DreamWorks

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.

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).

Related Topics:
Steven Spielberg - Movie director - Amblin Entertainment - Jeffrey Katzenberg - Walt Disney Company - David Geffen - Geffen Records

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The company was founded following Katzenberg's forced resignation from The Walt Disney Company in 1994. At the suggestion of Spielberg 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.

Related Topics:
The Walt Disney Company - 1994 - Robert Zemeckis - October - Microsoft - Paul Allen

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The first DreamWorks film to be released was The Peacemaker, in 1997.

Related Topics:
The Peacemaker - 1997

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Between 1999 and 2001, Dreamworks won three consecutive best picture Oscars for American Beauty, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind. (The last two being co-productions with Universal Pictures.)

Related Topics:
American Beauty - Gladiator - A Beautiful Mind

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DreamWorks Records never lived up to expectations, and was sold in October 2003 to Universal Music Group, which now operates the label as DreamWorks Nashville.

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The studio has had its greatest financial success with movies, specifically animated movies. DreamWorks Animation teamed up with (simply known as PDI/DreamWorks) in early 1998 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.

Related Topics:
Animated - DreamWorks Animation - Antz - 1998 - Shrek - 2001 - Shrek 2 - 2004 - Pixar

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DreamWorks' speciality is to co-finance and co-distribute various film productions. DreamWorks has released movies with the following film companies:

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• Universal Pictures
• Sony Pictures (through its Columbia banner)
• Warner Bros. Pictures
• Paramount Pictures
• 20th Century Fox

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/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.

Related Topics:
Minority Report - Road to Perdition - 2002

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For obvious reasons, the only major studios Dreamworks has not co-released movies with is Walt Disney Pictures and MGM.

Related Topics:
Walt Disney Pictures - MGM

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In recent years DreamWorks has scaled back. It stopped plans to build a high-tech studio, sold its music division, and cancelled its TV shows.

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Toward the end of July 2005, DreamWorks was in talks with GE's NBC Universal to sell its studio and its library to Universal Studios. It is yet to be seen if this merger will go through and extingish another small Hollywood studio (a Sony-led consortium purchased MGM in early 2005).

Related Topics:
July - 2005 - GE - NBC Universal - Sony - MGM

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Below is a list of its productions as of 2005.

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