Hollywood shake-up: Comcast seals giant deal to buy DreamWorks Animation
The deal puts Universal and DreamWorks under one roof, setting up powerful rivalry with Disney
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Signaling a giant upheaval for Hollywood, Comcast, the owner of NBCUniversal, said it had reached an agreement to purchase DreamWorks Animation, the studio that gave the world Shrek and other major blockbusters including Madagascar.
The deal, worth $3,8 billion, was first rumoured several days ago. It means that DreamWorks will now combine with Universal Pictures which has itself had some animation successes in recent years with its Illumination Entertainment unit with films like Despicable Me and Minions.
If the deal is successful it will also place Comcast in the new position of chief rival to the Walt Disney Company.
It will offer some consolation to Comcast which attempted to grow exponentially with a bid for Time Warner Cable last year. That deal eventually fell through, however, leaving Comcast scouting around for different opportunities.
The man in charge of Dreamworks now is Jeffrey Katzenberg, an icon of Hollywood who, under the terms of the deal, will be in charge of a new entity, DreamWorks New Media
“Having spent the past two decades working together with our team to build DreamWorks Animation into one of the world’s most beloved brands, I am proud to say that NBCUniversal is the perfect home for our company,” Mr Katzenberg said in a statement.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments