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DreamWorks Pictures

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Dreamworks SKG
Company typeSubsidiary of Paramount Pictures (Viacom)
IndustryMotion pictures
FoundedGlendale, California (1994)
HeadquartersGlendale, California; animation department: Redwood City, California
Key people
David Geffen, Principal
Jeffrey Katzenberg, Principal
Steven Spielberg, Principal
Productsmotion pictures, television programs
RevenueIncrease$2.8 billion USD (2006)
Number of employees
1,200 (2006)
Websitedreamworks.com

DreamWorks, L.L.C., doing business as DreamWorks SKG, is a Big Ten studio in the United States of America which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games, and television programming. It began as an ambitious attempt by media moguls David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Steven Spielberg to create a new Hollywood studio, but in December 2005, the founders agreed to sell the studio to Viacom, Paramount Pictures's parent. Its animation subsidiary, DreamWorks Animation SKG, will remain independent, but its films will be distributed worldwide by Paramount Pictures. Paramount completed the acquisition in February 2006.

Overview

The initials "SKG" stand for the company's co-founders, Steven Spielberg (movie director and founder of Amblin Entertainment), Jeffrey Katzenberg (former head of The Walt Disney Company's film studios), and David Geffen (founder of Geffen Records).

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

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 1999 and 2000, DreamWorks won two consecutive best picture Oscars for American Beauty and Gladiator.

DreamWorks Records 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.

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 highest grossing animated hits of all time, such as Antz (1998), Shrek (2001) and its sequel Shrek 2 (2004). 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.

DreamWorks' frequently co-financed and co-distributed films with other studios, including Columbia, Fox, Paramount, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros.

With co-financing and co-distribution, one studio will release the film internationally and the other domestically. Usually two films are a product of this deal. For example, both Minority Report and Road to Perdition were made by DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox and released in 2002. For Minority Report, Fox released the film in the U.S., and Dreamworks released it internationally. For Road to Perdition, Dreamworks released the film in the U.S., and Fox released it internationally.

The only major studio DreamWorks has not co-released movies with is Walt Disney Pictures. This is not surprising, given Disney's hostile relations with DreamWorks co-founder Katzenberg, as well as Disney's longstanding tradition to release films independently of other studios.

In recent years DreamWorks has scaled back. It stopped plans to build a high-tech studio, sold its music division, and only produces one television series, Las Vegas.

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

On March 17, 2006 Paramount agreed to sell the DreamWorks live-action library (through September 17, 2005) to a group lead by George Soros for $900 million. Paramount will retain distribution rights, as well as various auxiliary rights, including music publishing, sequels, and merchandising. [2]

The theme heard at the beginning of most DreamWorks films was done by John Williams.

Films

This is a list of DreamWorks productions as of 2005.

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

In production

Announced

TV series

TV specials

  • The Secret World of "Antz" (1998)
  • When You Believe: Music From "The Prince of Egypt" (1998)
  • The Hatching of "Chicken Run" (2000)
  • Gladiator Games: The Roman Bloodsport (2000)
  • We Stand Alone Together (2001)
  • What Lies Beneath: Constructing the Perfect Thriller (2001)
  • Woody Allen: A Life in Film (2002)

Musical artists

Artists who were signed with DreamWorks Records include:

Sources

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