Classic Media, LLC, trading as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in 2000 by Eric Ellenbogen and John Engelman, the studio's library consists of acquired intellectual property catalogs and character brands, as well as the licensing rights for various third-party properties. In 2012, Boomerang Media sold Classic Media to DreamWorks Animation, and began trading under the name DreamWorks Classics (the legal name is still Classic Media, LLC). DreamWorks Animation became a subsidiary of NBCUniversal in 2016.

History

Classic Media was founded by Eric Ellenbogen and John Engelman in May 2000 after acquiring the United Productions of America (UPA) catalog and assets from the estate of Henry Saperstein. Classic Media then bought most assets of The Harvey Entertainment Company on March 11, 2001. On August 16, 2001, Classic Media and Random House won a joint bid for the assets of Western Publishing, with Classic Media acquiring the entertainment division (including the Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics libraries) and Random House acquiring the Little Golden Books publishing properties. Classic then purchased the rights to the Jay Ward characters and formed Bullwinkle Studios, a joint venture with Jay Ward Productions, to manage them sometime in 2002. On October 31, 2003, Classic Media purchased the assets of the bankrupt Big Idea Entertainment catalog. By 2007, Bullwinkle Studios became converted to a functioning studio.

On April 7, 2005, the company underwent a recapitalization led by a group of investors, including Spectrum Equity Investors and existing investors headed by Pegasus Capital Advisors. Additionally, a senior debt facility of $100 million was secured through a bank group led by JP Morgan Chase Bank. With the deal, Spectrum became the majority owner over the existing investors, with a representative on the company board of directors.

On December 14, 2006, it was announced that Classic Media would be acquired by UK-based rival Entertainment Rights for $210.0 million. Before the acquisition was completed, both companies announced distribution and production agreements with Genius Products LLC, replacing the Sony Wonder deal.

Entertainment Rights fell in to administration on April 1, 2009. On the same day, Boomerang Media LLC, formed by Ellenbogen and Engelman in 2008 with equity funding from GTCR, announced that it would acquire Entertainment Rights' principal UK and American subsidiaries, including Classic Media, Inc. and Big Idea Entertainment, from its administrators. On May 11, 2009, Boomerang Media announced that the former UK and American subsidiaries of Entertainment Rights would operate as a unified business under the name Classic Media, while Big Idea would operate under its own name.

Classic Media bought the Noddy and Olivia brands on March 7 and 19, respectively in 2012 from Chorion.

Sale to DreamWorks Animation (2012–present)

On July 23, 2012, DreamWorks Animation announced that they would acquire Classic Media for $155 million from Boomerang Media, with the deal closing in September of that year.

On September 17, 2013, DreamWorks Animation announced they had purchased the programming library of the British animation studio Chapman Entertainment, and placed distribution through DreamWorks' UK-based TV distribution operation.

On June 18, 2014, DreamWorks Animation bought the Felix the Cat brand and added it to the DreamWorks Classics portfolio.

On April 28, 2016, NBCUniversal announced it would buy out DreamWorks Animation in a $3.8 billion deal. The buyout was completed on August 22.

==Libraries==<!--The libraries list should be limited to catalogs and properties owned and/or licensed by DreamWorks Classics-->

Catalogs

  • United Productions of America (UPA) (Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing-Boing, and Dick Tracy)
  • The library of The Harvey Entertainment Company (under Harvey Entertainment, Inc.) (Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Audrey, Richie Rich and Baby Huey) including:
  • The pre-1974 Tomorrow Entertainment library
  • The pre-September 1974 Rankin/Bass Productions library (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and others)
  • Color Systems Technology, Inc.
  • Alan Enterprises
  • The Trans-Lux Television/Adventure Cartoon Productions library (Felix the Cat and The Mighty Hercules, but excluding the rights to Speed Racer)
  • The Edward Small library
  • Palladium Entertainment
  • Southbrook International Television
  • Jack Wrather Productions (Lassie, The Lone Ranger and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon)
  • Total TeleVision productions (Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales) (excluding the 2007 Underdog film, owned by Disney)
  • Shari Lewis Enterprises (The Shari Lewis Show, Lamb Chop's Play-Along and The Charlie Horse Music Pizza)
  • Big Idea Entertainment (VeggieTales, 3-2-1 Penguins! and Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures) (excluding third-party licensed properties)
  • Woodland Animations (Postman Pat, Gran, Bertha and Charlie Chalk)
  • Tell-Tale Productions (including Boo!, but excluding the rights to Tweenies, owned by BBC Studios)
  • Sleepy Kids (Dr. Zitbag's Transylvania Pet Shop, Budgie the Little Helicopter and Potsworth & Co.)
  • Maddocks Animation (The Family-Ness, Jimbo and the Jet-Set, Penny Crayon and The Caribou Kitchen)
  • Other programs formerly under Entertainment Rights that were produced by other production companies, such as The Basil Brush Show
  • The Chapman Entertainment library (Fifi and the Flowertots, Roary the Racing Car, Little Charley Bear and Raa Raa the Noisy Lion)

Character brands

  • Noddy
  • Rupert Bear
  • Masters of the Universe characters (via the Filmation catalog; under license from Mattel)
  • Roger Ramjet

Joint ventures

  • Bullwinkle Studios, a joint venture with Jay Ward Productions to produce and manage the Jay Ward catalog (including The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Dudley Do-Right and George of the Jungle). DreamWorks continues to own its co-productions with Bullwinkle Studios.

Other rights

  • My Life Me
  • OOglies (worldwide distribution excluding UK television rights)
  • Theodore Tugboat
  • Tracy Beaker Returns (worldwide distribution excluding UK television rights)
  • The Tribune Content Agency catalog (including Dick Tracy (via the UPA catalogue), Brenda Starr, Reporter, Gasoline Alley and Broom-Hilda)
  • Voltron<!--The Voltron trademark is owned by World Events Productions--> (under license from World Events Productions)
  • The Owl & Co (Worldwide distribution excluding French-speaking territories)

References