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Dreamworks Animation Biography & Facts

DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA) (also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio owned by Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The studio has released a total of 48 feature films, including several of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, with Shrek 2 (2004) having been the highest at the time of its release. Its first film, Antz, was released on October 2, 1998, and its latest film, Kung Fu Panda 4, was released on March 8, 2024. They have an upcoming theatrical slate of films, which includes The Wild Robot on September 27, 2024, Dog Man on January 31, 2025, The Bad Guys 2 on August 1, 2025, and Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie on September 26, 2025. Formed as a division of DreamWorks Pictures in 1994 with alumni from Amblin Entertainment's former animation branch Amblimation, it was spun off into a separate company in 2004. NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation at a cost of $3.8 billion in 2016. The studio originally made some traditionally animated films, as well as three stop-motion co-productions with Aardman Animations, but now exclusively relies on computer animation. However, in 2022, president Margie Cohn stated that the studio is open to traditional animation. Its productions, including The Prince of Egypt, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and the Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon franchises, have received various accolades, including three Academy Awards, 41 Emmy Awards, numerous Annie Awards, and multiple Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Films produced by DreamWorks Animation were originally distributed by DreamWorks Pictures until 2005. Paramount Pictures distributed its releases from 2006 through 2012, and 20th Century Fox (currently known as 20th Century Studios) did the same from 2013 through 2017. Most DWA films from 2019 onward have been released through Universal Pictures, which also owns most of the rights to its back catalogue. History DreamWorks SKG era (1994–2004) On October 12, 1994, a trio of entertainment players, film director and producer Steven Spielberg, former Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, and music executive David Geffen, founded DreamWorks SKG (the three letters taken from the surnames of the founders). To build the talent base, Spielberg brought over artists from his London-based studio, Amblimation, while Katzenberg recruited some of the top animation staff from Disney. Some of Amblimation's artists came to DreamWorks in 1995, when the studio's last feature, Balto, was completed, with the rest doing so following the studio's closure in 1997. 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%). This 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 CGI technology and traditional animation techniques. In 1997, DreamWorks partnered with British stop-motion animation studio Aardman Animations to co-produce and distribute Chicken Run (2000), 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 and the existing traditional and computer productions, they covered all three major styles of 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. Three years later, DreamWorks SKG created DreamWorks Animation, a new business division that would regularly produce both types of animated feature films. The same year DW acquired majority interest (90%) in PDI, and reformed it into PDI/DreamWorks, the Northern California branch of its new business division. In 2001, 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 their next two films, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), making a total of five hand-drawn films. Beginning with Shrek 2 (2004), all released films, other than the stop-motion film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) co-produced with Aardman, were produced with CGI. The releases of Shrek 2 and Shark Tale also made DWA the first animation studio to produce two CGI animated features in a single year. Public corporation (2004–2016) The animation division was spun off into a publicly traded company named DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (doing business as DreamWorks Animation LLC) on October 27, 2004, and traded via the New York Stock Exchange. Katzenberg headed the new division, while 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 delivered twelve new films, or December 12, 2010, whichever came last. On January 31, 2006, DWA entered into a distribution agreement with Paramount Pictures, which recently acquired DWA's former parent and distribution partner, DreamWorks SKG. The agreement granted Paramount the worldwide rights to distribute all animated films, including all of their previously released animated films, until the delivery of 13 new animated feature films or the expiration date of December 31, 2012, whichever came last. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was the last film distributed by its former distribution arm and Over the Hedge was the first film distributed by Paramount in May 2006. DWA's partnership with Aardman ended after the release of Flushed Away in November 2006, having delivered three out of five films. 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 being Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), for which they only kept the worldwide distribution rights. 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 (2009), Scared Shrekless (2010), and DVD projects. Eventually they started contributing to DreamWorks' feature f.... Discover the Dreamworks Animation popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Dreamworks Animation books.