Here's a big, big move for DreamWorks Animation, one that's going to give them source material for future productions for a long time to come. The firm has acquired the company Classic Media, in a deal worth $155m. It beat off a lot of competition to win the deal, and when you see what it contains, it's understandable why it fought so hard for it.
Amongst the Classic Media properties are more than 400 family entertainment titles. Prominent members of the catalogue are Casper The Friendly Ghost, Lassie, Where's Waldo and The Lone Ranger, and DreamWorks Animation will licence out material to others for live action films, but no doubt bring a lot of the characters back to the screen in animated features, too.
Given that DreamWorks Animation has a stated intention of bringing out eight films every three years, this gives the company some solid source material to work with. Expect the first fruits of the deal to be a few years away, but this is very much a major piece of business for DreamWorks.
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