Dreamsworks, the animation movie studio that created “Shrek,” “Madagascar,” “Kung Fu Panda” and “How to Train Your Dragon,” is being folded into a much larger entertainment entity. Comcast Corp., the owner of NBC/Universal, purchased the Glendale-based company for $3.8 billion this week. Variety Managing Editor for TV Cynthia Littleton says it is a big competitive move on the part of Comcast.
“It’s a real signal that Comcast and Universal want to be competitive in the family-friendly entertainment space that Disney owns.”
Littleton says the merger will make Universal more competitive with Disney.
“Universal has some animation. It is the home of ‘The Minions’ movies and ‘Despicable Me’ and that’s been a growing area for them, but they don’t have a huge operation like Disney does.”
Littleton says she believes that Dreamworks workers will eventually be moved from their current Glendale facilities to Universal City.
“The melding of cultures is an issue in any merger and sometimes it can be really detrimental to the overall success of an enlarged organization. Time will tell. The people at Dreamworks are going to be working with people at Universal. They’re all animation geeks, so they have that in common. But it will be very interesting to see. Certainly Dreamworks, in its almost 20-year history, is known for a very specific kind of film, a very specific culture. So, how that translates down the road to a transfer to the big Universal City lot will be interesting to watch.”
Littleton was a guest on 790 KABC’s McIntyre in the Morning Show with Doug McIntyre and Terri-Rae Elmer.
By Sandy Wells
