DreamWorks Classics
The DreamWorks Animation arm that owns a vast vault of classic cartoons, comics and character brands.
DreamWorks Classics is the trading name of Classic Media, LLC, an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which in turn sits under Universal Pictures, NBCUniversal and ultimately Comcast. Rather than making most of its content from scratch, the company holds libraries of older film and television catalogs and character brands, and it also licenses a range of third-party properties. Its holdings include Casper the Friendly Ghost, Mr. Magoo, Lassie, VeggieTales, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Felix the Cat. The company took on the DreamWorks name in 2012, though its legal name remained Classic Media.
Quick Facts
- Industry
- Intellectual property
- Founders
- Eric Ellenbogen, John Engelman
- Headquarters
- New York City, New York
- Country
- U.S.
- Parent
- Entertainment Rights (2007–2009)
- Boomerang Media (2009–2012)
- DreamWorks Animation (2012–present)
- Subsidiaries
- Big Idea Entertainment (in-name-only unit); Harvey Entertainment, Inc. (in-name-only unit)
Facts from the source article.
Background
Eric Ellenbogen and John Engelman launched Classic Media in May 2000 after buying the UPA catalog from the estate of Henry Saperstein. The company grew by acquisition: most of The Harvey Entertainment Company in 2001, the entertainment side of Western Publishing that same year alongside Random House, the Jay Ward characters through the Bullwinkle Studios venture, and the bankrupt Big Idea Entertainment catalog in 2003. UK rival Entertainment Rights agreed to buy it for $210.0 million in 2006, but that firm entered administration on April 1, 2009, and Boomerang Media, set up by the two founders, took the business back. On July 23, 2012, DreamWorks Animation announced it would buy Classic Media for $155 million, closing that September, after which it began trading as DreamWorks Classics.
Did You Know?
- Classic Media was part of the 2006 joint venture that launched the kids' network Qubo.
- The Bullwinkle Studios partnership ended in February 2022 when the Ward estate teamed up with WildBrain.
- In January 2020 streaming rights to Lassie, George of the Jungle and Mr. Magoo were pre-sold to CBS All Access.
- Several Godzilla films sit in the catalog under license from Toho.
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