dreamworks Hasbro in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

DreamWorks Animation has been falling on hard times lately. A few years ago they came off their switch of distribution partners and many of their films lately have not been the successes the bigwigs at the company had hoped.

 

Thus, DWA is now considering selling out house. They already talked with Japanese telecom SoftBank (owner of Sprint), but have now moved on to discussions with another partner:

 

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/dealbook/2014/11/12/hasbro-said-to-be-in-talks-to-buy-dreamworks-animation/?referrer=

 

While it may seem joyous to us and fans of other Hasbro franchises to have a guaranteed studio for these releases, part of me is wary about this becoming nothing but a transparent marketing ploy, just like the Hub. We all know how that ended, thanks to Hasbro's need to turn everything into self-promotion and their general inexperience as a media company. This could mean trouble getting any more original films out of this studio should this deal go through.

 

I'd like to know what you guys think about this. How good of a fit would this merger be? Would DreamWorks Animation come out better or worse? How would Hasbro run it? Do you even care about anything other than ponies coming out of it?

 

Discuss!

[PROJECT: Simon 3,954]

Hasbro runs My little pony, so I think Hasbro will run DreamWorks Animation well too. 

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

I don't care. I only liked a few of the Dreamworks movies. I feel most of them try to just copy off of Shrek. So this doesn't seem like a big deal to me.

[Jeric 46,850]

It's too earlier for me to tell how I feel about this. I have obvious concerns wirh Dreamworks Animation working an FiM movie unless they hire flash animators. This is not just a distributor like I suspected AllSpark would become. Way too early to form an opinion though.

[Karma Lightwing 245]

I have really splitted opinions about this, Hasbro doesnt really know how to reach their target audience properly already and this wont really help that cause :/ I always were a fan of dreamworks too.

[Roughshod 719]

Hasbro and DreamWorks together... It could work. I'm not familiar enough with either company to accurately speculate as to what the consequences might be if such a merger occurred. I doubt it would be either tremendously successful or disastrous but more likely somewhere in between.

 

 

Such events should have no real influence on the show in the near future so for now I'm not altogether concerned over corporate business dealings.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Roughshod

[chirox the pony 1,336]

Hasbro runs My little pony, so I think Hasbro will run DreamWorks Animation well too. 

Yes but Hasbro don't write MLP, nor do they animate or direct it, their role in FIM's production is pretty much that of creative consultants, so there really is no telling how this might effect dreamworks (assuming the buyout succeeds).

[Tao 7,579]

I think I'd love to see the Japanese one

get Dream Works if anything....

 

Hasbro is mostly well,  for toys and took

down the hub and part of me would

worry in how they well,  maybe get

the dream works to hit a more a

younger gen...

 

They would take away HOW TO TRAIN UR DRAGON!

[BayoUni2847 528]

As long as ponies are not affected in a negative way, I'm alright with this purchase.

 

Nice job using that cash Hasbro.

[Fhaolan 4,483]

I have to think this one thorough, because it's complicated.

 

The question is, what exactly is Hasbro buying, when they purchase DreamWorks? What *exactly* is DreamWorks now-a-days?

 

First off, Hasbro isn't buying DreamWorks SKG, the parent company. From the article they're specifically talking about DreamWorks Animation, which was spun off of DreamWorks SKG in 2000. The parent company will still exist... I think?

 

DreamWorks Animation is not a distribution company. DreamWork Animation's movies are actually distributed by FOX right now, until 2018 when that deal runs out. Plus they have deals with various European and Chinese companies for distributions. But those deals also have term limits, of course. Interestingly DWA does have a TV distribution system in Europe, but it wouldn't surprise me for Hasbro to spin that off and sell it to Discovery. In fact, this might have been planned in advance and is part of the reason Hasbro sold it's interest in HUB to Discovery as part of a multi-stage cashflow effort in order to pick up DreamWorks.

 

Primarily, DWA is a CGI Animation Studio. They have one big studio rather than several small ones scattered all over, and while they regularly partner with other studios, they don't seem to be sending their animation work 'off site' to Asia the way DHX and a lot of other 'studios' do.

 

So... this might be... odd. Hasbro's selling off of it's interest in HUB was part of a pattern. Hasbro's been trying to turn into an IP-holding company who rents rights to actual production companies for years. That's why all the MLP stuff is made by Funco and other manufacturies. When they bought Wizards of the Coast, it was for the IP of all those games, and they've been trying to dump the actual production of those games off to other companies ever since.

 

If they continue this pattern, DreamWorks will get stripped over a period of five to ten years. Hasbro will retain the IPs, but spin off the actual *studio* part and sell it to somebody else.

 

If they go against the pattern, they will likely try to consolidate. We might be looking at MLP G5 really being 3D CGI then. An advantage to that being that the toys should look exactly like the animation, as they'd be able to use the same models? Yeah, reaching there...

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

I have to think this one thorough, because it's complicated.The question is, what exactly is Hasbro buying, when they purchase DreamWorks? What *exactly* is DreamWorks now-a-days?First off, Hasbro isn't buying DreamWorks SKG, the parent company. From the article they're specifically talking about DreamWorks Animation, which was spun off of DreamWorks SKG in 2000. The parent company will still exist... I think?DreamWorks Animation is not a distribution company. DreamWork Animation's movies are actually distributed by FOX right now, until 2018 when that deal runs out. Plus they have deals with various European and Chinese companies for distributions. But those deals also have term limits, of course. Interestingly DWA does have a TV distribution system in Europe, but it wouldn't surprise me for Hasbro to spin that off and sell it to Discovery. In fact, this might have been planned in advance and is part of the reason Hasbro sold it's interest in HUB to Discovery as part of a multi-stage cashflow effort in order to pick up DreamWorks.Primarily, DWA is a CGI Animation Studio. They have one big studio rather than several small ones scattered all over, and while they regularly partner with other studios, they don't seem to be sending their animation work 'off site' to Asia the way DHX and a lot of other 'studios' do.So... this might be... odd. Hasbro's selling off of it's interest in HUB was part of a pattern. Hasbro's been trying to turn into an IP-holding company who rents rights to actual production companies for years. That's why all the MLP stuff is made by Funco and other manufacturies. When they bought Wizards of the Coast, it was for the IP of all those games, and they've been trying to dump the actual production of those games off to other companies ever since.If they continue this pattern, DreamWorks will get stripped over a period of five to ten years. Hasbro will retain the IPs, but spin off the actual *studio* part and sell it to somebody else.If they go against the pattern, they will likely try to consolidate. We might be looking at MLP G5 really being 3D CGI then. An advantage to that being that the toys should look exactly like the animation, as they'd be able to use the same models? Yeah, reaching there...

That's a great theory. You know what else DWA owns, right?

 

 

That's a treasure trove of famous properties right there for toy and licensing deals. Mountains of profit!

 

In a way, if Hasbro's going on a model of licensing, that's a good thing because of their more laissez-faire approach to how they allow others to handle their license, in contrast to the micromanaging that other companies do with their licensing.

 

 

I am of course talking about Disney. :okiedokielokie:

 

[Banul 3,831]

Hard to tell. Dreamworks puts out some good movies like Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon. It also puts out a lot of garbage Disney clones.

 

Will have to wait and see.

[RainbowMau 291]

I just hope they don't use recycled music in an eventual MLP movie as they did in other films.

[chirox the pony 1,336]

I will say this regarding the potential buyout, if hasbro does start using dreamworks for media beyond movies then I think we might have a clue as to what G5 might look like.

[Fhaolan 4,483]

That's a great theory. You know what else DWA owns, right?

That's a treasure trove of famous properties right there for toy and licensing deals. Mountains of profit!

In a way, if Hasbro's going on a model of licensing, that's a good thing because of their more laissez-faire approach to how they allow others to handle their license, in contrast to the micromanaging that other companies do with their licensing.

 

I am of course talking about Disney. :okiedokielokie:

 

Huh, I didn't realize Dreamworks Classics was under Dreamworks Animation. I had thought they were both under Dreamworks SKG. That's a big deal, and puts a *lot* of IP in Hasbro's pocket.

[baltosaa 86]

I don't mind.

I can't see anything happening to MLP because of this, so I'm fine with it.

[Red Cedar 1,408]

If Hasbro buys Dreamworks Animation with all the subsidiary rights that that entails, Mattel is going to crap themselves. Among other things, that means Hasbro will own the rights to the 1980's version of the He-Man and Bravestarr cartoons.

 

It shouldn't mean anything to MLP in the short term. They'd surely know better than to switch animation companies in the middle of a production. Future projects may be done in-house though.

[SilverLine 20]

I don't bother thinking about what corprets decide to do. They are a bit unpredictable and confusing. Besides, we don't know what the future has in store for us. We might as well wait and decide for ourselves.

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

Hasbro and Dreamworks Animation are in talks of merging.

 

https://deadline.com/2014/11/dreamworks-animation-hasbro-merger-negotiations-in-works-1201282751/

 

What are your thoughts on this?

[Kamii 595]

Dreamworks is the studio that made my favorite movie of all time: Spirit.
Hasbro is the studio that made my second favorite series of all time: MLP.

I really don't know what to think at this point...
I think that, if they are going to merge, they will focus on the Transformers franchise mostly. Dreamworks doesn't seem to be the kind of studio that would pick series like MLP or Littlest Pet Shop and make an amazing movie out of it...
Also, are they merging to be like Disney is with Pixar or just a one time thing? (I'm lazy, didn't read the whole thing...)
 

Anyways, I'm ok with it. Especially if they do something with MLP (Cause I know what they're capable of... I mean, come on, How to Train Your Dragon anyone?)

[Treble Bolt 1,122]

, I am not sure why, but not many people seem to like Spirit. It's one of my all time favorite 2D animations!

 

Anyways....I am none too sure about this myself. They could be doing it to make more movies and such for their toylines (i.e. MLP being "Dreamworks" movies), which would be really awesome for MLP at least (high budget MLP movie!)

Otherwise, it's just a way to combine movie/toy lines under one big corporate conglomerate in order to make more money....Which could end up shooting itself in the foot...However, with what Dreamworks have been going through over the past few years, I hope that this will open up a great deal of opportunity for them to get bigger and better, hopefully without Hasbro shotting it in the foot (being "Big Brother")..

Here's a very good article describing what I mean...(because i am not good at making sense)...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2014/11/13/dreamworks-animation-merger-with-hasbro-could-offer-freedom-to-fail/

[ScarfaceOne 263]

Hooray!!! 3D MLP Movie here we come!!! Brogres and Bronies unite!!!

[Kamii 595]

@@Treble Bolt
Spirit is my favorite movie mostly because of nostalgia. Other than Lion King, Spirit was the movie I watched the most as a kid. I remember playing around my toy horses while listening to the movie. When it was over, I'd get up and play it all over again. I also like it because I love horses and the soundtrack (Bryan Adams was amazing <3). Anyways, Spirit is a very original movie, but I can't say it's the best animated movie I've ever seen (even though it's close xD).

 

Also, I checked that link (again, I'm too lazy to read the whole thing...) and I must say I'm impressed by how much How to Train Your Dragon 2 got in sales... I mean, come on! It's only one of the best sequels to one of the best animated movies ever!

 

Disappointed Toothless is dissapointed...

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

Do you think there could be a successor channel to the Hub, but with Hasbro and Dreamworks?

And what kind of shows would be on such a channel?

[Kamii 595]

I don't think that, if they'd merge, that's what they'd do. Dreamworks' safe option would be sticking with movies...