name	DreamWorks Studios
logo
type	Subsidiary
foundation
founder	Steven SpielbergJeffrey KatzenbergDavid Geffen
location city	Universal City, California
location country	United States
key people	Steven Spielberg, Principal PartnerStacy Snider, Co-Chairman/CEO
products	Motion pictures, television programs
owner	Independent (1994–2006)Viacom (2006–2008)Reliance ADA Group (2008-present)
num employees	1,200 (2008)
divisions	DW International
subsid	DreamWorks RecordsDreamWorks Interactive
homepage	http://www.dreamworksstudios.com
intl	}}

DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an 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.

DreamWorks began in 1994 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 of which they own 72%. In December 2005, the founders agreed to sell the studio to Viacom, parent of Paramount Pictures. The sale was completed in February 2006. In 2008, DreamWorks announced its intention to end its partnership with Paramount and signed a $1.5 billion deal to produce films with India's Reliance ADA Group. Reliance provided $325M of equity to fund recreating Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks studio as an independent entity. Clark Hallren, former Managing Director of the Entertainment Industries group of J.P. Morgan Securities and Alan J. Levine of J.P. Morgan Entertainment Advisors led the Reliance team in structuring the capital and business plan for the company. The movie studio's distribution is 50% owned by Reliance which is led by Anil Ambani.

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

History

The company was founded following Katzenberg's resignation from The Walt Disney Company in 1994. At the suggestion of a friend of Spielberg, the two made an agreement with long-time Katzenberg collaborator David 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.

In 1998, The United States 9th Circuit of Appeals upheld a lawsuit against DreamWorks for violating the copyright of Dreamworks, a company specializing in Star Trek Conventions.

In 1998, DreamWorks released its first full-length animated feature, ''Antz''.

In 1999, 2000 and 2001, DreamWorks won three consecutive Academy Awards for Best Picture for ''American Beauty'', ''Gladiator'' and ''A Beautiful Mind'' (the later two with Universal).

DreamWorks Interactive is a computer and video game developer founded in 1995, as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG. 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 is the company's record label, the first project of which was George Michael's ''Older'' album. The first band signed to this label was the "eels" who released their debut album "Beautiful Freak" in 1997. The record company never lived up to expectations, though, 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.

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, emerging as the main competitor to Pixar in the age of computer-generated animation and one of the few competitors to Disney in creating traditionally animated feature films. DreamWorks Animation has produced some of the highest grossing animated hits of all time, such as ''Antz'' (1998), ''Shrek'' (2001), its sequels ''Shrek 2'' (2004), ''Shrek the Third'' (2007) and ''Shrek Forever After'' (2010); ''Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron'' (2002), ''Madagascar'' (2005), its sequel, ''Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'' (2008), ''Over the Hedge'' (2006), ''Flushed Away'' (2006), ''Bee Movie'' (2007), ''Kung Fu Panda'' (2008), its sequel, ''Kung Fu Panda 2'' (2011), ''Monsters Vs. Aliens'' (2009), ''How to Train Your Dragon'' (2010), and ''Megamind'' (2010). Based on the films' success, DreamWorks Animation has spun off as its own publicly traded company.

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.

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.

On March 17, 2006, Paramount agreed to sell a controlling interest in the DreamWorks live-action library (pre-09/16/2005; DW Funding, LLC) to Soros Strategic Partners and Dune Entertainment II. The film library is valued at $900 million. Paramount retained the worldwide distribution rights to these films, as well as various ancillary rights, including music publishing, sequels and merchandising. This includes films that had been made by Paramount and DreamWorks (the music publishing rights were later licensed to Sony-ATV Music Publishing when that company acquired Paramount's Famous Music subdivision). The sale was completed on May 8, 2006.

On March 12, 2007, DreamWorks Animation announced it would release all of its films, beginning with ''Monsters vs. Aliens'' (2009), in stereoscopic 3D.

In June 2008, ''Variety'' reported that DreamWorks was looking for financing that would allow it to continue operations as an independent production company once its deal with Paramount ended later in the year. Most of the backing would come from an Indian investment firm called Reliance ADA Group. The DreamWorks trademarks are owned by DreamWorks Animation and the new company would need their approval to use the trademarks. In September 2008, it was reported by ''Variety'' that Dreamworks closed a deal with Reliance to create a stand-alone production company and end its ties to Paramount.

On February 9, 2009, DreamWorks entered into a long-term, 30-picture distribution deal with the Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures by which the films will be released through the Touchstone Pictures banner over the next five years. The deal came after negotiations broke off with Universal Pictures just days earlier. However, this deal does not include Indian rights, which will be handled by Reliance, nor does it include DreamWorks Animation, whose films will still be distributed by Paramount through to late 2012. Also not included are sequels to live-action films released before the Paramount merger, or those released by Paramount themselves – Paramount retains the rights to these franchises, and one such sequel, ''Little Fockers'', was released by Paramount internationally in December 2010 (Universal owns domestic rights).

Logo

The DreamWorks logo features a young boy sitting on a crescent moon while fishing. The general idea for the logo was the brainchild of company co-founder Steven Spielberg, who originally wanted a computer-generated image, whereas Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren, of Industrial Light and Magic suggested a hand-painted one. Muren then contacted a friend and fellow artist, Robert Hunt, to paint it. Hunt worked on both versions, for each of which his son William was cast as the model for the boy, and Spielberg liked the CGI one better. The music accompanying the logo to start live-action DreamWorks movies was specially composed by John Williams (although a number of DreamWorks films, such as ''Galaxy Quest'' and ''Saving Private Ryan'', omit the music); the DreamWorks Animation logo has music from the Harry Gregson-Williams/John Powell score for ''Shrek''. The main logo shows the scene at night, while the DreamWorks Animation logo shows it during the day.

The logo attached to feature films was made at ILM based on paintings by Hunt, in collaboration with Kaleidoscope Films, Dave Carson and Clint Goldman.

Distribution

Currently, United International Pictures, a joint venture of Paramount and Universal, has the rights to release DreamWorks' films internationally (except South Korea), and will also handle releases from the new DreamWorks. The broadcast and basic subscription cable television rights to many DreamWorks films are owned by Disney-ABC International Television. Ironically, ABC (along with Pixar) is owned by Disney, with which Katzenberg had a falling out. In South Korea, CJ Entertainment has the rights to release all DreamWorks' films, except some co-productions (for example, ''Minority Report'' was distributed by Fox, and ''The Island'' by Warner Bros., due to these studios having owned the international rights to these films).

Awards

Edwin R. Leonard, CTO of DreamWorks Animation, won a special achievement award at the 2008 Annies for driving their innovative work with Open Source Software and Linux.

Live-action filmography

:''For animated films, see DreamWorks Animation''

DreamWorks Distribution

First film library spun off in DW Funding LLC and controlling interest sold to Soros Strategic Partners LP and Dune Entertainment II LLC. In February 2010, Viacom acquired the Soros/Dune stake. (The sale only included films released through September 16, 2005, the latest film in the package being ''Just Like Heaven''.) {|class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Title !! Release Date !! Notes |- |''The Peacemaker''|| September 26, 1997 ||First ever film by DreamWorks SKG |- |''Amistad''|| December 10, 1997 || (co-production with HBO Films) |- |''MouseHunt''|| December 19, 1997 || |- |''Paulie''|| April 17, 1998 || |- |''Deep Impact''|| May 8, 1998 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures) |- |''Small Soldiers''|| July 10, 1998 || (co-production with Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment) |- |''Saving Private Ryan''|| July 24, 1998 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures, Amblin Entertainment and Mutual Film Company) |- |''Antz''|| October 2, 1998 || (co-production with Pacific Data Images) |- |''The Prince of Egypt''|| December 18, 1998 || |- |''In Dreams''|| January 15, 1999 || |- |''Forces of Nature''|| March 19, 1999 || |- |''The Love Letter''|| May 21, 1999 || |- |''The Haunting''|| July 23, 1999 || |- |''American Beauty''|| October 1, 1999 || |- |''Galaxy Quest''|| December 25, 1999 || |- |''The Road to El Dorado''|| March 31, 2000 || |- |''Gladiator''|| May 5, 2000 || (co-production with Universal Studios and Scott Free Productions) |- |''Road Trip''|| May 19, 2000 || |- |''Small Time Crooks''|| May 19, 2000 || |- |''Chicken Run''|| June 23, 2000 || (co-production with Pathé and Aardman Animations) |- |''What Lies Beneath''|| July 21, 2000 || (co-production with 20th Century Fox and ImageMovers) |- |''Almost Famous''|| September 13, 2000 || (co-production with Columbia Pictures) |- |''Meet the Parents''|| October 6, 2000 || (co-production with Universal Studios) |- |''The Contender''|| October 13, 2000 || (co-production with Cinerenta Medienbeteiligungs KG) |- |''The Legend of Bagger Vance''|| November 3, 2000 || (co-production with 20th Century Fox and Allied Filmmakers) |- |''Cast Away''|| December 7, 2000 || (co-production with 20th Century Fox and ImageMovers) |- |''An Everlasting Piece''|| December 25, 2000 || (co-production with Columbia Pictures) |- |''The Mexican''|| March 2, 2001 || (co-production with Newmarket Films) |- |''Shrek''|| May 18, 2001 || |- |''Evolution''|| June 8, 2001 || (co-production with Columbia Pictures and The Montecito Picture Company) |- |''A.I. Artificial Intelligence''|| June 26, 2001 || (co-production with Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment) |- |''The Curse of the Jade Scorpion''|| August 24, 2001 || (in association with VCL Communications GmbH) |- |''The Last Castle''|| October 19, 2001 || |- |''A Beautiful Mind''|| December 21, 2001 || (co-production with Universal Studios and Imagine Entertainment) |- |''The Time Machine''|| March 8, 2002 || (co-production with Warner Bros.) |- |''Hollywood Ending''|| May 3, 2002 || |- |''Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron''|| May 24, 2002 || |- |''Minority Report''|| June 21, 2002 || (co-production with 20th Century Fox and Amblin Entertainment) |- |''Road to Perdition''|| July 12, 2002 || (co-production with 20th Century Fox) |- |''The Tuxedo''|| September 27, 2002 || |- |''The Ring''|| October 18, 2002 || |- |''Catch Me If You Can''|| December 25, 2002 || (co-production with Amblin Entertainment) |- |''Biker Boyz''|| January 31, 2003 || |- |''Old School''|| February 21, 2003 || (co-production with The Montecito Picture Company) |- |''Head of State''|| March 28, 2003 || |- |''Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas''|| July 22, 2003 || |- |''Seabiscuit''|| July 25, 2003 || (co-production with Universal Studios, Spyglass Entertainment, and The Kennedy/Marshall Company) |- |''Anything Else''|| September 19, 2003 || |- |''The Cat in the Hat''|| November 21, 2003 || (co-production with Universal Studios and Imagine Entertainment) |- |''House of Sand and Fog''|| December 19, 2003 || |- |''Paycheck''|| December 25, 2003 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures) |- |''Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!''|| January 23, 2004 || |- |''Eurotrip''|| February 20, 2004 || |- |''Envy''|| April 30, 2004 || (co-production with Columbia Pictures and Castle Rock Entertainment) |- |''Shrek 2''|| May 19, 2004 || |- |''The Stepford Wives''|| June 11, 2004 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures) |- |''The Terminal''|| June 18, 2004 || (co-production with Amblin Entertainment) |- |''Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy''|| July 9, 2004 || |- |''Collateral''|| August 6, 2004 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures) |- |''Surviving Christmas''|| October 22, 2004 || |- |''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events''|| December 17, 2004 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies) |- |''Meet the Fockers''|| December 22, 2004 || (co-production with Universal Studios) |- |''The Ring Two''|| March 18, 2005 || (co-production with The Kennedy/Marshall Company)) |- |''War of the Worlds''|| June 29, 2005 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures and Amblin Entertainment) |- |''The Island''|| July 22, 2005 || (co-production with Warner Bros.) |- |''Red Eye''|| August 19, 2005 || |- |''Just Like Heaven''|| September 16, 2005 || |- |''The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio''|| October 14, 2005 || (co-production with Revolution Studios and ImageMovers) |- |''Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story''|| October 21, 2005 || |- |''Memoirs of a Geisha''|| December 23, 2005 || (co-production with Spyglass Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment Columbia Pictures, and Red Wagon Productions) |- |''Munich''|| December 23, 2005 || (co-production with Universal Studios, Amblin Entertainment The Kennedy/Marshall Company) & DreamWorks) |- |''Match Point''|| December 28, 2005 |- |''She's the Man''|| March 17, 2006 || (co-production with Lakeshore Entertainment) |}

Paramount Pictures

{|class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Title !! Release Date !! Notes |- |''The Last Kiss''|| September 15, 2006 || (US distribution only, produced by Lakeshore Entertainment) |- |''Flags of Our Fathers''|| October 20, 2006 || (co-production with Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment) |- |''Dreamgirls''|| December 15, 2006 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures) |- |''Letters from Iwo Jima''|| December 20, 2006 || (co-production with Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment) |- |''Perfume: The Story of a Murderer'' || December 27, 2006 || US distribution only, produced by Constantin Film |- |''Norbit''|| February 8, 2007 || (co-production with 20th Century Fox |- |''Blades of Glory''|| March 30, 2007 || (co-production with MTV Films and Red Hour Films) |- |''Disturbia''|| April 13, 2007 || (co-production with The Montecito Picture Company) |- |''Transformers''|| July 2, 2007 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures and Hasbro) |- |''The Heartbreak Kid''|| October 5, 2007 || |- |''Things We Lost in the Fire''|| October 19, 2007 || |- |''The Kite Runner''|| December 14, 2007 || (co-production with Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions; distributed by Paramount Classics) |- |''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street''|| December 21, 2007 || (co-production with Warner Bros., Parkes/MacDonald Productions and The Zanuck Company) |- |''The Ruins''|| April 4, 2008 || (co-production with Spyglass Entertainment and Red Hour Films) |- |''Tropic Thunder''|| August 8, 2008 || (co-production with Red Hour Films) |- |''Ghost Town''|| September 19, 2008 || (co-production with Spyglass Entertainment) |- |''Eagle Eye''|| September 26, 2008 || |- |''Revolutionary Road''|| December 26, 2008 || (co-production with BBC Films and Paramount Vantage) |- |''Hotel for Dogs''|| January 16, 2009 || (co-production with Nickelodeon Movies, Cold Spring Pictures, Donners' Company and The Montecito Picture Company) |- |''The Uninvited''|| January 30, 2009 || (co-production with Cold Spring Pictures, Parkes/MacDonald Productions, The Montecito Picture Company and Vertigo Entertainment) |- |''I Love You, Man''|| March 20, 2009 || (co-production with The Montecito Picture Company) |- |''The Soloist''|| April 24, 2009 || (co-production with Universal Studios, StudioCanal, Participant Media, Between Two Trees, Working Title Films and Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment) |- |''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen''|| June 24, 2009 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures and Hasbro) |- |''Paranormal Activity''|| September 25, 2009 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures) |- |''The Lovely Bones''|| December 11, 2009 (premiere) January 15, 2010 (wide) || (co-production with Paramount Pictures, FilmFour and Wingnut Films) |- |''She's Out of My League''|| March 12, 2010 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures and Mosaic Media Group) |- |''Dinner for Schmucks''|| July 30, 2010 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, Parkes/MacDonald Productions and Everyman Pictures) |- |''Transformers: Dark of the Moon''|| June 29, 2011 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures and Hasbro Studios) (Highest Grossing Film) |- |''Cowboys & Aliens''|| July 29, 2011 || (co-production with Universal Studios, Relativity Media, Reliance BIG Entertainment and Imagine Entertainment) |- |}

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The following films are part of the 30-picture distribution deal with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. These films are released under Disney's Touchstone Pictures brand.

{|class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Title !! Release Date !! Notes |- |''I Am Number Four'' || February 18, 2011 || (co-production with Bay Films and Reliance BIG Entertainment) |- |''The Help'' || August 10, 2011 || (co-production with 1492 Pictures, Participant Media, Imagenation and Reliance BIG Entertainment) |- |''Fright Night'' || August 19, 2011 || |- |''Real Steel'' || October 7, 2011 || (co-production with ImageMovers) |- |''War Horse'' || December 28, 2011 || (co-production with Reliance BIG Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment and The Kennedy/Marshall Company) |- |''Midnight Express'' || 2012 || (co-production with Imagine Entertainment, Reliance BIG Entertainment, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Smokehouse Pictures) |- |''Robopocalypse'' || 2013 || (co-production with IMAX, Lakeshore Entertainment and Amblin Entertainment) |- |''Interstellar'' || 2014 || (co-production with Paramount Pictures and Amblin Entertainment) |}

TV series and specials

Musical artists

Computer and video games

Animations

References

External links

Category:Former Viacom subsidiaries Category:Steven Spielberg Category:Film distributors Category:Film production companies of the United States Category:Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Category:Companies established in 1994 Category:Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group

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