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77-456: Brenda Chapman (born 1962 or 1963) is an American animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, and director. In 1998, she became the first woman to direct an animated feature from a major studio, DreamWorks Animation 's The Prince of Egypt . In 2012, she directed the Disney / Pixar film Brave with Mark Andrews (and co-direction from Steve Purcell ), becoming the first woman to win

154-454: A Los Angeles Times report, DreamWorks Animation was in talks with Sony Pictures to distribute its upcoming films, such as the 2013 releases of The Croods and Turbo . The report also mentioned a possibility where Sony would handle United States distribution while 20th Century Fox would handle international distribution. Renewal of the deal with Paramount was also open, but only with more favorable terms for Paramount (they even offered

231-557: A BFA in character animation, and was hired as a story trainee on The Little Mermaid (1989). Chapman then worked as a storyboard artist on The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and Beauty and the Beast (1991), where she worked closely with Roger Allers to define many of the key sequences and motifs used in the film. She later served as head of story, the first woman to do so in an animated feature film, for The Lion King (1994). Chapman joined DreamWorks Animation at its inception in

308-563: A cast including Angelina Jolie and David Oyelowo will draw attention, but a handsome production and beautiful cast aren't enough to get this fantasy off the ground." Conversely, Peter Bradshaw, writing in The Guardian , gave the film one star out of a possible five, describing it as "a muddled, leaden fantasy adventure for Christmas which feels as if someone put all the Quality Streets in a saucepan and melted them together, with

385-517: 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),

462-438: 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

539-578: A fantasy drama that serves as a prequel to Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan . In May 2018, it was reported that Angelina Jolie and David Oyelowo were portraying the parents of Alice and Peter, with both actors also serving as producers. Anna Chancellor and Clarke Peters joined the cast in August, with filming in London starting that same month. In February 2020, it was reported that Chapman

616-464: A model maker, returning to his bad gambling habits and Rose intending to make a green felt hat that would have been David's birthday present (further problems arise when Jack's latest model boat is rejected for another version). Eleanor meanwhile shifts focusing her attention on Alice hoping to make her niece a proper lady to make her more accepted in the current class society due to her mixed-color parentage. In order to make payments Peter and Alice make

693-718: 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 films as well, beginning with animating part of Puss in Boots (2011). In 2009,

770-503: A new fanfare composed by John Powell , the other composer of the first Shrek and other DreamWorks films, adapting some cues from Shrek 2 and tones from John Williams ' DreamWorks Pictures fanfare to create the music for the logo. The logo debuted on the first trailer of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World in 2018, but the full animated version and the new fanfare debuted on February 22, 2019, with

847-508: A one-year extension of the deal, but Katzenberg desired to get a better deal). Around the same time, DreamWorks Animation entered talks with Warner Bros. for a potential distribution deal as well, only to be turned down by the studio. In August 2012, DreamWorks Animation signed a five-year distribution deal with 20th Century Fox for all territories. However, the deal did not include the distribution rights of previously released films, which DWA acquired from Paramount later in 2014. Rise of

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924-503: A rearranged score by Harry Gregson-Williams, finally returning after making the fanfare for the 2010 logo, with elements of the previous fanfare by John Powell. The logo was created by production designer Kendal Cronkhite (the Trolls films), Suzanne Buirgy ( Home (2015) and Abominable (2019)) and a team of 10–40 people, taking eight months to complete. The characters that appear in the logo also have different designs to better fit in

1001-521: 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

1078-423: A story of three siblings; first David, middle child Peter, and last Alice, who live with their parents: Jack and Rose Littleton. The children dwell in a house by a forest on the outskirts of London and let their imaginations run wild. Alice acts mature in contrast to Peter who behaves like a feral boy pretending to be various sorts of tribesmen and gods, regarding the local woods as his domain. Rose's sister Eleanor

1155-421: A television animation division for the entire Universal Studios group. DreamWorks' digital, marketing, consumer products, and gaming divisions were absorbed into NBCUniversal. On December 21, 2016, Soria stepped down from her position as co-president of DreamWorks' Feature Animation division. In January 2017, Christopher DeFaria joined DreamWorks Animation in the newly created position of president of

1232-432: A total worldwide gross of $ 1,746,860. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 29% of 69 reviews of the film were positive, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Largely lacking the fairytale magic it seeks to conjure, Come Away is an initially intriguing fantasy that never really takes flight." According to Metacritic , which sampled 17 critic reviews and calculated

1309-481: A trip to London to sell a family heirloom silver pocket watch, during which they shelter a group of street urchins who have pickpocketed an intimidating criminal. Both siblings meet an eccentric shopkeeper, Hatter, who leads them to a money lender and lower crime boss Captain James or CJ who unknown to both of them is their uncle. Peter later runs into the very same street kids (he met earlier) who reveal they are known as

1386-429: A weighted average score of 40 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average reviews". After its Sundance premiere, Ben Pearson of Slash Film gave a positive review by stating "A new children's classic has arrived, and this timeless fairytale will surely enchant audiences for generations to come." John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter gave a negative review by stating "A wealth of familiar storybook material and

1463-547: A year. The same year, the company purchased the film rights to the Trolls franchise . In July 2012, DreamWorks Animation won a $ 155 million bid to acquire Classic Media , which has since been renamed to DreamWorks Classics. In August 2012, DreamWorks Animation formed a joint venture with Chinese investment companies to establish a Shanghai -based entertainment company, named Oriental DreamWorks , to develop and produce original Chinese films and their derivatives. According to

1540-440: 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 49 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, The Wild Robot ,

1617-445: Is now an independent lady to her children, who are revealed to be Wendy Darling and her brothers, John and Michael . Coming back from going out for the evening with her husband George Darling , Alice suddenly hears a familiar crowing that both her brothers used to do and heads upstairs to find the children's bedroom windows thrown wide open and a notable eagle feather on the floor beneath said window. She looks out of their window at

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1694-406: Is requesting to sponsor David's education on the grounds of his intelligence (during one of their trips they discover an eagle feather and a downed boat, with the siblings wondering if they could get it sea-worthy). Tragedy strikes one day when David while pretending to fight pirates during a storm, falls into the river, is struck by lightning, and dies. The family copes in different ways; with Jack,

1771-501: Is safeguarding for the various criminal organizations of London's underworld. When James catches his nephew in the act Peter cuts off his uncle's hand in a sword duel before fleeing. With his uncle and cohorts hot on his heels, Peter is forced to run away from home. Taking his late brother's newly finished hat with the eagle feather in it while dressed in his brother's hand me down green clothes, whilst Captain James and company continue to give chase after him. Alice last spies Peter on

1848-553: Is worth at least $ 50 million. On November 6, 2018, it was announced that Meledandri would be helping Universal and DreamWorks to revive the Shrek franchise . Meledandri intends, however, to retain the original voice actors, as he pointed out they were perhaps the most memorable parts of the series. The first film in this collaboration, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish , on which Meledandri served as executive producer,

1925-712: The How to Train Your Dragon series and Mireille Soria , producer of the Madagascar series were named co-presidents of the studio's feature animation division. At the same time, it was also announced that Bill Damaschke would step down from his position as Chief Creative Officer. So far, under Arnold and Soria's current tenure they signed Jason Reitman and Edgar Wright to work on their own animation debuts. Two weeks later, PDI/DreamWorks completely shut down as part of its parent company's larger restructuring efforts due to

2002-740: The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature . Chapman was born in Beason, Illinois as the youngest of five. She went to Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois , receiving her Associate of Arts degree. She then moved to California and studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). During her summer breaks, Chapman began her professional career working in syndicated television animation. In 1987, she graduated with

2079-877: The DreamWorks Channel . With HBO Asia handling affiliate sales, marketing and technical services, the network launched in several Asian countries (except China and Japan) in the second half of 2015. The channel first premiered in English on August 1, 2015, and a Thai -dubbed channel launched in September 2015. Also in December, DWA sold a 25% stake in AwesomenessTV for $ 81.25 million to the Hearst Corporation . On January 5, 2015, DreamWorks Animation announced that Bonnie Arnold , producer of

2156-495: The Lost Boys and that they have been to a place known only to children called Never Neverland and offer to take him there. Jack later visits his brother to call off his debt collectors, with a jealous James crippling his brother (as a show of loyalty to his crime paymasters) leading to Jack losing his hand. Peter responds by seeking out these Lost Boys to help rob James of the fortune of gold coins Peter spied on earlier that he

2233-626: The Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2020, and was released in the United States on November 13, 2020, by Relativity Media and was released in the United Kingdom on December 18, 2020, by Signature Entertainment. It is Relativity's first theatrically released film since 2016's Masterminds . A mother reads " The Stolen Child " by William Butler Yeats to her three children, two boys and one girl, and recounts

2310-409: The franchise ", has become the exclusive worldwide licensor of the merchandise rights, except for Scandinavia, where Dam Things remains the licensor. On May 1, Katzenberg and DWA announced their intent to purchase YouTube channel AwesomenessTV , which was finalized later in the month. The following month, DWA announced a multi-year content deal to provide 300 hours of exclusive original content to

2387-748: The video on demand Internet streaming media provider, Netflix . Part of the intent of the deal was in part to establish a more reliable income for DWA to defray the financial risk of solely relying on the theatrical film market. The next day, DWA completed a five-year licensing agreement with Super RTL to start that September for the Classic Media library and the Netflix slate. With the Netflix and Super RTL deals in place for TV, DWA announced executive hiring for its new television group, DreamWorks Animation Television in late July. Former Nickelodeon senior executive Margie Cohn became Head of Television for

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2464-549: The Arts. They have a daughter, Emma Rose Lima (b. 1999), who was the inspiration for Mérida, Brave ' s young princess. They reside in Tamalpais Valley, California . Chapman claims Scottish ancestry. In 2014, Chapman urged Scots to back independence in the September referendum . DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA) (also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks )

2541-712: The Cat were acquired by DreamWorks Animation from Felix the Cat Productions, owned by Don Oriolo. The same month, DreamWorksTV channel debuted on YouTube and operated by AwesomenessTV. DreamWorks Animation then purchased Paramount's distribution rights to the pre-2013 library in July, and since then, DreamWorks Animation's then-distribution partner 20th Century Fox has distributed the library on their behalf until 2018, in which DreamWorks Animation's parent company Universal Pictures has assumed these responsibilities. The studio

2618-542: The DreamWorks Feature Animation Group. As president, DeFaria oversaw all aspects of DWA's feature animation business, including slate strategy, development, production; innovation and technology; and business affairs. On August 1, 2017, it was announced that DreamWorks Animation and Blumhouse Productions would be working on Blumhouse's first animated film, Spooky Jack . The film was initially set to be released on September 17, 2021, but

2695-517: The Guardians (2012) was the last DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by Paramount, and The Croods became the first DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox. On April 11, 2013, DreamWorks Animation announced that it has acquired the intellectual property for the Trolls franchise from the Dam Family and Dam Things. DreamWorks Animation, which has "big plans for

2772-572: 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

2849-596: The Were-Rabbit , and the Shrek , Madagascar , Kung Fu Panda , How to Train Your Dragon and Trolls 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

2926-563: 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

3003-479: The box office underperformance of Penguins of Madagascar (2014), cutting 500 jobs. On April 28, 2016, Comcast officially announced that its NBCUniversal division intended on acquiring DreamWorks Animation for $ 3.8 billion, valuing the company at $ 41 per share. Jeffrey Katzenberg was to remain involved in the company as head of DreamWorks New Media, but was to cede control of the studio to Illumination 's CEO Chris Meledandri , who would oversee both. The sale

3080-496: The boy fishing on the moon in space. An updated version of the fanfare accompanied this logo, and the logo would be used from How to Train Your Dragon (2010) to Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017). Two years after its acquisition by Universal Pictures in 2016, a new DreamWorks Animation logo was introduced. It is said that it pays homage to the evolution of animation. It received

3157-424: The boy flies up to the moon via balloons . It originally had music adapted from the track "Fairytale" for the film Shrek (2001), the logo was composed by Harry Gregson-Williams , one of the co-composers of Shrek and the composer of its sequels as well as other DreamWorks films. The logo was used from Shrek 2 (2004) to Monsters vs. Aliens (2009). In 2010, DreamWorks unveiled a new logo, this time with

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3234-577: The cast. Additional financing came from Ace Pictures, Creasun Entertainment USA and Tin Res Entertainment; executive producers include David Haring, Minglu Ma, George Acogny, Timur Bekbosunov, Johnny Chang, Peter Wong, Emma Lee, Gia Muresan, Simon Fawcett and Steve Barnett. The filming commenced at Shad Thames in London in August 2018, as well as Windsor Great Park in both the South Forest and around Johnson's pond. In October 2018,

3311-407: 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

3388-416: The combined company to take the name "DreamWorks-Hasbro" and for Jeffrey Katzenberg to become its chairman, but as a matter of policy, neither Hasbro nor DWA publicly comment on mergers and acquisitions. Two days later, the talks were reported to have fallen through. DreamWorks Animation announced their launch into the television broadcasting business on December 9, 2014, by creating their own channel called

3465-478: The company into Viacom Digital Studios. Jordan Levin left his position as CEO following the acquisition. However, the deal does not include the DreamWorksTV YouTube channel, which is still retained by NBCUniversal, where it was integrated into NBCU Digital Enterprises Group, a new digital entertainment division led by President Maggie Suniewick. On July 30, 2018, Variety reported that the deal

3542-523: The company moved its shares to the NASDAQ as a move designed to save costs. Since 2009, the studio has been regularly listed in Fortune Magazine 's "100 Best Companies to Work For". As the only entertainment company on the list, they ranked 47th in 2009, 6th in 2010, 10th in 2011, 14th in 2012, and 12th in 2013. Beginning in 2010, the studio had planned to release five feature films over

3619-648: The continuity. It made its debut on November 22, 2022, as an unlisted video on DreamWorks' YouTube channel and made its on-screen debut in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish . Character appearance in the logo started to change with the release of Trolls Band Together (2023), with the Kung Fu Panda , The Boss Baby , and Trolls franchises being replaced with the Madagascar and The Croods franchises and Puss in Boots (2011) and its aforementioned sequel. Come Away Come Away had its world premiere at

3696-477: The course of every two years, but the next year the studio revisited their plans, "but beyond 2012, Katzenberg said the studio will play it by year, even if that means abandoning his proclamation that DWA would try to release three pictures in a single year, every other year." In 2010, with the releases of How to Train Your Dragon , Shrek Forever After , and Megamind , DWA became the first animation studio that released three feature-length CG-animated films in

3773-416: The exclusive streaming home for future DWA feature films, as well as library films. DWA had streamed exclusively through Netflix since 2013. On July 25, 2018, Viacom Media Networks announced that it was in talks to acquire AwesomenessTV for a fraction of the company's $ 650 million valuation in 2016. Two days later on July 27, 2018, Viacom officially acquired AwesomenessTV for $ 25–50 million and integrated

3850-569: The fall of 1994. Chapman was one of a team of three directors who worked on 1998's The Prince of Egypt , along with Steve Hickner and Simon Wells . She became the first female director for an animated feature by a major studio; three others had previously helmed independent efforts including Lotte Reiniger of The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), Joy Batchelor of Animal Farm (1954), and Arna Selznick of The Care Bears Movie (1985). She also worked on Chicken Run , and several projects in development while at DreamWorks before leaving

3927-808: The first animation studio to produce two CGI animated features in a single year. 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

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4004-522: The group. In September that same year, DreamWorks announced that it has acquired the TV library of London-based Chapman Entertainment with the programs to distributed through DWA's UK-based TV distribution operation. The next year, in February, DreamWorks announced the foundation of a new publishing division called DreamWorks Press , to publish books in print and digital form. In June, the rights to Felix

4081-541: The leadership doesn't fit well with me." In 2013, she returned to DreamWorks Animation , where she helped in developing Rumblewick that had a strong female protagonist and was described as "funny with magic and heart." Chapman then left DreamWorks shortly afterwards. As of 2016, she began developing projects for Chapman Lima Productions, with her husband Kevin Lima. In May 2016, it was reported that Chapman would make her live-action directorial debut with Come Away (2020),

4158-531: The movie business and turn it into a different kind of business" by creating new intellectual property that can be merchandised and adapted into theme park attractions. Burke reaffirmed a commitment to animated features, stating that Universal Pictures would be able to release as many as four animated films per-year, divided between DreamWorks and Illumination. Burke also outlined that the purchase would be beneficial to Universal's expanding presence in China (where it

4235-409: The new chief operating officer of the company three months later. On November 13, 2017, it was announced that DreamWorks Animation had started a shorts program, called DreamWorks Shorts, which would show original animated short films before DWA's feature films, much akin to what Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios do for their feature films. The first short film to be produced under the program

4312-595: The night sky, hoping it was her brother who came to take his niece and nephews off to this supposed Never Neverland and will likely look after them while they are there. The project was announced in May 2016, with The Prince of Egypt and Brave co-director Brenda Chapman hired to direct. In May 2018, Angelina Jolie and David Oyelowo were cast to play the parents of Alice and Peter, with both actors also taking producer roles. In August 2018, Anna Chancellor , Clarke Peters , Gugu Mbatha-Raw , Michael Caine , David Gyasi , Derek Jacobi and Jenny Galloway joined

4389-552: The now fixed boat sailing away crewed by said Lost Boys who are taking her brother to Never Neverland (with the ship apparently being pulled into the air by the wind itself thanks to a fairy that Alice came across disguised as a little brass bell), although Peter briefly returns to stop by while his family sleeps to deposit some of the stolen coins (that he irregularly does over the years to support his loved ones). The mother finishes telling her story which has now been established as being of her own early life. Thereby showing that Alice

4466-449: The production moved to Los Angeles before concluding later that month. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2020. In October 2020, Relativity Media acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film and had its release on November 13, 2020. In its opening weekend the film grossed $ 108,000 from 475 theaters. The film earned $ 184,477 in the United States and Canada, $ 1,562,383 in other territories, for

4543-538: The release of the film, for which Powell also composed the score. On November 25, 2022, a new logo was announced. The boy on the moon was redubbed as the Moon Child to relate to anyone. The logo showcases the Moon Child flying on the crescent moon, interacting with several DreamWorks characters before settling on the moon. It features characters from The Bad Guys (2022), How to Train Your Dragon , Kung Fu Panda , The Boss Baby , Trolls , and Shrek , and

4620-414: 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. 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

4697-541: The studio on maternity leave. In May 2003, Chapman and Allers were announced to direct Tam Lin , an adaptation of the Scottish folk ballad, for Sony Pictures Animation . However, later that same year, Chapman moved to Pixar after being invited by her old colleague Joe Ranft , where she had a brief stint on Cars (2006) before developing The Bear and the Bow , which was re-titled Brave (2012). In April 2008, Chapman

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4774-634: 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

4851-415: 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

4928-770: Was Bird Karma , which premiered in Spring 2018. On February 2, 2018, CMC Capital Partners bought DreamWorks', Shanghai Media Group's, and Shanghai Alliance Investment's stakes in Oriental DreamWorks, owning the studio in its entirety; Oriental DreamWorks was later renamed to Pearl Studio . Pearl Studio collaborated with DreamWorks to produce Abominable (2019), with the film's original director, Jill Culton, returning. On February 27, 2018, DreamWorks Animation announced that Kelly Betz has been promoted as Chief Financial Officer. On May 2, 2018, Hulu announced its first license deal with DreamWorks Animation, becoming

5005-465: Was How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). Although a spokesperson stated that Meledandri would work with Universal Pictures to determine "the most effective path forward for Illumination and DreamWorks Animation", he did not take over DreamWorks as was previously announced, and the two studios remain separate. Arnold and Soria retained their positions as co-presidents of DreamWorks' Feature Animation division, while Margie Cohn would lead

5082-491: Was spun off into a separate company in 2004. NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation for $ 3.8 billion in 2016. The studio initially 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

5159-607: Was announced as the director of the film, making her Pixar's first female director. In October 2010, however, she was replaced by Mark Andrews following creative disagreements between her and John Lasseter . There were rumors that she subsequently left Pixar, but she remained on staff until shortly after the film's release. By July 2012, Chapman worked as a consultant at Lucasfilm Animation , helping to resolve story problems on Strange Magic (2015). When asked whether she will return to Pixar, Chapman responded by saying she has no desire to go back there feeling that "[t]he atmosphere and

5236-421: Was approved by board members, but subject to regulatory approval. At Guggenheim Partners' TMT Symposium, NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke discussed how the purchase of DWA would fit into its business strategies. Burke explained that Meledandri planned to "take a lot of the existing DreamWorks franchises and add value as we create new franchises", and that the main goal was to "[take] the low-single-digit returns of

5313-469: Was attached to write and direct a live-action hybrid film adaptation of Ghost Squad . In December of that year, Chapman stated she had "kind of stepped away" from the project, deciding instead to work on other projects with Lima. She also stated she was writing "a novel and thinking about turning it into an animated screenplay." Chapman is married to director Kevin Lima ( A Goofy Movie , Tarzan , Enchanted ), whom she met at California Institute of

5390-618: Was building a new Universal Studios park in Beijing). On June 21, 2016, the acquisition was approved by the United States Department of Justice . The purchase was closed on August 22, 2016; the company now operates as a subsidiary of Universal Pictures . DreamWorks Animation's last films distributed by 20th Century Fox were Trolls (2016), The Boss Baby (2017) and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), and their first film distributed by Universal

5467-441: Was later revealed to be The Bad Guys 2 . DreamWorks Animation is known for its logo, which is a boy fishing on the moon. The logo originated from DreamWorks Pictures , illustrated by Robert Hunt and animated by Wes Takahashi , debuting in 1997. It was later used as the standard logo for DreamWorks Animation from Antz (1998) to Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003). In 2004, DreamWorks unveiled its own logo, in which

5544-400: Was named as the animation service for one of two unannounced films scheduled for 2025, the film being a sequel. The film would use a "mixed production model", in which pre-production would be done in-house at DreamWorks along with approximately 50% of the asset build and one hour of production, while Imageworks will handle the other 50% of asset builds and 20 minutes of shot production. The film

5621-563: Was released in December 2022 to universal acclaim and commercial success. On January 9, 2019, DeFaria stepped down from his position as president of the company, with DreamWorks Animation Television head Margie Cohn promoted to oversee all film and television operations. On January 16, 2020, five new DreamWorks Animation shows were announced for Hulu and NBCUniversal's new video streaming service Peacock . On August 5, 2022, DreamWorks announced plans to release their rendering software MoonRay as an open-source software in late 2022. It

5698-410: Was released on March 15, 2023. On October 6, 2023, Cartoon Brew reported that DreamWorks Animation was moving away from producing films in-house at their Glendale campus to rely more heavily on outside studios after 2024, as part of a layoff by chief operating officer Randy Lake in a series of meetings the previous month; low morale was also reported. According to the report, Sony Pictures Imageworks

5775-510: Was released on September 27, 2024. They have an upcoming theatrical slate of films, which includes Dog Man on January 31, 2025, How to Train Your Dragon on June 13, 2025, The Bad Guys 2 on August 1, 2025, Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie on September 26, 2025, and Shrek 5 on July 1, 2026. Formed as a division of DreamWorks Pictures in 1994 with alumni from Amblin Entertainment 's former animation branch Amblimation , it

5852-534: Was removed from the release schedule as The Bad Guys (2022) took over its release date. On October 6, 2017, it was announced that Abhijay Prakash would be COO of DWA. He was later promoted to president of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group in February 2019 following the release of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World , and DreamWorks Animation subsequently hired former Sony Pictures Imageworks head Randy Lake as

5929-475: Was reported to be acquired twice in the end of 2014. First, it was reported in September that the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank was in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation for a price of $ 3.4 billion, but the next day, it was reported that SoftBank had withdrawn its offer. Next on November 12, it was reported that Hasbro was in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation in November. The proposal reportedly calls for

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