
OwnerViacom
Number of employees
1,200 (2006)
ParentParamount Motion Pictures Group
Websitedreamworks.com

DreamWorks, LLC, also known as DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, or DreamWorks Studios is a major American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games, and television programming. It has produced or distributed more than ten films with box-office grosses totalling more than $100 million each. Its most successful title to date is Shrek 2.[1]

DreamWorks began as an ambitious attempt by media moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen (forming the SKG present on the bottom of the Dreamworks logo) to create a new Hollywood studio. Then, in December 2005, the founders agreed to sell the studio to Viacom, the parent company of Paramount Pictures. The sale was completed in February 2006.

DreamWorks' animation arm was spun-off in 2004, into DreamWorks Animation SKG. Its films are distributed worldwide by Paramount, but the animation studio remains independent of Paramount/Viacom.

History

The company was founded following Katzenberg's resignation from The Walt Disney Company in 1994. At the suggestion of Spielberg's friend, the two made an agreement with long-time Katzenberg collaborator Geffen to start their own studio. The studio was officially founded on October 12, 1994 with financial backing of $33 million from each of the three main partners and $500 million from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

DreamWorks Interactive is a computer and video game developer founded in 1995, as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG.

The first feature-length DreamWorks film to be released was The Peacemaker, in 1997, although a failed TV pilot called Dear Diary was put into limited theatrical release in 1996. It went on to win an Oscar for Best Short Film.

In 1998, DreamWorks released their first full-length animated feature, The Prince of Egypt.

In 1999, 2000 and 2001, DreamWorks won three consecutive best picture Oscars for American Beauty, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind (the latter two with Universal).

On February 24, 2000, Electronic Arts announced the acquisition of DreamWorks Interactive from DreamWorks and merged it with EA Pacific and Westwood Studios. DreamWorks Interactive became EA Los Angeles (EALA).

DreamWorks Records, the company's record label (the first project of which was George Michael's Older), never lived up to expectations, and was sold in October 2003 to Universal Music Group, which operated the label as DreamWorks Nashville. That label was shut down in 2005 when its flagship artist, Toby Keith, departed to form his own label.[2]

File:Dreamworks Animation logo.png
The DreamWorks Animation logo

The studio has had its greatest financial success with movies, specifically animated movies. DreamWorks Animation teamed up with Pacific Data Images (now known as PDI/DreamWorks) in 1996 to create some of the highest grossing animated hits of all time, such as Antz (1998), The Prince of Egypt (1998), Shrek (2001), its sequels Shrek 2 (2004) and Shrek the Third (2007); Shark Tale (2004), Madagascar (2005), Over the Hedge (2006), and Flushed Away (2006). Based on their success, DreamWorks Animation has spun off as its own publicly traded company. In fact, PDI/DreamWorks has emerged as the main competitor to Pixar in the age of computer-generated animation, and is based in Redwood City, California.

In recent years DreamWorks has scaled back. It stopped plans to build a high-tech studio, sold its music division, and has only produced a few television series, Las Vegas, Carpoolers, and On the Lot, for example.

Recently, David Geffen admitted that DreamWorks had come close to bankruptcy twice. Under Katzenberg's watch, the studio suffered a $125 million loss on Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, and also overestimated the DVD demand for Shrek 2. In 2005, out of their two large budget pictures, The Island bombed at the domestic box office, while War of the Worlds was produced as a joint effort with Paramount which was the first to reap the profits.

In December 2005, Viacom's Paramount Pictures agreed to purchase the live-action studio. The deal was valued at approximately $1.6 billion, an amount that included about $400 million in debt assumptions. The company completed its acquisition on February 1 2006.[3].

On March 17 2006 Paramount agreed to sell the DreamWorks live-action library to a group led by George Soros for $900 million. Paramount retained the worldwide distribution rights to these films, as well as various auxiliary rights, including music publishing, sequels, and merchandising -- this includes films that had been made by Paramount and DreamWorks. The sale was completed on May 8, 2006.

As of 2009 DreamWorks Animation is planning on releasing all their films in 3-D starting with films such as Shrek Goes Forth.[4]

Trivia

  • The initials "SKG" (below the logo DreamWorks) stand for the company's co-founders, Spielberg (film director and founder of Amblin Entertainment), Katzenberg (former head of The Walt Disney Company's film studios), and Geffen (founder of Geffen Records).
  • The theme heard during the DreamWorks logo at the beginning of most DreamWorks films was composed by John Williams.
  • Currently, United International Pictures, a joint venture of Paramount and Universal, has the rights to release DreamWorks' films internationally.
  • In Shark Tale, the boy reels a worm and the worm was sitting on a fishing hook and the worm was landing down on the ocean.
  • In Bee Movie, the man who lands on the moon swats a bee, falls off the balloons, and the bee takes his place.
  • The broadcast rights to many DreamWorks films are owned by ABC. Ironically, ABC is owned by Disney.

Feature Films

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009 and beyond

TV series and specials

Main article: DreamWorks Television

Musical artists

Main article: DreamWorks Records

Computer games

Main article: EA Los Angeles

References

  1. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=dreamworks.htm
  2. ^ Stark, Phyllis, "Toby Keith topped country charts, shook up Music Row," Billboard magazine, December 24, 2005, p. YE-18.
  3. ^ http://money.cnn.com/2005/12/11/news/fortune500/viacom_dreamworks.reut/index.htm
  4. ^ http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-17-2006/0004322250&EDATE=

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