DreamWorks Animation

DreamWorks Animation (or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast though its wholly owned subsidiary of NBCUniversal. It is based in Glendale, California and produces animated films, television programs and online virtual games. The studio has currently released a total of 47 feature films.

DreamWorks Animation
Formerly: DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. Type: Subsidiary of Comcast Predecessor: Amblimation Pacific Data Images Founded: October 12, 1994; 29 years ago (as a division of DreamWorks Pictures) October 27, 2004; 19 years ago (as DreamWorks Animation SKG) Founder(s): Steven Spielberg Jeffrey Katzenberg David Geffen Headquarters: 1000 Flower Street, Glendale, California 91201, U.S. Key people: Margie Cohn (president & CEO) Randy Lake (COO) Peter Gal (CCO, DWATV) Kristin Lowe (CCO, features) Parent: DreamWorks Pictures (1994–2004) Universal Pictures (2016–present) Subsidiaries: DreamWorks Classics PDI/DreamWorks (2000–2015) Oriental DreamWorks (2012–2018) Notable works: Television animated series Theatrical animated feature films Theatrical animated short films

Movies

#	Year	Title	Director	Music		Metacritic
Released films
DreamWorks Pictures
1	1998	Antz	Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson	Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell	92%	72
2	1998	The Prince of Egypt	Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner and Simon Wells	Hans Zimmer	80%	64
3	2000	The Road to El Dorado	Bibo Bergeron and Don Paul	Hans Zimmer and John Powell	48%	51
4	2000	Chicken Run	Nick Park and Peter Lord	Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell	97%	88
5	2001	Shrek	Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson	Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell	88%	84
6	2002	Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron	Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook	Hans Zimmer	69%	52
7	2003	Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas	Tim Johnson and Patrick Gilmore	Harry Gregson-Williams	45%	48
8	2004	Shrek 2	Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon	Harry Gregson-Williams	89%	75
9	2004	Shark Tale	Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron and Rob Letterman	Hans Zimmer	36%	48
10	2005	Madagascar	Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath	Hans Zimmer	54%	57
11	2005	Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit	Nick Park and Steve Box	Julian Nott	95%	87
Paramount Pictures
12	2006	Over the Hedge	Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkparick	Rupert Gregson-Williams	75%	67
13	2006	Flushed Away	David Bowers and Sam Fell	Harry Gregson-Williams	73%	84
14	2007	Shrek the Third	Chris Miller	Harry Gregson-Williams	41%	58
15	2007	Bee Movie	Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner	Rupert Gregson-Williams	49%	54
16	2008	Kung Fu Panda	John Stevenson and Mark Osborne	Hans Zimmer and John Powell	87%	73
17	2008	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath	Hans Zimmer and will.i.am	64%	61
18	2009	Monsters vs. Aliens	Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman	Henry Jackman	73%	56
19	2010	How to Train Your Dragon	Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois	John Powell	99%	74
20	2010	Shrek Forever After	Mike Mitchell	Harry Gregson-Williams	58%	58
21	2010	Megamind	Tom McGrath	Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe	72%	63
22	2011	Kung Fu Panda 2	Jennifer Yuh Nelson	Hans Zimmer and John Powell	81%	67
23	2011	Puss in Boots	Chris Miller	Henry Jackman	86%	65
24	2012	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted	Eric Darnell, Conrad Vernon and Tom McGrath	Hans Zimmer	78%	60
25	2012	Rise of the Guardians	Peter Ramsey	Alexandre Desplat	75%	57
20th Century Fox
26	2013	The Croods	Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco	Alan Silvestri	71%	55
27	2013	Turbo	David Soren	Henry Jackman	65%	58
28	2014	Mr. Peabody and Sherman	Rob Minkoff	Danny Elfman	81%	59
29	2014	How to Train Your Dragon 2	Dean DeBlois	John Powell	91%	76
30	2014	Penguins of Madagascar	Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith	Lorne Balfe	74%	53
31	2015	Home	Tim Johnson	Lorne Balfe and Stargate	52%	55
32	2016	Kung Fu Panda 3	Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni	Hans Zimmer	87%	66
33	2016	Trolls	Mike Mitchell	Christophe Beck	75%	56
34	2017	The Boss Baby	Tom McGrath	Hans Zimmer and Steve Marazzo	58%	50
35	2017	Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie	David Soren	Theodore Shapiro	87%	69
Universal Pictures
36	2019	How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World	Dean DeBlois	John Powell	90%	71
37	2019	Abominable	Jill Culton	Rupert Gregson-Williams	82%	62
38	2020	Trolls World Tour	Walt Dohrn	Theodore Shapiro	71%	51
39	2020	The Croods: A New Age	Joel Crawford	Mark Mothersbaugh	77%	56
40	2021	Spirit Untamed	Elaine Bogan	Amie Doherty	49%	48
41	2021	The Boss Baby: Family Business	Tom McGrath	Hans Zimmer and Steve Marazzo	47%	40
42	2022	The Bad Guys	Pierre Perifel	Daniel Pemberton	96%	55
43	2022	Puss in Boots: The Last Wish	Joel Crawford	Heitor Pereira	95%	73
44	2023	Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken	Kirk DeMicco	Stephanie Economou	65%	50
45	2023	Trolls Band Together	Walt Dohrn	Theodore Shapiro	63%	53
46	2024	Kung Fu Panda 4	Mike Mitchell	Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro	72%	54
47	2024	The Wild Robot	Chris Sanders	Kris Bowers	98%	85
Upcoming films
48	2025	Dog Man	Peter Hastings	TBA	TBA	TBA
49	2025	The Bad Guys 2	Pierre Perifel	Daniel Pemberton	TBA	TBA
50	2025	Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie	Ryan Crego	TBA	TBA	TBA

Direct-to-video/streaming

1. Joseph: King of Dreams (2000)
2. Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021)
3. Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate (2024)

Why They Make a Dream Work

NOTE: This will only focus on the Animation Studio.

1. They're probably best known for creating computer animated films that have become franchises such as Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods, and Trolls.
2. Great animation and voice acting in most of their films.
3. Their films have some hilarious, groundbreaking and/or heartwarming moments.
4. They did a great job creating Antz, which was DreamWorks' first feature film, as well as the third fully-CGI animated film ever made (after Toy Story and Cassiopeia). It was then followed by The Prince of Egypt.
5. Not only have they created computer animated films, but they've also created traditionally animated films and stop-motion co-productions with Aardman Animations.
6. While their first logo was the same as their parent company DreamWorks Pictures SKG, it later gained their first official logo in Shrek 2 featuring a boy holding some balloons and being lifted to the moon, which was beautiful.
7. They've spawned many television shows based on their films as well as some fantastic original shows such as Dinotrux, Harvey Street Kids/Harvey Girls Forever!, the Tales of Arcadia franchise, The first six seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender, The first two seasons of Turbo F.A.S.T, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts.
8. It has terrifically awesome music scores from great composers such as Hans Zimmer.
9. They have many Easter eggs for every movie.
10. Just like Pixar, they have plenty of cool and unexpected premises for all of their movies. They are also known for their unique, interesting and creative concepts, such as making each films based on the perspective of such as ogres (Shrek), zoo animals (Madagascar), pandas (Kung Fu Panda), dragons (How to Train Your Dragon), trolls (Trolls), babies (The Boss Baby), caveman (The Croods), snails (Turbo F.A.S.T), aliens (Home), yetis (Abominable) & others.
11. Most of the heroes are beloved, entertaining and memorable, such as Shrek, Alex the Lion, Po, Hiccup, Grug Crood, and Princess Poppy.
12. Most of the villains are really awesome, entertaining and fun.
13. Many of them spawned video games based on their films that are really good, if not decent (such as Chicken Run on PS1, Shrek 2, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Monsters vs. Aliens, How To Train Your Dragon, How To Train Your Dragon 2, Madagascar 3: The Video Game, Megamind: Ultimate Showdown and The Blue Defender).

Bad Qualities

1. While most of their films are very good, only far of them are either mediocre or hit-or-miss, with only just being Shark Tale, Shrek the Third, Bee Movie, Home, The Boss Baby, Spirit Untamed, and The Boss Baby: Family Business, or outright terrible such as: Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate.
   • Some of their TV shows are also mediocre such as: The Boss Baby: Back in Business, Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh, Nickelodeon's Monsters vs Aliens TV Series, Hulu's DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms, Netflix's Spirit: Riding Free (By far the worst, up until Megamind Rules), The last two seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender and the third and final season of Turbo F.A.S.T, or terrible such as Megamind Rules.
2. Some of their films have bombed at the box office especially throughout most of the 2010s.
   • The box-office bomb of Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, as well as other various films around 2003-04, nearly bankrupted not only the animation studio, but the entire company as a whole. As a result, they abandoned 2D animation but would come back to it in the 2010s.
   • The box-office bomb of Flushed Away, despite receiving positive reviews, was a disappointment, causing DreamWorks to end their partnership with Aardman Animations in 2007.
   • The box-office bombs of Mr. Peabody and Sherman and Penguins of Madagascar lead to a restructuring plan that closed PDI, causing 500 layoffs.
3. Since 2023, their movies started declining in quality, starting with Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, despite being good, and Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate.

Trivia

• The animation studio was distributed by the main studio, DreamWorks Pictures from 1998 to 2005, Paramount Pictures from 2006 to 2012, 20th Century Fox from 2013 to 2017, and Universal Pictures since 2017.
• Jeffrey Katzenberg worked for Walt Disney Studios as a chairman before he became the co-founder and CEO of DreamWorks.
• Most of DreamWorks' films tend to cost between $125-165 million, but Monsters vs. Aliens is the studio's most expensive film to date, with a budget of $175 million.
• Time Warner Inc. considered acquiring DreamWorks Animation, but it went nowhere. Besides, Warner Brothers had huge concerns that many of DreamWorks' movies would do poorly in the box office, which would cause a horrible disaster for DreamWorks to shut down, and that several DreamWorks employees would have had to go on to join either Paramount Animation or Warner Animation Group.
• Famed YouTuber Schaffrillas Productions has rehabilitated people's views on DreamWorks, as Schaff really cares for DreamWorks, as well as Shrek 2, The Prince of Egypt, Megamind, Shark Tale (In a "So Bad, it's Good" kind of way), and so on and so forth.

Comments

Loading comments...