DreamWorks buys Casper, Lassie owner Classic Media for $155m – Telegraph

DreamWorks, the studio behind the Shrek franchise and this summer’s Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, will pay cash for the rights-holding company, owned by Boomerang Media Holdings, a portfolio company of private-equity firm GTCR.

Classic Media and Jay Ward Productions – a television cartoon producer founded by American animator Jay Ward – jointly manage the rights to Ward’s catalogue, which also includes Rocky & Bullwinkle and Mr Peabody & Sherman.

DreamWorks Animation‘s 3D feature film Mr Peabody & Sherman is scheduled for release in December 2013, Reuters reported.

New York City-based Classic Media, which has about 80 employees, owns 450 film titles and more than 6,100 episodes of animated and live-action programming, DreamWorks said.

“Classic Media brings a large and diverse collection of characters and branded assets that is extremely complementary to DreamWorks Animation’s franchise business,” DreamWorks’ chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said.

via DreamWorks buys Casper, Lassie owner Classic Media for $155m – Telegraph.

Strange Random Animation Quote:

“I am an animator. I feel like I’m the manager of a animation cinema factory. I am not an executive. I’m rather like a foreman, like the boss of a team of craftsmen. That is the spirit of how I work. – Hayao Miyazaki

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